3daagse De Panne-Koksijde, March 29th - March 31st

[TMP402]

I've only just caught up with this race. Sky's tactics on Stage 2 were a continuation of their bizarre yet sometimes successful sprint tactics: essentially the same sprint train they give a GC leader - ie start motoring with about 9km to go, not to actually lead anyone out, simply to make the 3km mark come as quickly as possible - on this occasion with poor Danny van Poppel as antepenultimate man putting in a big effort - then he pulled off but seemed to stay in the front 25 or so riders for some reason, then Andy Fenn managed to get Viviani sideways across the road onto Kittel's wheel for the final 2.5km. Fenn showed a bit of promise early in his career as a sprinter in his own right but in these past two seasons he has risen to mastery in the art of depositing a good sprinter on a better sprinter's wheel.