Katusha Team closed with a podium in the last stage of the Belgian race “Driedaagse van West Vlaanderen”, a 186,5-km long one from Nieuwpoort to Ichtegem: in the massive final sprint the young Russian sprinter Alexander Porsev reached the second place, right behind Arnaud Demare (FDJ). Kenny Van Hummel (Vacansoleil) completed the podium.
The race was characterized by a strong rain which conditioned the race from the beginning to the end in a typical Belgian course, with lost of cobbles and short climbs. With such a condition, in the group many riders tried the blitz: but Katusha Team worked hard to neutralize every attack, in order to reach the final part of the course in lock step. With just 10 kilometres to go, the Russian Team’s main sprinter Alexander Porsev punctured: an inconvenience that made him lose some time. In the end, the young sprinter was able to reach the main group, and thanks also to a huge team work he was able to figth for win: even if the effort done in order to close the gap was huge, Porsev almost managed to win, obtaining a great result.
“I’m very happy about today’s podium – said Porsev – it was really a hard stage, with a really bad weather which conditioned all the course. Anyways, today I felt I was in a good shape, and thanks also to my teammates’ help I was able to take a good result. I could have won, but in the end I was unlucky: I spent a lot of energy to close the gap from the main group, so I was a little tired for the last rush. Nevertheless, I’ve almost managed to won, but Demare passed me in the last few metres. It’s a bit frustrating, but definitely I’m satisfied”.
“Today’s stage was really hard – said the Sports Director Gennay Mikhaylov – it was just like a Belgian Classic race: lost of short climbs, camelbacks, cobbles and attacks from the group. The team worked hard for Porsev and, in the end, I think we took a good result with a nice performance. Of course we could win, but we’re satisfied anyways: if we will be luckier, we can reach some great result with this team”.