Geraint Thomas finished on the podium for the seocnd time in three days as Luca Paolini won the 77th Gent-Wevelgem classic race in Belgium.
A rainy day saw a race, which is a memorium to the battles of World War 1, of 240kms which with only a few hills was one for the sprinters and this race attracted names such as Mark Cavendish and John Degenkolb, th 2014 winner as well as 2012 Tour De France winner Sir Bradley Wiggins.
A break of seven riders in Albert Timmer (Giant-Alpecin), Alexis Gougeard (Ag2r La Mondiale), Alex Dowsett (Movistar), Jesse Sergent (Trek Factory Racing), Mirko Tedeschi (Southeast), Pavel Brutt (Tinkoff-Saxo), were on the attack soon after the race departed Deinze, heading for Wevelgem.
With forty kilometres cover, this group had taken a lead of five minutes which extended to 8.30 as they headed for the coast where there were winds of eighty miles an hour.
The break came down to 2.10 but at the halfway stage as riders were split all over the road, battling the wind it was all over, as it was for Sir Bradley Wiggins who abandoned.
A front group formed and were just over a minute clear going into the final one hundred kilometres. Martjn Tjallingii of LottoNL Jumbo went over the Catsberg climb in the lead, having escaped and was 1.08 ahead as he crested over the Bannerberg climb and headed back into Belgium after a brief spell on French country lanes.
Onto the Kemmelberg but the peloton were in sight and Lotto Soudal's Jurgen Roelandts was able to join him as they passed through rows of tractors sounding their horns.
Roelandts went away and was 1.07 clear of a chasing group with 57kms left and extended that lead to two minutes ten kilometres later.
Going into the final twenty kilometres and Roelands was only twenty two seconds ahead of a group which now contained Geraint Thomas of Team Sky and Niki Terpstra of Etixx Quick Step, who quickly suffered a mechanical.
Roelandts was finally caught with 17.7kms to and with Terpstra back in the front group with Jens Debusschere and Luca Paolini who slipped in behind Terpstra who attacked.
Geraint Thomas, the winner of E3 Harlebeke went after them after Roelandts was dropped and caught them with Vandenbergh trying to join them.
Paolini made a move with six kilometres to go and he had too much in the tank and was able to take the win in a time of 6.20.55 ahead of Niki Terpstra and Welshman Geraint Thomas who were eleven seconds back, followed by Vandenbergh, Debusschere, Vanmarcke, Roelandts. Oss, Kristoff and Sagan.
Luca Paolini said to his team's press office: " I am really happy today! I did not expect this, because we came here to help Alex (Kristoff), who proved to be in good shape.
"But in one moment he said he didn’t feel so strong today and told me to try for myself. It was a very hard day with all the bad weather. I crashed two times and I had to change the bike twice, but I still had the power to stay in front.
"In the final I knew I had to avoid the sprint, because I am not too fast in the sprint. I knew I had to attack. With 6 km to go I tried to attack with 50% of my power to watch the reaction from the others. Nobody answered so I went for 100%. I had luck on my side and I won.
"Maybe this is the best victory in my career. I want to thank my family, my wife and children for their support and patience, and I want to thank my team, where I feel like we’re family. The team provided us with a very good training programme in the winter and I was able to get into great shape. I am super happy today."
Nineteen year-old Floortje Mackaij (NED) has confirmed her huge talent and strong form at present with a big win in the Women's Gent-Wevelgem in Flanders Fields.
Mackaij followed up her second place at Wednesday's Dwars Door Vlaanderen to confirm the progress she has made over the winter period to take a strong solo victory here after a hard day in Flanders.
Mackaij said: "It is an amazing feeling and coming across the line I couldn't quite believe that I had won such a race.
"With 25-30km to go Amy [Pieters] crashed in the break and was back in the chase with us. We decided to put it in the gutter and after this Amy and I got away - she was so strong today.
"We got across to the front and from there we just kept attacking as there were some fast sprinters still there. This was great and with 3km to go I got clear and just went full gas to the line. It was amazing and I still can't quite believe it.
"It's great to get this win after feeling really good recently. My training has been going really well and I've had a lot of contact with the coaches and trainers which really helps in getting everything right."