Image 1 of 12 Gerald Ciolek (MTN-Qhubeka) not fussed about the cold conditions in Italy (Image credit: Bettini Photo) Image 2 of 12 Tobias Ludvigsson (Argos-Shimano) was the best young rider (Image credit: Photopress.be) Image 3 of 12 Gerald Ciolek gives MTN-Qhubeka its first European win of the year (Image credit: Photopress.be) Image 4 of 12 Tom Van Asbroeck (Topsport Vlaanderen) took the points jersey thanks to a second place on the stage (Image credit: Photopress.be) Image 5 of 12 Gerald Ciolek (MTN-Qhubeka) wins in Ichtegem (Image credit: Photopress.be) Image 6 of 12 The overall jersey holders in the 3days of West Flanders (Image credit: Photopress.be) Image 7 of 12 Kristof Vandewalle wins the 3-daagse van West-Vlaanderen (Image credit: Photopress.be) Image 8 of 12 Kristof Vandelwalle enjoys his first stage race overall vicotory (Image credit: Photopress.be) Image 9 of 12 Argos Shimano leads the bunch (Image credit: Photopress.be) Image 10 of 12 Ciolek had a huge lead at the line (Image credit: Photopress.be) Image 11 of 12 Omega Pharma-Quickstep controls the race for overall leader Kristof Vandewalle (Image credit: Photopress.be) Image 12 of 12 Gerald Ciolek (MTN-Qhubeka) wins the sprint on the final stage of the 3-days of West Flanders (Image credit: Photopress.be)

Gerald Ciolek scored an historic first victory for Africa's new Pro Continental outfit MTN-Qhubeka in the final stage of the 3-Daagse van West-Vlaanderen. The German beat out Adrien Petit (Cofidis) and Bobbie Traksel (Champion System) to win the sprint in Ichtegem. Omega Pharma-QuickStep's Kristoff Vandewalle secured the overall victory after leading the race since the prologue.

The win for Ciolek came after a disastrous finish to the first stage in which he crashed with two of his teammates outside the 3km banner.

"Cycling is amazing. One day you have all the bad luck and then the next day you are on the podium," Ciolek said after the race.

While it took some time for the team to hone its lead-out, things came together perfectly on a calm final stage.

"There were narrow roads and it was quite technical towards the finish which suits me perfectly. I had the perfect lead-out from Ignatas [Konovalovas] then my last guy was Andreas [Stauff] and he lead me out to 250m to go and I just had to finish the job."

Overall winner Vandewalle heads to South Africa

The overall race victory went to prologue winner Vandewalle, who enjoyed his first stage race win as a professional. The Belgian time trial champion has a number of victories against the clock, including the Omega Pharma-Quickstep team's world title from 2012, but this one was special.

"I am super happy about this victory," Vandewalle said. "For me it's something special because I am from this region, making it a bit of a hometown race. It was a pleasure for me to win in front of my public. I have to say also that, I had a good performance in the prologue and yesterday I felt good, but today I really got great support from my teammates.

"I have to thank them, they did a great job because today wasn't one of the best racing days of my life. Fortunately I can count on a strong team. I think the problem was I felt a little bit the sickness of last week, when I had a fever. So, today, I felt a little weak after three days in a row of racing after a few days of sickness. It was not so easy but I am happy I pulled it off.

"I will celebrate this victory with my team and look forward to my next appointment: Cape Argus Pick 'n Pay Cycle Tour. We will go there with Iljo Keisse and Julien Vermote to try and get a good result there also. Why not? We will try to do our best and maybe even get a victory. We will see!"

Full Results

# Rider Name (Country) Team Result 1 Gerald Ciolek (Ger) MTN - Qhubeka 4:19:01 2 Adrien Petit (Fra) Cofidis, Solutions Credits 3 Bobbie Traksel (Ned) Champion System Pro Cycling Team 4 Stefan Van Dijk (Ned) Accent Jobs - Wanty 5 Roy Jans (Bel) Accent Jobs - Wanty 6 Kurt Hovelijnck (Bel) Crelan - Euphony 7 Jonathan Cantwell (Aus) Team Saxo-Tinkoff 8 Alessandro Bazzana (Ita) Unitedhealthcare Pro Cycling Team 9 Jonas Van Genechten (Bel) Lotto Belisol 10 Alexander Porsev (Rus) Katusha 11 Tom Van Asbroeck (Bel) Topsport Vlaanderen - Baloise 12 Florian Vachon (Fra) Bretagne - Seche Environnement 13 Kenny Dehaes (Bel) Lotto Belisol 14 Gediminas Bagdonas (Ltu) Ag2R La Mondiale 15 Nicolas Vereecken (Bel) An Post - Chainreaction 16 David Boucher (Fra) FDJ 17 Julien Vermote (Bel) Omega Pharma - Quick-Step Cycling Team 18 Roy Sentjens (Bel) Cyclingteam De Rijke - Shanks 19 Kenny Robert Van Hummel (Ned) Vacansoleil-DCM Pro Cycling Team 20 Barry Markus (Ned) Vacansoleil-DCM Pro Cycling Team 21 Viktor Manakov (Rus) Rusvelo 22 Nikolay Trusov (Rus) Cyclingteam De Rijke - Shanks 23 Florent Barle (Fra) Cofidis, Solutions Credits 24 Roger Kluge (Ger) Team Netapp - Endura 25 Tony Hurel (Fra) Team Europcar 26 Julian Kern (Ger) Ag2R La Mondiale 27 Georg Preidler (Aut) Team Argos-Shimano 28 Timofey Kritskiy (Rus) Katusha 29 Johan Le Bon (Fra) FDJ 30 James Vanlandschoot (Bel) Accent Jobs - Wanty 31 Christoph Pfingsten (Ger) Cyclingteam De Rijke - Shanks 32 Jarl Salomein (Bel) Topsport Vlaanderen - Baloise 33 Niels Wytinck (Bel) An Post - Chainreaction 34 Pierre-Luc Perichon (Fra) Bretagne - Seche Environnement 35 Tobias Ludvigsson (Swe) Team Argos-Shimano 36 Alexander Wetterhall (Swe) Team Netapp - Endura 37 Egidijus Juodvalkis (Ltu) Crelan - Euphony 38 Dylan Groenewegen (Ned) Cyclingteam De Rijke - Shanks 39 Gijs Van Hoecke (Bel) Topsport Vlaanderen - Baloise 40 Mark Mcnally (GBr) An Post - Chainreaction 41 Andreas Stauff (Ger) MTN - Qhubeka 42 Stéphane Poulhies (Fra) Cofidis, Solutions Credits 43 Benjamin Verraes (Bel) Accent Jobs - Wanty 44 Matthieu Ladagnous (Fra) FDJ 45 Wouter Wippert (Ned) Team 3M 46 Alexey Tsatevitch (Rus) Katusha 47 Artem Ovechkin (Rus) Rusvelo 48 Kristof Vandewalle (Bel) Omega Pharma - Quick-Step Cycling Team 50 Jonathan Breyne (Bel) Crelan - Euphony 51 Roman Maikin (Rus) Rusvelo 52 Pieter Jacobs (Bel) Topsport Vlaanderen - Baloise 53 Markus Eichler (Ger) Team Netapp - Endura 54 Stijn Neirynck (Bel) Topsport Vlaanderen - Baloise 55 Matt Brammeier (Irl) Champion System Pro Cycling Team 56 Jelle Wallays (Bel) Topsport Vlaanderen - Baloise 58 Andrei Solomennikov (Rus) Rusvelo 59 Mark Cavendish (GBr) Omega Pharma - Quick-Step Cycling Team 60 Frantisek Rabon (Cze) Omega Pharma - Quick-Step Cycling Team 61 Kevin Peeters (Bel) Crelan - Euphony 62 Roberto De Patre (Ita) Vini Fantini - Selle Italia 63 Tiago Machado (Por) Radioshack Leopard 64 Michael Olsson (Swe) Team People4You - Unaas Cycling 65 Renaud Dion (Fra) Bretagne - Seche Environnement 66 Arnaud Gerard (Fra) Bretagne - Seche Environnement 67 Laurent Pichon (Fra) FDJ 68 David Veilleux (Can) Team Europcar 69 Wouter Mol (Ned) Vacansoleil-DCM Pro Cycling Team 70 Jonas Aaen Jörgensen (Den) Team Saxo-Tinkoff 71 Viacheslav Kuznetsov (Rus) Katusha 72 Niki Terpstra (Ned) Omega Pharma - Quick-Step Cycling Team 73 Bob Jungels (Lux) Radioshack Leopard 74 Tosh Van Der Sande (Bel) Lotto Belisol 75 Danny Van Poppel (Ned) Vacansoleil-DCM Pro Cycling Team 76 Sander Cordeel (Bel) Lotto Belisol 77 Ben Hermans (Bel) Radioshack Leopard 78 Dries Devenyns (Bel) Omega Pharma - Quick-Step Cycling Team 79 Julien Fouchard (Fra) Cofidis, Solutions Credits 81 Geoffroy Lequatre (Fra) Bretagne - Seche Environnement 83 Ignatas Konovalovas (Ltu) MTN - Qhubeka 84 Benoît Vaugrenard (Fra) FDJ 85 Davide Frattini (Ita) Unitedhealthcare Pro Cycling Team 86 Anthony Geslin (Fra) FDJ 87 Kiel Reijnen (USA) Unitedhealthcare Pro Cycling Team 88 Ryan Roth (Can) Champion System Pro Cycling Team 89 Sven Vandousselaere (Bel) Topsport Vlaanderen - Baloise 90 Willem Wauters (Bel) Vacansoleil-DCM Pro Cycling Team 91 Alphonse Vermote (Bel) An Post - Chainreaction 92 Christopher Jones (USA) Unitedhealthcare Pro Cycling Team 93 Kevin Hulsmans (Bel) Vini Fantini - Selle Italia 94 Danilo Napolitano (Ita) Accent Jobs - Wanty 95 Niko Eeckhout (Bel) An Post - Chainreaction 96 Coen Vermeltfoort (Ned) Cyclingteam De Rijke - Shanks 97 Hugo Houle (Can) Ag2R La Mondiale 98 Dominique Rollin (Can) FDJ 99 Robert Pölder (Swe) Team People4You - Unaas Cycling 100 Koen Barbe (Bel) Crelan - Euphony 101 Tom Goovaerts (Bel) Team 3M 102 Clinton Robert Avery (NZl) Champion System Pro Cycling Team 103 Bjorn Thurau (Ger) Team Europcar 104 Pavel Kochetkov (Rus) Rusvelo 105 Iljo Keisse (Bel) Omega Pharma - Quick-Step Cycling Team 106 Christopher Juul Jensen (Den) Team Saxo-Tinkoff 107 Kess Heytens (Bel) Team 3M 108 Takashi Miyazawa (Jpn) Team Saxo-Tinkoff 109 Edwig Cammaerts (Bel) Cofidis, Solutions Credits 110 Jo Kogstad Ringheim (Nor) Team People4You - Unaas Cycling 111 Jonas Ahlstrand (Swe) Team Argos-Shimano 112 Jesse Sergent (NZl) Radioshack Leopard 114 Benjamin King (USA) Radioshack Leopard 115 Brian Bulgac (Ned) Lotto Belisol 116 Patrick Gretsch (Ger) Team Argos-Shimano 117 Nikias Arndt (Ger) Team Argos-Shimano 118 Matthias Friedemann (Ger) Champion System Pro Cycling Team 119 Kin San Wu (HKg) Champion System Pro Cycling Team 120 Sjoerd Kouwenhoven (Ned) Cyclingteam De Rijke - Shanks 121 Timothy Vangheel (Bel) Team 3M 122 Mattia Pozzo (Ita) Vini Fantini - Selle Italia 123 Michael Vingerling (Ned) Team 3M 124 Joren Segers (Bel) Team 3M 125 Luigi Miletta (Ita) Vini Fantini - Selle Italia 126 Anton Vorobyev (Rus) Katusha 127 Youcef Reguigui (Alg) MTN - Qhubeka 128 Alexander Mironov (Rus) Rusvelo 129 Maarten Neyens (Bel) Lotto Belisol 130 Adrian Hegyvary (USA) Unitedhealthcare Pro Cycling Team 131 Fredrik Ludvigsson (Swe) Team People4You - Unaas Cycling 132 Ronan Mc Laughlin (Irl) An Post - Chainreaction 133 Kevin Claeys (Bel) Crelan - Euphony 134 Julien Berard (Fra) Ag2R La Mondiale 135 Michael Schwarzmann (Ger) Team Netapp - Endura 136 Sergey Klimov (Rus) Rusvelo 137 Erick Rowsell (GBr) Team Netapp - Endura 138 Alexander Nikita Gingsjö (Swe) Team People4You - Unaas Cycling 139 Novikov (Rus) Vacansoleil-DCM Pro Cycling Team 140 Mikhail Ignatyev (Rus) Katusha 141 Alexander Rybakov (Rus) Rusvelo 142 Johann Van Zyl (RSA) MTN - Qhubeka 143 Ferekalsi Debesay Abrha (Eri) MTN - Qhubeka 144 Andy Cappelle (Bel) Accent Jobs - Wanty 145 Ralf Matzka (Ger) Team Netapp - Endura 146 Vegard Stake Laengen (Nor) Bretagne - Seche Environnement 147 Benoit Jarrier (Fra) Bretagne - Seche Environnement 148 Jean-Luc Delpech (Fra) Bretagne - Seche Environnement 149 Arnaud Labbe (Fra) Cofidis, Solutions Credits 150 Jonathan Mcevoy (GBr) Team Netapp - Endura 151 Scott Thwaites (GBr) Team Netapp - Endura 152 Benjamin Day (Aus) Unitedhealthcare Pro Cycling Team 153 Nico Sijmens (Bel) Cofidis, Solutions Credits 154 Jan Ghyselinck (Bel) Cofidis, Solutions Credits 155 Maurits Lammertink (Ned) Vacansoleil-DCM Pro Cycling Team 156 Jean-Pierre Drucker (Lux) Accent Jobs - Wanty 157 Pieter Van Herck (Bel) Crelan - Euphony 158 Philip Lindau (Swe) Team People4You - Unaas Cycling 159 Nicolas Vogondy (Fra) Accent Jobs - Wanty 160 William Clarke (Aus) Team Argos-Shimano 161 Reinardt Janse Van Rensburg (RSA) Team Argos-Shimano 162 Jay Mccarthy (Aus) Team Saxo-Tinkoff 163 Mart Ojavee (Est) Champion System Pro Cycling Team 164 Pengda Jiao (Chn) Champion System Pro Cycling Team 165 Steven Van Vooren (Bel) An Post - Chainreaction 166 Glenn O´Shea (Aus) An Post - Chainreaction 167 Martin Reimer (Ger) MTN - Qhubeka