Spurred on by her home country's typically bad weather, narrow roads and teammate Gracie Elvin's time out in the break, Belgian D'Hoore had the legs after 151 kilometres to outsprint Australian Chloe Hosking (Ale Cipolini) and Christine Majerus (Boels-Dolmans) on the line in De Panne.
Resplendent in the Belgian national jersey, the 28-year-old said she was mainly concentrating on a final bunch sprint.
Belgian Champion @JolienDhoore @MitcheltonSCOTT takes her first victory of the season, and it’s on home soil @Driedaagse_ 🇧🇪 “This is good for the morale, good for the team and a good start to the classics” #Driedaagse pic.twitter.com/82tcHBWBse — Voxwomen (@Voxwomen) March 22, 2018
"It was a very nervous race," D'Hoore said. "I was not sure if we were going to catch the front riders so I just focused on the sprint, even if it was for the seventh or eighth place, that didn’t matter. When we were sprinting I didn’t know if it was for the first place or not.”
"There was a lot of wind today and that occasionally caused splits. It is the first time that we can start here in this race, so it was a new course for everyone and in the end no team really took matters into their own hands. That made it very chaotic, especially the last corner.”
"I already knew that my condition was very good, but I had little luck in the past races. So today and for Sunday (Gent-Wevelgem) I would like to continue this."
It was Hosking's second podium this year in a WorldTour race, her fourth this European season.
🎥 2nd place @Driedaagse_, 3rd @RondevDrenthe “I think I deserve a win” edging closer to the top step @chloe_hosking @CipolliniTeam ⤵️ #Driedaagse @BrotherCycling #AtYourSide pic.twitter.com/BzJq9dxQ6R — Voxwomen (@Voxwomen) March 22, 2018
Earlier, Elvin escaped with 14 other riders in the first 20 kilometres to form the break of the day. While this group's lead maxed out at just over two minutes at one point during the stage, it remained around 30 seconds for the rest of its break.
Mieke Kroger (Team Virtu) attacked her fellow escapees inside the final 20 kilometres. Elvin valiantly attempted to bridge to the German with seven kilometres to go, and while she stayed ahead of a now re-formed peloton, she was caught with just over one kilometre left to race. Kroger was also caught inside the final kilometre.
