Luke Rowe admitted he was gutted after a puncture dashed his victory hopes on the opening stage of the Three Days of De Panne in Belgium.

The Cardiff-born cyclist was looking strong after attacking out of a small group around 15 miles from the end of the stage.

But he was hit by the puncture climbing the Muur around 11 miles from the finish but still recovered to come home fifth.

The Team Sky rider, 26, admitted: “Gutted, yeah, that hits the nail on the head.

“From the get go we rode well, we always had guys on the front – the race was split right from kilometre zero and we had pretty much the whole team on the front.

“Everything went perfectly, we always had numbers, right up until that puncture.

“Once again, I’m just gutted to puncture at what was probably the worst moment in the entire race.”

Rowe’s hopes were not helped as the team car had been diverted around the famous Muur climb so he had to get assistance from a mechanical support motorbike.

He added: “It was right at the bottom of the Muur.

“As soon as I got the fresh wheel I went absolutely flat out up there because I figured if I hadn’t closed the gap by the top I’d probably never close it. I sprinted up that in a do or die effort.

“It’s part of the sport. There’s no one to blame, no one behind it, it could happen to any rider, in any race, at any moment.

“Unfortunately it was me, but that’s life. I’ll crack on and hope for better luck in the future.”

Katusha rider Alexander Kristoff took the stage honours in the sprint with Rowe just 29 secs back