Kristoff gears up for Flanders with La Panne win

PARIS (Reuters) - Norway's Alexander Kristoff geared up for Sunday's Tour of Flanders by winning the Three Days of La Panne stage race on Thursday.

The in-form Katusha rider won three of the four stages, with Briton Bradley Wiggins claiming the final short time-trial near the sea stretch of La Panne, in Belgium.

Kristoff is one of the top favourites for the Tour of Flanders, the second of five 'Monument' classics of the season, in the absence of specialists Tom Boonen and Fabian Cancellara, who are both injured.

(Reporting by Julien Pretot, editing by Pritha Sarkar)