Sam Bennett went back-to-back with stage wins at 4 Jours de Dunkerque as his Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale delivered a long-range lead out for the stage 3 victory in Bouchain.
Clad in the race leader’s pink jersey, Bennett held off an acceleration from Milan Fretin (Cofidis) as the stage 1 winner finished second and held his second-overall position behind the Irishman.
Amaury Capiot (Arkéa-B&B Hotels) took third place in the bunch sprint, ahead of Nils Eekhoff (Team dsm-firmenich PostNL) and Pascal Ackermann (Israel-Premier Tech).
“They were fantastic,” Bennett said about his team to usher him to the final sprint. “The thing about sprinting is it often doesn’t go to plan. We had a different plan today. The guys showed the maturity today and their experience. They were able to make quick decisions when it wasn’t going right, and that’s what it’s all about. We continue that process where we get that flow, and hopefully, there’s more results to come.”
Narrow roads with 4km to go had Team dsm-firmenich PostNL at the front of the race, and they increased the pace, boxing out Decathlon AG23R La Mondiale. The path widened with 2.5km to go, and that is when Bennett’s team pushed up the right side to launch Bennett with 500 metres to go.
Bennett added more cushion to his GC lead over Fretin, now eight seconds. Capiot moved up four spots to third overall, tied with three other riders art 18 seconds back.
How it unfolded
Starting in Saint-Laurent-Blangy, the relatively flat day of 165.1km led to Bouchain and a finishing circuit ripe for the sprinters. The first half of the route dips to the south and takes in three classified climbs - Havrincourt, Guyencourt-Saulcout and Vendhuile - then makes an abrupt northerly turn at Bohain-En-Verdandois to where the final two of three intermediate sprints lead to the finish circuit to Bouchain.
The early breakaway of four riders moved away with 28km to the base of the first climb at Havrincourt (1km at 3.8%) - Kenny Molly (Van Rysel-Roubaix), Antoine Hue (CIC-U-Nantes Atlantique), Gwen Laclainche (Philippe Wagner-Bazin) and Fabio Christen (Q36.5 Pro Cycling). It was a return to the break for Hue and Laclainche from the opening day.
The quartet opened a margin of 2:21 across the next set of climbs, the short Guyencourt-Saulcout and Vendhuile, both at one-half a kilometre and the gradient no more than 2.5%, Lechlainche taking enough points to put him in the mountain classification lead.
Across the descent 100km remained with a trio of intermediate sprints on the flat roads ahead, now wet from rain, and the four worked together without immediate alarm from behind.
Christen fell back into the peloton with 50km to go, Cofidis and Arkéa-B&B Hotels beginning to pick up the chase at the front. Hue then called for his team car for a bike change, losing momentum, or inspiration, and he also dropped from the breakaway altogether.
With the bell ringing to signal the start of the circuit and 29km remaining for the finish, the peloton crossed the Sensée River in Bouchain with the lead duo of Molly and Lechlainche only 29 seconds ahead.
With 10.5km to go on roads still wet from the earlier rain, the breakaway disappeared, and the sprinters’ teams began to set the queue for the final push, Soudal-QuickStep, ToralEnergies and Arkéa-B&B Hotels taking the front, and race leader Sam Bennett (Decathlon AG23R La Mondiale) tucked close behind.
Once the peloton moved across some narrow roads with 4km to go, Team dsm-firmenich PostNL increased the pace at the front.
Exiting a large traffic circle, several riders hit the tarmac on the right side of the swooping turn. But Decathlon AG23R La Mondiale stayed alert and delivered Bennett to a second victory in the six-day race.
Results
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