Warre Vangheluwe (Soudal-QuickStep) snatched victory on stage 4 at 4 Jours de Dunkerque, celebrating early in a photo finish that determined race leader Sam Bennett (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale) finished second by millimetres.
Vangheluwe had been part of a six-rider breakaway and almost lost his chance at a first win of the year when he began to celebrate early, and Bennett forced the cameras to look at the close result.
Corbin Strong (Israel-Premier Tech) secured third place in Pont-à-Marcq.
With the victory, Bennett added to his GC lead, now 14 seconds over Milan Fretin (Cofids), who finished fourth in the flat, fast finale on Friday. Strong moved into third overall, 23 seconds back, bumping Amaury Capiot (Arkéa-B&B Hotels) to fourth.
"To win this cobblestone stage, which was on my radar since before the start of the race, and take my first pro victory feels truly incredible. I want to thank the team for their trust in me. I can’t tell you how happy and proud I am now," said Vangheluwe in a team statement after his big day.
The 22-year-old Belgian was part of the six-rider lead group which dwindled to a foursome on the fourth and final finishing circuit and just 18km to go. Alexis Gougeard (Cofidis) put in an attack with 1.4km remaining, but it was Vangheluwe who saved enough in his legs to counter for the win.
“We went on the attack quite early in the stage, and despite not having a huge margin at any point, we traded turns at the front and did our best there," Vangheluwe explained. "When the attacks began coming, I went after Gougeard and stayed with him for a couple of seconds before dropping him and continuing alone.
“I was confident I would take the win, but I was a bit nervous after the finish, as Sam Bennett came strong from behind and for a second there, I wasn’t so sure anymore."
How it unfolded
A flat route of 166.8km took the peloton from an opening circuit at Mazingarbe to a closing circuit repeated four times in Pont-à-Marcq. There is just one opportunity for mountain points on Friday, a climb with 100km to go at Deux Villes.
The storylines focused on bonus points for sprints and 14 sections of cobblestones. The three lines for sprint points - Mazingarbe, Provin and Pont-à-Marcq - came in the first 100km of the race, and 15 points to the victor with the second and final pass through Pont-à-Marcq. Three of the cobbled sectors were on narrow lanes repeated across the finish circuit - from Pavé de la Rosée to Chemin de la Croix Blanche and then Pavés du Nouveau Monde.
A group of 15 riders accelerated away from the peloton leading into the first intermediate sprint in Mazingarbe, 24.7kmm with Louis Blouwe (Bingoal WB) taking the 3 points on offer, but the surge was reeled back soon after the sprint. Another 20km later, several riders crashed, with Nils Eekhoff (dsm-firmenich PosNL) having to abandon the race.
Before the first cobbled section at Chemin de la Croix Blanch with 95km to go, a group of six riders had gone clear - Warre Vangheluwe (Soudal-QuickStep), Alexis Gougeard (Cofidis), Axel Narbonne Zuccarelli (Nice Métropole Côte d’Azur), Samuel Leroux (Van Rysel-Roubaix), Tomaš Kopecky (TDT-Unibet Cycling) and Szymon Sajnok (Q36.5 Pro Cycling).
With 82km to go, the breakaway began the first of four finishing circuits with a gap hovering around two minutes, and Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale setting the pace in the peloton.
With 50km to go, Leroux had to stop for a mechanical, but 4km later rejoined his breakaway companions, as they headed to the final two circuits with the gap sliced in half to just over one minute.
The bell lap, with 21km to go, saw four riders remaining in the breakaway - Gougeard, Leroux, Kopecky and Vangheluwe - the other two struggling to hold on 8km before. Lotto Dstny put riders near the front to join the work done by Decathlon AG2R.
Across the narrow Rosée section of pavé, the quartet held a 44-second advantage with 18km to go, and 10km later on the final stretch of cobbles, Kopecky accelerated away from his companions, gaining 10 seconds as he transitioned back to the pavement.
The effort of the 24-year-old went into time trial mode for 6km before the quartet reformed for the final effort to hold off the charging peloton, the pack led by TotalEnergies, Decathlon AG2R and Q36.5 and getting sight of the leaders with 3km to go.
With 1.4km to go Gourgeard let it fly to take his chance at the victory, with Warre Vangheluwe (Soudal-QuickStep) grabbing his wheel and then unleashing his acceleration in the finale.
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