The cobblestones of the North proved less selective than expected this Friday on the 4 Jours de Dunkerque. On the circuit of Famars, the peloton didn’t reduce that much over the numerous day’s sectors. Well-positioned in the final hour of racing, Lewis Askey and his teammates proved very attentive, and the British rider ultimately claimed fifth place on the day, a few meters behind Pierre Gautherat, who went away in the final kilometre. The Englishman sits in third place overall ahead of a decisive stage around Cassel on Saturday.
What would be a race in the North of France without a detour on the cobblestones? For the organizers of the 4 Jours de Dunkerque, this option wasn’t conceivable. As a consequence, the third stage of the event included no less than 22 kilometres of cobblestones between Valenciennes and Famars this Friday, across a twenty-five-kilometre circuit to be covered six times. On such terrain, many riders obviously wanted to get a head start, which led to almost non-stop action. “There was racing all day long,” said Frédéric Guesdon. “The first sector was at kilometre 4, and the wind was ideal to make for a nervous race, in addition to the cobblestones. From km 0 to km 150, it was lively and there was never really any pause. We didn’t get bored at all”. The Groupama-FDJ was also forced to get going quite early. “I messed up in the middle of the race and found myself behind a split,” explained Lewis Askey, second overall and wearing the white jersey. “The team did a really good job to bring me back. After this, I didn’t make the same mistake again, and the team took the front to stay out of trouble.” “We had to chase for almost a lap, but they made it right again, and kept the leading positions from then on,” confirmed Frédéric Guesdon.
“We’re still in the game,” Lewis Askey
Before the final two laps, Lewis Askey even followed a first attack by the leader, Axel Zingle. A three-man group then broke away, but the peloton came back at full speed on the penultimate time on the long sector of Maing. Entering the last lap, Groupama-FDJ still had four riders in the pack, but Eddy Le Huitouze was also able to make his comeback to pull with Johan Jacobs in the final fifteen kilometres. A battle for positioning then took place before the final cobbled sector of the day, and Cyril Barthe, Lewis Askey, Thibaud Gruel, and Johan Jacobs were all able to tackle it in the leading positions. “We wanted to wait until the last sector to try something and see if we could make a small selection,” explained Frédéric. “In the end, it didn’t happen. They tried to accelerate a bit, but everyone was tired, and on the last lap, everyone tries to hold on! It wasn’t really possible to make a difference.” On the next short climb, Thibaud Gruel tried to jump in the slipstream of Italian champion Alberto Bettiol. “He had to make a strong effort because Bettiol came from behind,” said Frédéric. “He tried to keep up, he couldn’t, but we were in the mix.”
The peloton almost got back together with just two kilometres to go, but Pierre Gautherat immediately countered-attacked. “The race was so demanding that there was no one left to chase,” added Frédéric. “The sprint behind was also decided between those who still had the legs to make an effort.” Among them was yesterday’s winner, Lewis Askey. “The headwind certainly stopped the attacks in the final, but the plan was to sprint anyway,” said the Briton. “In the end, it’s a nice fifth place and no time lost. We’re still in the game for tomorrow.” The Groupama-FDJ puncher sits in third place overall on Friday evening, four seconds off the leader. “Today, we were mainly worried about bad luck, because we knew Lewis wasn’t going to be dropped,” concluded Frédéric. “Tomorrow, the legs will speak. If he has them, we can hope for a good result. We’re going to fight to not have any regrets. It’s a circuit that looks like the one of the French championships won by Valentin. The finish is harder than usual, and we’ll have to see if the race opens up from far.”
