Conor Dunne went on an all-out attack in the early section of the queen stage today. But he was a marked man and was not given any leeway.
Having ridden so well to first secure, and then defend, the climbers’ jersey at the 4 Jours de Dunkerque Conor Dunne relinquished it today.
The Aqua Blue Sport rider and elite international rode his heart out early on Saturday’s queen stage.
With 178km from Wormhout to Cassel facing the riders, there were eight categorised climbs along the way.
And though the race had more or less belonged to the sprinters in the opening four stages, today was always going to be different.
Dunne had ridden away on stages 2 and 3 in the early breakaways. And he collected the points that put him, and kept him, in the climbers’ jersey.
Advertisement
His game plan today was similar; to get clear early and score on the first climbs. But the peloton was in no mood to allow groups away.
And so while Dunne attacked again and again; he and those he was attacking with were being closed down.
When a breakaway finally did go clear, it eked out a gap on the second of nine 15km circuits; those following an earlier 40km to the circuits.
There were 18 men in the move, including Dunne’s team mate Peter Koning. The pulled out four minutes on the bunch.
Related News
With three laps remaining, and the business end of the stage arriving, Koning escaped from the breakaway with Héctor Sáez Benito (Euskadi-Murias).
Playing the team game, just has Lasse Norman Hansen had done yesterday, Koning set about targeting the climbing points.
And though he did very well in that regard, Pierre Idjouadiene (Roubaix Lille Métropole) scored points today.
He was in the 18-man move that Dunne missed. And he had also held the climbers’ jersey after stage 1 until Conor Dunne took it from him.
But the points he achieved today saw his total jumped to 22, some four points ahead of Dunne in the classification.
There are two climbs tomorrow and so Dunne still has a chance.
Today, Koning and Sáez were caught with 40km to go by the 16 men they had attacked.
In the end three riders would break clear and survive out front; Dimitri Claeys (Cofidis), André Greipel (Lotto Soudal) and Oscar Riesebeek (Roompot).
Greipel won the sprint for victory; claiming his second stage of this race. Claeys took the race lead from Riesebeek and Greipel.
For Aqua Blue Sport, Casper Pedersen was best placed today; in 9th and part of a small group 1:04 down on the three leaders. He is now 12th overall.
Dunne was 105th today; his aggression at the start causing him problems later. Matt Brammeier was 94th at 14 minutes.
Topics
