Ackermann drops out, so lead-out Stewart finishes the job in final stage of Dunkirk; Watson secures GC

It promised to be an excellent week for Visma | Lease a Bike. The Dutch team won the first stage with Axel Zingle, who claimed his first victory for the team. He retained the leader's jersey until stage four, and things were looking good, but in the final of that difficult stage, he crashed and was forced to abandon the race. Sam Watson (INEOS) won that stage and took over the leader's jersey. The British rider had to defend the leader's jersey in a flat stage.

Two Belgians took the lead at the start in Wormhout. Baptise Planckaert (Van Rysel Roubaix) and Abram Stockman (Unibet Tietema Rockets) were joined by Ander Ganzabal (Euskaltel) and Axel Narbonne Zuccarelli (Nice Métropole). But the riders had little room to maneuver on this super flat course. Halfway through the race, the gap was only a minute, and with 40 kilometers to go, everything was back together again. Meanwhile, there was fierce competition in the intermediate sprints. Watson won the first battle against Askey, strengthening his leading position.

In the final, nothing seemed to stand in the way of a sprint, especially given the flat course. That didn't mean there were no attackers. Several riders tried to make a difference on the winding roads of Dunkirk. Victor Papon (Wagner Bazin WB) had a gap for a moment, but Lotto controlled the Frenchman. As a result, he never got more than 10 seconds ahead. With 12 kilometers to go, the adventure was over. We were going to sprint in Dunkirk! 

Lotto worked for Elia Viviani, but Uno-X Mobility also joined the battle for Erlend Blikra. However, Decathlon AG2R took over in the final kilometer. The French team pushed hard but was then overtaken by Jake Stewart. The British rider from Israel - Premier Tech, went early and held off the fast-approaching Alberto Dainese and Matthew Walls. Remarkably, Israel sprinter Pascal Ackermann had dropped out before the final sprint, but they didn't need him. The GC went to Watson.