Powerhouse Tiller wins 'Mini Roubaix' stage at the Four Days of Dunkirk, Pithie hangs on as leader

The third stage of the Four Days of Dunkirk has been won by Rasmus Tiller. The Norwegian from Uno-X Mobility was part of a select elite group in a tricky cobbled stage on roads familiar from Paris-Roubaix. He rode clear of his rivals in the final kilometre. Laurence Pithie, the race leader, finished second a few seconds back, holding onto the leader's jersey.

Pithie had been carrying his fine form into France following his victory at Rund um Köln, winning the first stage of the Four Days of Dunkirk. The following day the breakaway surprised everyone, with Victor Papon taking the win — but Pithie held the lead. Stage three was made for him on paper: 157 kilometres of flat roads, with the Helesmes-à-Wallers cobbled sector woven through the finale.

The cobbled stretch was 1.6 kilometres long and would be ridden no fewer than eight times. The finish was just one kilometre after the final passage — chaos was guaranteed. The cobbles came almost immediately after the start, making an early breakaway very difficult to establish.

After about fifty kilometres, Alex Kirsch (Cofidis) made a few attempts, as did Alexys Brunel (TotalEnergies). But the big engines were given little room, thanks to Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe keeping things in check. With fifty kilometres to go, however, a sizeable lead group eventually formed, featuring several strong names.

Among the escapees were Marijn van den Berg (EF Education-EasyPost), Benjamin Thomas (Cofidis), Artem Shmidt (Netcompany-INEOS), Liam Slock (Lotto-Intermarché) and Rasmus Tiller (Uno-X Mobility). Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe had only Callum Thornley in the move — leaving Pithie stuck in the chasing bunch. The German team had work to do.

Uno-X Mobility, with two riders up front, liked the look of the breakaway and set their remaining teammates to work blocking at the back. It was a precarious situation for Pithie, who was staring down a gap of around thirty seconds. Organisation in the peloton had also broken down. In the final twenty kilometres, the bunch upped the tempo and the gap began to shrink.

Unibet Rose Rockets had no one in the move and pushed hard at the front. With one lap to go the gap was down to around ten seconds. But the breakaway kept grinding away, while the bunch eased off. Then Pithie made his move — bridging across alone. With that, Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe had Thornley back in the front group and went full gas again.

The bunch was never far away, though. It would go down to the wire in the finale. The breakaway managed to eke out their advantage bit by bit. Pithie launched an acceleration on the cobbles but could not shake off a group of around ten riders. A surge from Kelemen caused problems for several rivals, but Tiller countered brilliantly and won with a powerful burst under the flamme rouge. Pithie finished second and held onto the leader's jersey by the narrowest of margins.