Visma celebrates in Dunkirk! Zingle wins opening stage and claims first win for Dutch team

After Pascal Ackermann won the newly created Classique Dunkerque, a one-day race serving as a warm-up for the Four Days of Dunkirk, on Tuesday, the 4 Jours de Dunkerque started on Wednesday with the same field of participants. The riders set off from Sainte-Catherine for the 177.3-kilometer race to Amiens. The finish in Amiens was expected to be a sprint for the first leader's jersey, as the first stage was almost entirely flat.

A fairly smooth start meant that after about 16 kilometers, a leading group of six riders emerged. This group included some of the best riders, such as Per Strand Hagenes (Visma | Lease a Bike), Ben Swift (INEOS Grenadiers), and Gil Gelders (Soudal Quick-Step). Joren Bloem (Unibet Tietema Rockets), Danny van der Tuuk (Euskaltel-Euskadi), and Luca De Meester (Wagner Bazin WB) completed the breakaway group. For the latter, it was a second day in a row on the attack, as he was also part of the early breakaway in the Classique Dunkerque.

With just under 100 kilometers to go, Bloem's adventure in the breakaway group was already over. The Dutch rider dropped back and was quickly caught by the peloton, which was riding two minutes behind. Further along, Assen-born Van der Tuuk collected the most mountain points during the day, securing the mountain jersey on day two for the rider with Polish nationality.

With less than an hour to go, the five leaders still had a lead of just under three minutes. This meant that the peloton would have a tough job closing the gap. When they passed the finish line for the first time, the gap was still a minute and a half, with two local laps to go. The breakaway riders realized that they had a real chance.

With about 12 kilometers to go, the riders passed the finish line for the first time. It then became clear that the peloton had to get going because the five riders' lead was suddenly melting away. Although they continued to work well together, they were caught with about 6 kilometers to go. On the last little hill, Alberto Bettiol caused some commotion. The Italian champion from XDS Astana tried to break away, but his attempt was unsuccessful. However, the peloton was spread out, and if you weren't at the front as a sprinter, you were already beaten.

The last 4 kilometers were quite chaotic. Bettiol kept pushing, making it very difficult for the fast men. Splits began to form in the peloton. But Ackermann was in an excellent position. Israel - Premier Tech took control, but they got to the front too early. Unibet Tietema Rockets moved up to the front, but Sam Watson launched a relentless sprint in the end. However, his lead rider Ackermann could not emerge, leaving Axel Zingle to take the win ahead of Tobias Lund Andresen and Stian Fredheim.