Rasmussen tops Ciolek in Bray-Dunes

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Saxo Bank's Alex Rasmussen sped to victory on the first stage of the Four Days of Dunkirk, topping Milram's Gerald Ciolek and Belgian Kevin Ista on the 143.8 kilometre stage to Bray-Dunes.

Rasmussen, the reigning Scratch Race World Champion, confirmed the form he displayed on the weekend when he soloed to victory in the GP Herning, but dubbed today's win his best yet.

”Today's victory was my breakthrough on the road," Rasmussen said. "To win a stage in this strong peloton is just indescribably awesome. Actually, my role was to be JJ's (Haedo) lead-out but I noticed that he was being held back so I went for Ciolek's wheel. And as he opened a long sprint I was able to pass him on the final meters. Of course, I hope to stay in the lead of the race one more day. But it's going to be difficult on the final stages of the race. The stage profiles are uneven like a saw."

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Ciolek was not worried about falling shy of the stage win and first leader's jersey. "I had to go for it a bit earlier than planned, since there was another attack near the finish. So it wasn't quite enough at the end for the victory,“ said Ciolek. "I am in good form, have absolutely no physical problems, and am looking forward to the next days."

The 56th edition of the Four Days of Dunkirk got underway in the northern French town just across the border from Belgium. While other parts of Europe have born the brunt of heavy storms, the winds pushed the clouds away from Dunkirk to reveal brilliant sunshine for the start of the race.

From the moment the flag was dropped to set the riders on their way, the attacks lined the peloton out single file. Over the course of the first 20 kilometres the aggressive riding split, reformed and split the group repeatedly until three riders were finally able to break the elastic.

Arnaud Labbe (Cofidis, le Credit en Ligne), Sep Vanmarcke (Topsport Vlaanderen - Mercator) and Rony Martias (Saur - Sojasun) were the lucky trio to have the pleasure of heading up the race for the day and fight out the three bonus sprints and single mountain prime on offer.

The trio gained a maximum of 4:30 on the chasing peloton as Martias claimed the first bonus sprint over Vanmarcke. The Belgian would get his minor victory at the sole mountain sprint.

Labbe was dropped from the move before he could take his fair share of the prizes, but Martias was able to win the second sprint before he and Vanmarcke were brought back by the peloton.

Vacansoleil and Saur-Sojasun controlled the pace ahead of the final bonus sprint, but it was Katusha's Pavel Brutt who claimed the final intermediate prime over 2007 race winner Mathieu Ladagnous (Francaise des Jeux) and Stijn Devolder (Quick Step).

Katusha was looking to set up Italian fast-man Danilo Napolitano and Milram worked to deliver Gerald Ciolek to the win, but it was instead track specialist Alex Rasmussen who came out on top, netting his third road win of the season to go along with his scratch race world title.

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