4 Jours de Dunkerque: Benjamin Thomas takes race lead with stage 3 time trial victory

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Niklas Larsen second, Kasper Asgreen third in Saint-Quentin

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ST QUENTIN FRANCE MAY 18 Benjamin Thomas of France and Team Cofidis sprints during the 67th 4 Jours de Dunkerque Grand Prix des Hauts de France 2023 Stage 3 a 159km Individual time trial in SaintQuentin on May 18 2023 in St Quentin France Photo by Luc ClaessenGetty Images
Benjamin Thomas takes race lead with stage 3 time trial victory at 4 Jours de Dunkerque(Image credit: Luc Claessen/Getty Images)

Benjamin Thomas (Cofidis) won the stage 3 time trial at the 4 Jours de Dunkerque and, with it, the overall race leader's jersey in Saint-Quentin. The Frenchman covered the 15.9km route with a winning time of 19:21 and was the only rider to crack 49km/h.

Thomas now leads the overall classification by 14 seconds ahead of Asgreen and 20 seconds ahead of Ethan Vernon (also Soudal-QuickStep) as the race heads into stage 4 on Friday.

The third stage at the 4 Jours de Dunkerque was a 15.9km time trial at Saint-Quentin. After the first two sprint stages, overnight race leader Samuel Leroux (Van Rysel-Roubaix Lille Métropole) was the last off the starting ramp. 

However, with only 11 seconds between him and the top 47 in the overall standings, it appeared that his time in the leader's jersey was going to come to an end during the time trial.

Noah Vandenbranden (Flanders-Baloise) posted the early benchmark time of 20:30 with an average speed of 46.5km/h. 

However, the time was soon eclipsed by faster finishers Chad Haga ( Human Powered Health) and then Maciej Bodnar (Total Energies) with a time of 20:13 and an average speed of 47km/h.

The times only continued to quicken as Niklas Larsen (Uno-X Pro Cycling) and Kasper Asgreen (Soudal-QuickStep) pushed the average speeds toward 48km/h. None were faster than Benjamin Thomas (Cofdis), who finished with a winning time of 19:21 and an average speed of 49.3km/h.

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Kirsten Frattini
Kirsten Frattini
Deputy Editor

Kirsten Frattini is the Deputy Editor of Cyclingnews, overseeing the global racing content plan.

Kirsten has a background in Kinesiology and Health Science. She has been involved in cycling from the community and grassroots level to professional cycling's biggest races, reporting on the WorldTour, Spring Classics, Tours de France, World Championships and Olympic Games.

She began her sports journalism career with Cyclingnews as a North American Correspondent in 2006. In 2018, Kirsten became Women's Editor – overseeing the content strategy, race coverage and growth of women's professional cycling – before becoming Deputy Editor in 2023.

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