Sam Bennett seals 4 Jours de Dunkerque victory with fourth stage win
Irish sprinter completes domination of six-day race with yet another triumphant display
Sam Bennett (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale) sprinted to the stage 6 victory, claiming his fourth stage win and the overall title at the 4 Jours de Dunkerque.Bennett won the sprint ahead of Sasha Weemaes (Bingoal WB) and Pascal Ackermann (Israel-Premier Tech).
The sixth and final stage at the 4 Jours de Dunkerque offered the field a 176.8km race from Loon-Plage to Dunkerque. The peloton tackled one categorised ascent at Monts des Recollets, on an otherwise flat course that ended with seven laps of a finishing circuit made for sprinters.
Several attacks in the early section of the race led to the day's breakaway of four, which included Ayco Bastiaens (Soudal-QuickStep), Ludovic Robeet (Cofidis), Kenny Molly (Van Rysel-Roubaix), and Robert Donaldson (Trinity Racing).
Israel-Premier Tech and Team DSM-Firmenich PostNL led the pace at the front of the peloton, holding the gap to the breakaway at 45 seconds as they reached the final circuits.
The gap decreased to 25 seconds as the breakaway saw three laps to go, with Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale leading the peloton behind, and the field was all back together with 13km remaining.
Lotto Dstny continued setting the pace in the field, even as overall race leader and three-time stage winner at this race. Sam Bennett (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale) manoeuvred his way up to the front.
Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale, Groupama-FDJ, Israel-Premier Tech and Team DSM-Firmenich PostNL became the dominant teams with 5km to go.
Pascal Ackermann (Israel-Premier Tech) launched his sprint first, but it was once again, Sam Bennett, who took his fourth stage win and secured the overall title in Dunkerque.
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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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