Vaugrenard seals final stage with late escape

Benoit Vaugrenard (Française Des Jeux) claimed victory in the final stage of the 4 Days of Dunkirk on Sunday. Martin Elmiger (Ag2R-La Mondiale) held on to win the overall title.

Vaugrenard had formed part of the day's major 14-man breakaway, but attacked his fellow escapees two kilometres from the finish in Dunkirk to cross the line ahead of Nikolay Trusov (Katusha) and Jens Mouris (Vacansoleil) for his second victory of the season.

Elmiger finished near the front of the peloton to hold off a spirited challenge from Juan Joaquin Rojas (Caisse d'Epargne). The Spaniard had joined the early escape group and gathered a huge number of bonus seconds at the stage's intermediate sprints. Rojas did enough to hoist himself into third overall, behind teammate Rui Costa. The race winner admitted afterwards that it had been a stressful final day.

"It hurts everywhere! Was a race very nervous and very exhausting," he said. "We made a mistake early in the race by dropping out of the break and it's hard when it leaves in such a big, strong group like that. Fortunately, my teammates were worked well and some other teams worked for the sprint.

"It payed off for me today and it's a good thing - two wins in two days, it's good for me, but also for the whole team! "

It is Elmiger's first general classification victory since 2007, when he won the Tour Downunder title in Australia.

A great escape

The appearance of the sun appeared to inspire the peloton at the start of the day. The field was in an active mood and moments after the race had left the neutral zone a group of fifteen riders broke away from the peloton. Kristof Goddaert (Ag2R-La Mondiale) decided the move wasn't for him and returned to protect his teammate and race leader, Martin Elmiger.

The 14 out in front began to establish themselves as the break du jour. The group contained two representatives from each of the Omega Pharma-Lotto, Katusha and Caisse d'Epargne teams. The selection was made up of:

Mickael Delage and Jonas Ljungblad (Omega Pharma-Lotto), Nicolay Trusov and Maxime Vantomme (Katusha), Mathieu Drujon and Jose Joaquin Rojas (Caisse d'Epargne), Stéphane Auge (Cofidis Credit Line), Sep Vanmarcke (Topsport Vlaanderen-Mercator), Jimmy Engoulvent (Saur – Sojasun), Benoit Vaugrenard (Française Des Jeux), Wim De Vocht (Team Milram), Alexandre Pichot (Bbox Bouygues Telecom), Jens Mouris (Vacansoleil) and Lilian Jegou (Bretagne – Schuller).

Rojas represented the biggest threat to Elmiger's overall lead, starting the day fifth, 34 seconds down on the pink jersey. However, with 179.5 kilometres on the agenda for the day, Ag2R-La Mondiale appeared content to let the leader hang out in front of the race.

Mountains leader Vanmarcke allowed Vaugrenard, Auge and Rojas to divide the first mountain points at Mont di Fiennes amongst themselves, with Auge, Rojas and Jegou sharing the spoils at the second climb at Vigneau Licques.

Averaging a touch over 42 km/h in the first hour of racing, the breakaway extended their lead to the two minute mark. There it stayed as Ag2R patrolled the front of the peloton. Status quo ensued, and although the leader's pushed their advantage out towards 2:30, by the time the reached the finishing circuit at the beach side town of Dunkirk the peloton were still happy to contain the gap.

As the leader's set to work on the closing ten-lap circuit, the peloton slowly chipped away at their lead. Within two laps, the lead had dropped to 1:30. At the front of the race, Rojas was adding to the Caisse d'Epargne kitty as he grabbed himself a pair of intermediate sprint primes.

The peloton had appeared to have the chase under control throughout the stage, but as the race entered its final 20 kilometres there was a sense of urgency at the head of the main field. Euskaltel-Euskadi, Roubaix Lille Metropole and Quick Step all came to the fore, as they lent Ag2R a hand in the chase for the escapees.

The lead group were still working well together as they crossed the finish line with two laps and 15 kilometres-to-go, followed 50 seconds later by the Euskaltel-led peloton.

Rojas rolled through to collect a third sprint prime, taking another three seconds from his cumulative time for the race. However, his chances of finishing the stage within the peloton were also increasing by the second. With 10 kilometres to go, the gap was 30 seconds.
The proximity of the peloton created a difference of opinion in the front group as riders began to sit on, with Rojas and Drujon fighting hard to motivate their companions. In the main field, Elmiger sat third wheel – with one lap to go and 24 seconds to close, the Swiss was in the box seat to seal the overall title.

Despite his prime position, the race leader took his turn at the front of the race, before his pink jersey was replaced by an orange Euskaltel tunic. Cooperation had returned to the front group as they scrambled to defend their tenuous advantage. The peace was broken by Engoulvent, who launched a flyer into the final five kilometres.

The Frenchman's escape fractured the group, and counter-attacks soon followed from Ljungblad, Vanmarcke and Vaugrenard, the latter opening a 100 metre gap, which stretched had doubled soon afterwards.

The peloton had miss-timed their effort and the Française Des Jeux rider rode solo underneath the flamme rouge. Despite a late challenge from Trusov, Vaugrenard had time to salute the crowd as he soloed across the finish line.