Hupond wins fourth Dunkirk stage

Thierry Hupond soloed to the victory on stage 4 of the Four Days of Dunkirk, while his teammate Nikias Arndt followed him in for a Giant-Shimano 1-2.

Race leader Arnaud Demare (FDJ) finished in a reduced peloton, 31 seconds behind the seven leaders, holding onto his lead in the overall ahead of Sylvain Chavanel (IAM Cycling), and Michael Valgren Andersen (Tinkoff-Saxo).

Roubaix Lille Metropole's Rudy Kowalski took the lead in the sprint and mountains classification from the breakaway, which also included Stéphane Rossetto (BigMat - Auber 93), Frederik Veuchelen (Wanty-Groupe Gobert), Marko Kump (Tinkoff-Saxo), Alexandre Pichot (Team Europcar), Adrien Petit (Cofidis), Frédéric Amorison (Wallonie - Bruxelles) and Hugo Houle (AG2R La Mondiale).

The Giant-Shimano riders bridged across as the group was being reeled in by the peloton, then took off from the leaders to take the first two spots on the stage.

"It feels great to finally get a win for the team but it wasn't expected in what was a strange race to be honest," Hupond said. "When the big break had over 10 minutes it looked as if they might stay away and behind everyone was looking at each other but then the gap started to fall and the race started coming back together.

"I've been feeling good here in Dunkerque over the past few days and was still there with Nikias when the gap was dropping fast, while many of the GC riders were isolated. We took our chance and attacked together, bridging over to the front of the race."

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