The 2024 edition of the 4 Jours de Dunkerque began this Tuesday between Dunkirk and Le Touquet, and as expected, a bunch sprint concluded the first day of racing. However, it didn’t prove as smooth as some would have hoped due to the pouring rain and wet roads. In these conditions, Paul Penhoët didn’t manage to find his way to the front and had to settle for seventeenth place. New chance for him tomorrow in Abbeville.
The Groupama-FDJ was back on the 4 Jours de Dunkerque this Tuesday without the defending champion, Romain Grégoire. On the other hand, Paul Penhoët was there at the start to try to win one of the expected sprints of this 2024 edition. This Tuesday already, the first stage towards Le Touquet was an opportunity for the fast men, and the traditional scenario took place behind a five-man breakaway which included Joris Delbove (St Michel-Mavic-Auber93), Maxime Jarnet (Van Rysel-Roubaix), Antoine Hue (CIC U Nantes Atlantique), Gwen Leclainche (Philippe Wagner/Bazin) and Dean Harvey (Trinity Racing). The riders also had to deal with particularly difficult weather in this opening stage. “They got rain all day, which made the race a little more difficult, but also more stressful because of the wet roads,” explained Thierry Bricaud. The peloton was even more careful because of it and never left much of a lead to the fugitives. After 137 kilometres, the break reached the circuit in Le Touquet, thirty-six kilometres from the finish, just thirty seconds ahead of the pack.
“The guys lost each other a bit in the sprint”, Thierry Bricaud
The last men from the break were reeled in with sixteen kilometres to go, even before the last lap. The bunch sprint set up slowly, but in a quite chaotic way. “The conditions were hard, and the final circuit was difficult, as it was mainly in town and not very wide,” explained Thierry. “Everyone wanted to go for the sprint, and that made the finish a bit dangerous. A crash happened a bit more than three kilometres to go, in which Rudy was caught, without too big consequences it seems. We avoided the worst, but the guys lost each other a bit in the sprint and Paul found himself a little too far away after the last turn to hope for a good sprint.” At the finish, the young sprinter from Groupama-FDJ could not do better than seventeenth, while the victory went to Milan Fretin. “We need to make a few adjustments in the next few days, but the most important thing is that everyone is quite ok for the coming days,” added Thierry. Another opportunity will actually come from tomorrow in Abbeville. “We should have a sprint tomorrow and the day after tomorrow,” concluded Thierry. “The weather should be a bit better, but we’ll see. We will have to adapt.”
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