Propelled to the controls on Thursday after his success in the 3rd stage, contested in the form of an individual time trial, Benjamin Thomas is no longer the leader of the 4 Days of Dunkerque. The French gave up his tunic to the Dutchman Olav Kooij, winner this Friday during the 4th stage.
Let’s hope for the Tarnais fans that they took advantage of the day spent by Benjamin Thomas in the pink jersey of leader of the 4 Days of Dunkirk. Because it’s already over. The day after his takeover, the French rider from the Cofidis team has already had his tunic stripped of him, this Friday during the 4th stage. The day did not seem to constitute a real danger for Thomas, who had everything to fear on the other hand from Saturday’s stage, with in particular on the menu the terrible Mont Cassel, one of the most formidable and feared cobblestone climbs on the map. But to be able to approach this penultimate stage in pink, it was necessary that the former king of the track (he was crowned five times world champion, six times individual European champion, three times European team champion ) follows the rhythm of the best to the end. Unfortunately for the double French time trial champion, who took control on Thursday by winning the 3rd stage, contested in the form of his favorite exercise: an individual time trial, this was not the case.
Thomas falls to 28th place
Thomas, who had won his first professional victory by raising his arms on a stage of the 4 Days of Dunkirk, was surprised in the final. And while this 4th stage was decided in a sprint, the leader in the classification finished far behind (100th), in a group which crossed the line 1’36 after Olav Koiij (Jumbo-Visma) makes the difference in strength on two Belgians: Gerben Thijssen (Intermarché-Circus-Wanty) and Milan Fretin (Flanders-Baloise). Thomas gives up his leader’s jersey to Kasper Asgreen (Soudal-Quick Step), his Danish runner-up who had finished 3rd the day before this time trial which allowed the Frenchman to score a double blow. Asgreen leads his British teammate Ethan Vernon by 6 seconds. Romain Grégoire (Groupama-FDJ), once again the best-placed Habs, is still waiting in ambush at the foot of the podium, with the same time as Kooij, 3rd. The former leader is now in… 28th position, 1’22 behind the new wearer of the pink jersey.
