Sylvain Chavanel claimed stage 3 of this year’s 4 Jours de Dunkerqu in a two-man sprint against Michael Andersen, after 197 kilometers of racing from Fruges to Calais.
Meanwhile, Samuel Dumoulin finished in third place – 12 seconds behind, with Arnaud Demaré retaining his grip on the overall race lead. – with just one stage remaining.
Race Highlights
Chavanel, along with Andersen, succeeded in escaping during the final climb of the Cap Blanc-Nez. From there, the duo managed to build up a slight gap over the peloton that proved to be enough to hold off the chase.
"I suffered to get this victory on the most difficult stage of the week," said Chavanel. "From the start the conditions were hellish with the wind, pavé, small roads, rain and cold. But this is the racing I like. I am happy with my sprint even though I launched it from quite a ways out against the young rider who worked so well with me. We came here to win a stage in Dunkirk. We’ve done that, so now it’s time to look to the general classification."
After today’s stage, Chavanel is now just seconds behind Demaré in the general classification.
For IAM Cycling’s directeur sportif Eddy Seigneurat, Chavanel’s win marked a day of hard work by the team.
"I am very happy for him, but also proud of the team that showed such impressive collective strength," Seigneurat said. "While we are not automatically always so well oiled, today when placing Sylvain on his launching pad, we were perfect. Then with his amazingly strong legs, and with the contribution from Michaël Andersen, he managed to outpace the pursuers. And there is nothing wrong with being 2nd overall when talking about the hardest stage of the week where there are no fewer than 15 climbs listed."
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VBV9TH9pGK0
Top 25 Finishers
1 Sylvain Chavanel (Fra) IAM Cycling 4:58:18 2 Michael Valgren Andersen (Den) Tinkoff-Saxo 3 Samuel Dumoulin (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale 0:00:12 4 Florian Senechal (Fra) Cofidis, Solutions Credits 5 Sébastien Delfosse (Bel) Wallonie – Bruxelles 6 Arnaud Gérard (Fra) Bretagne Séché Environnement 7 Arnaud Demare (Fra) FDJ.fr 8 Pierrick Fédrigo (Fra) FDJ.fr 0:00:14 9 Nikias Arndt (Ger) Team Giant-Shimano 0:00:40 10 Christophe Laporte (Fra) Cofidis, Solutions Credits 11 Steven Tronet (Fra) BigMat – Auber 93 12 Julien Duval (Fra) Roubaix Lille Metropole 13 Yannick Martinez (Fra) Team Europcar 14 Pieter Jacobs (Bel) Topsport Vlaanderen-Baloise 15 Jan Ghyselinck (Bel) Wanty-Groupe Gobert 16 Sébastien Minard (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale 17 Maxime Vantomme (Bel) Roubaix Lille Metropole 18 José Goncalves (Por) Team La Pomme Marseille 13 19 Tim Declercq (Bel) Topsport Vlaanderen-Baloise 20 Laurens De Vreese (Bel) Wanty-Groupe Gobert 21 Pierre Luc Perichon (Fra) Bretagne Séché Environnement 22 Gerald Ciolek (Ger) MTN – Qhubeka 23 Jean-Marc Bideau (Fra) Bretagne Séché Environnement 24 Jérôme Pineau (Fra) IAM Cycling 25 Romain Zingle (Bel) Cofidis, Solutions Credits
General Classification
1 Arnaud Demare (Fra) FDJ.fr 12:48:512 Sylvain Chavanel (Fra) IAM Cycling 0:00:02 3 Michael Valgren Andersen (Den) Tinkoff-Saxo 0:00:05 4 Samuel Dumoulin (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale 0:00:21 5 Sébastien Delfosse (Bel) Wallonie – Bruxelles 6 Florian Senechal (Fra) Cofidis, Solutions Credits 0:00:25 7 Pieter Jacobs (Bel) Topsport Vlaanderen-Baloise 0:00:45 8 Yannick Martinez (Fra) Team Europcar 0:00:49 9 Steven Tronet (Fra) BigMat – Auber 93 0:00:51 10 Jan Ghyselinck (Bel) Wanty-Groupe Gobert 11 Gerald Ciolek (Ger) MTN – Qhubeka12 Maxime Vantomme (Bel) Roubaix Lille Metropole 0:00:53 13 José Goncalves (Por) Team La Pomme Marseille 13 14 Sébastien Minard (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale 15 Jérôme Pineau (Fra) IAM Cycling 16 Tim Declercq (Bel) Topsport Vlaanderen-Baloise 0:00:56 17 Julien Duval (Fra) Roubaix Lille Metropole 0:00:59 18 Pierre Luc Perichon (Fra) Bretagne Séché Environnement 19 Lloyd Mondory (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale 0:01:17 20 Tom Van Asbroeck (Bel) Topsport Vlaanderen-Baloise 0:01:36 21 Pierrick Fédrigo (Fra) FDJ.fr 0:01:51 22 Christophe Laporte (Fra) Cofidis, Solutions Credits 0:02:11 23 Nikias Arndt (Ger) Team Giant-Shimano 0:02:17 24 Romain Zingle (Bel) Cofidis, Solutions Credits 0:02:29 25 Alo Jakin (Est) BigMat – Auber 93
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