The Dane is just one day away from wrapping up what would be a well-deserved top three.

Saturday brought the queen stage of the Quatre Jours de Dunkerque, held under a lovely sun that saw the riders start from the legendary Roubaix velodrome before taking eight times on the Cassel circuit, with its famous cobbled climb (1.9km, 5.3%) which was to play a decisive role in the outcome.

Having Kasper Asgreen in the leader’s jersey, which he took after his solid outing in the time trial, Soudal Quick-Step controlled the stage behind a seven-man breakaway that enjoyed its time at the front before being brought back in the last 20 kilometers. As expected, the main moves came on the last ascent of the day, which our Dane started well positioned, thanks to his teammates’ stellar job.

On the steepest part of it, two men took off and forged a gap over the peloton, where Kasper was trying his best to limit the losses. In the end, Per Strand Hagenes (Jumbo-Visma) outsprinted Romain Gregoire (Groupama-FDJ), who moved to the top of the standings, while our rider was bit by an untimely and frustrating mechanical which ruined his chances and left him without the leader’s jersey.

“We had hoped for more today, but luck wasn’t on our side, despite the boys doing a very good job and controlling the race quite well. We came a bit short for a couple of seconds, but the morale is still good in the team and we’ll see now what can happen on Sunday, which could be another tricky day in the saddle because of the winds”, said Soudal Quick-Step sports director Tom Steels before the last stage, which Asgreen will start in second place.

 

Photo credit: ©Luc Claessen / Getty Images

Race details

1 Per Strand Hagenes
Jumbo-Visma
4:42:29
2 Romain Grégoire
Groupama - FDJ
0:00
3 Alexis Renard
Cofidis
0:05
4 Brent Van Moer
Lotto Dstny
0:05
5 Greg Van Avermaet
AG2R Citroën Team
0:05
6 Benjamin Thomas
Cofidis
0:08
7 Cees Bol
Astana Qazaqstan Team
0:08
8 Olav Kooij
Jumbo-Visma
0:11
9 Cedric Beullens
Lotto Dstny
0:14
10 Laurent Pichon
Team Arkéa Samsic
0:14
11 Kasper Asgreen
Soudal - Quick Step
0:14
19 Ethan Vernon
Soudal - Quick Step
0:19
37 Stan Van Tricht
Soudal - Quick Step
1:16
55 Tim Merlier
Soudal - Quick Step
5:01
56 Bert Van Lerberghe
Soudal - Quick Step
5:01
94 Jannik Steimle
Soudal - Quick Step
14:02
105 Lars Craps
Soudal - Quick Step
15:45
1 Romain Grégoire
Groupama - FDJ
17:17:30
2 Kasper Asgreen
Soudal - Quick Step
0:13
3 Olav Kooij
Jumbo-Visma
0:17
4 Cees Bol
Astana Qazaqstan Team
0:19
5 Brent Van Moer
Lotto Dstny
0:20
6 Ethan Vernon
Soudal - Quick Step
0:24
7 Alexis Renard
Cofidis
0:27
8 Per Strand Hagenes
Jumbo-Visma
0:28
9 Peter Sagan
TotalEnergies
0:36
10 Samuel Watson
Groupama - FDJ
0:39
23 Stan Van Tricht
Soudal - Quick Step
2:05
41 Tim Merlier
Soudal - Quick Step
6:01
59 Bert Van Lerberghe
Soudal - Quick Step
9:54
80 Jannik Steimle
Soudal - Quick Step
16:13
97 Lars Craps
Soudal - Quick Step
21:08
1 Olav Kooij
Jumbo-Visma
34 pt
2 Romain Grégoire
Groupama - FDJ
28 pt
3 Benjamin Thomas
Cofidis
25 pt
4 Ethan Vernon
Soudal - Quick Step
19 pt
5 Paul Penhoët
Groupama - FDJ
18 pt
6 Gerben Thijssen
Intermarché - Circus - Wanty
16 pt
7 Per Strand Hagenes
Jumbo-Visma
15 pt
8 Peter Sagan
TotalEnergies
15 pt
9 Niklas Larsen
Uno-X Pro Cycling Team
14 pt
10 Max Walscheid
Cofidis
12 pt
14 Tim Merlier
Soudal - Quick Step
10 pt
17 Kasper Asgreen
Soudal - Quick Step
9 pt
43 Jannik Steimle
Soudal - Quick Step
1 pt
1 Alex Colman
Team Flanders - Baloise
39 pt
2 Kenny Molly
Van Rysel - Roubaix Lille Métropole
23 pt
3 Tuur Dens
Team Flanders - Baloise
15 pt
4 Ceriel Desal
Bingoal WB
13 pt
5 Nicolas Debeaumarché
St Michel - Mavic - Auber93
9 pt
6 Damien Girard
Nice Métropole Côte d'Azur
7 pt
7 Pier-André Coté
Human Powered Health
4 pt
8 Rait Ärm
Van Rysel - Roubaix Lille Métropole
4 pt
9 Geoffrey Soupe
TotalEnergies
3 pt
10 Kasper Asgreen
Soudal - Quick Step
2 pt
1 Romain Grégoire
Groupama - FDJ
17:17:30
2 Olav Kooij
Jumbo-Visma
0:17
3 Ethan Vernon
Soudal - Quick Step
0:24
4 Alexis Renard
Cofidis
0:27
5 Per Strand Hagenes
Jumbo-Visma
0:28
6 Samuel Watson
Groupama - FDJ
0:39
7 Logan Currie
Bolton Equities Black Spoke
0:41
8 Paul Penhoët
Groupama - FDJ
1:52
9 Luca Van Boven
Bingoal WB
1:59
10 Stan Van Tricht
Soudal - Quick Step
2:05
35 Lars Craps
Soudal - Quick Step
21:08
1 Jumbo-Visma 51:54:47
2 Lotto Dstny 0:00
3 Soudal - Quick Step 0:01
4 Groupama - FDJ 0:25
5 AG2R Citroën Team 1:14
6 TotalEnergies 3:34
7 Team Arkéa Samsic 3:39
8 St Michel - Mavic - Auber93 4:22
9 Intermarché - Circus - Wanty 7:56
10 Cofidis 9:52

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19/05/2023 - Race report
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