Coquard wins 4 Jours de Dunkerque opener
Bryan Coquard (Direct Energie) took an easy victory in the first stage of 4 Jours de Dunkerque, out-sprinting Raymond Kreder (Roompot – Oranje Peloton) and Nacer Bouhanni (Cofidis).
The 62nd edition of the 4 Days of Dunkirk kicked off with a 191.4km stage that brought the riders from Dunkirk to the nearby city of Gravelines. After a flat start, the riders tackled an early categorized climb and then returned to the coast where they climbed the small Cap Blanc Nez climb three times. From there it was a flat run along the coast to Gravelines where the riders did one lap of a flat 21.8km circuit that ended with a relatively straightforward and completely flat finale.
With the win, Coquard is the first leader of the race with a two-second advantage over Marco Frapporti (Androni) who picked up 8 bonus seconds in the intermediate sprints. He will try to make it two in a row in stage 2 which includes three early pave sectors and two climbs during the first 70km but as it ends with three laps of a mostly flat 15km circuit, it is expected to be another bunch sprint on the uphill finishing straight.
4 Jours de Dunkerque 2016 – stage 1 results (Dunkerque – Gravelines):
| 1 | Bryan Coquard (Direct Energie) |
4:28:53 |
| 2 | Raymond Kreder (Roompot – Oranje Peloton) |
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| 3 | Nacer Bouhanni (Cofidis) |
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| 4 | Bert Van Lerberghe (Topsport Vlaanderen – Baloise) |
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| 5 | Kenny Dehaes (Wanty – Groupe Gobert) |
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| 6 | Rudy Barbier (Roubaix Lille) |
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| 7 | Daniel Hoelgaard (FDJ) |
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| 8 | Benoit Jarrier (Fortuneo – Vital Concept) |
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| 9 | Yannick Martinez (Delko Marseille) |
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| 10 | Francesco Chicchi (Androni Giocattoli – Sidermec) |
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