At the end of 4 Days of Dunkerque stage 4, Lestrem-Cassel of 178 km, no one will be able to tell Rodolfo Torres and Colombia-Coldeportes that they did not try hard enough. Three different attempts, each time on the toughest climb section on the final circuit, did not prove enough to twist the fate in the Escarabajos’ direction: the stage win went to SpaniardOmar Fraile (Caja Rural), and Ignatas Konovalovas (Roubaix-Lille), sixth, took over the overall leader’s jersey.

As predictable, after an early breakaway attempt, the race got back together inside the final 50 km, when the peloton entered the final 6 km circuit to be repeated nine times. At that point, in a group reduced to 40 riders, the Escarabajoscould still count on Torres, Walter Pedraza, Miguel Angel Rubiano and Leonardo Duque. Lap after lap, climb after climb, cobbles after cobbles, the lead group went steadly reducing in numbers under the effects of many attacks, including those brought by Torres.

“To me, he was the strongest of them all on the climb,” Sports Director Valerio Tebaldi told,” but that pushed him to dare too much, and in such frantic races with short climbs that often ends up backfiring.”

In fact, after the last climb had created more selection, the leader’s group got back together before the final cobbles, when the 6-man group that eventually contested the sprint finally got away. Torres was 13th to the line, 54 seconds adrift. Rubiano is the best Team Colombia-Coldeportes rider in the GC, 20th, 3.37 behind Konovalovas.

Tomorrow, Sunday, the race will come to a close with the final stage, the 5th, Cappelle la Grande-Dunkerque of 171 km.