When, at 22, you find yourself fighting for your first European top result in a three-man break, and – like it was forColombia-Coldeportes’ Brayan Ramirez – you know you are the third best sprinter in the trio, it is not easy to make the right call. And even if the 3rd stage of the 4 Days of Dunkerque (Barlin-Saint Omer, 176 km) was won by Alexis Gougeard (Ag2r-La Mondiale) in front of Julien Antonmarchi (Roubaix-Lille), the young Colombian still showed courage and sharpness in his effort.

“Brayan is a smart guy," Sports Director Valerio Tebaldi told," know how to handle himself, and today he showed to be a sharp rider too: after passing on the finishing line twice, he realized his best option in a sprint would have been kicking out early and try to exploit the two technical turns and open a little gap. He did it just fine: it did not work out, but he deserves our praise.”

The three day’s escapees got clear after a few kilometres, and after battling with the bunch for a while, they finally saw their gap grow up to 8.30. Having reached the 60 km to go mark with still 7 minutes on the bunch, the leading trio collaborated well until the last lap on th final circuit, when the classic skirmish among the frontrunners gradually soaked up the gap.

After two attempted moves, Ramirez was the one who launched the sprint, but had to settle for third in spite of his gutty effort. Edward Theuns edged the bunch sprint 16 seconds later, followed home by overall leader Bryan Coquard(Europcar). Colombia-Coldeportes’ Leonardo Duque finished 12th in the sprint.

General Manager Claudio Corti’s sounded his appreciation for Ramirez’ performance, as well as his disappointment for the underperformance of one of his riders: “It is always good when young riders like Brayan manage to earn the spotlights, particularly in a demanding race like Dunkerque. On the other hand, Fabio Duarte was disappointing once again: his performance in this season is totally unacceptable to me.”

Tomorrow, Saturday, the 4 Days of Dunkerque will bring in its queen stage, the fourth,from Lestrem to Cassel (178 km).