Yesterday FDJ continued their complete domination of the French calendar in general and the 4 Days of Dunkirk in particular when Arnaud Demare took his third consecutive victory in the race's third stage. This time his nearest challenger was even his lead-out man Geoffrey Soupe and the former U23 world champion was full of praise for his teammate.

After a winless start to the season Arnaud Demare is now on a roll and as he took his third victory in just three days of racing in the 4 Days of Dunkirk he extended his winning streak to 4 after his win in the GP Denain in his last race prior to a short mid-season break. After two flat stages on Wednesday and Thursday the young rider showed that he is much more than just a sprinter by staying near the front of the peloton on the numerous smaller climbs in the final part of the race before unleashing his incredible burst of speed on the finishing straight.

Having lost his usual lead-out man Mickael Delage due to a puncture Demare had Geoffrey Soupe as the final man to launch the sprint. The young Frenchman stepped up perfectly and did his job in such a dominant fashion that he even managed to take 2nd place himself ahead of a fast-finishing Ramon Sinkeldam (Argos-Shimano).

Demare was full of praise for the Soupe.

"It is true that Mickael disappeared due to a puncture but with Geoffrey at my side I was not worried," he said. "I have known Geoffrey for a long time as we raced together as U23 riders in the French national team, and I know his potential. Geoffrey is very strong. It is good that he was not caught and 2nd place is a great reward."

Sports director Franck Pineau was impressed by Soupe's work.

"Popeye as he is known is a very clever rider and is also a funny guy," he explained. "Had it not been for Arnaud Demare, he would have won the stage. He is a true teammate and a nice guy. And as he is able to handle smaller climbs, I hope he takes a beautiful win in the near future."

However, Demare not only owed his victory to Soupe. Once again his team was in complete control throughout the stage as they calmly reeled in an early 4-rider breakaway and carefully made sure not to let too big a group get up the road when the attacks started in hilly zone at the end of the race. David Boucher, Matthieu Ladagnous and Yoann Offredo were responsible for the early pace-setting while the team's GC riders Anthony Geslin and Benoit Vaugrenard joined a number of key moves to disrupt their work before they reeled in Blel Kadri (Ag2r) and Jean-Pierre Drucker (Accent.jobs) who remained clear at the top of the last climb with 7,5km to go.

"On Thursday evening after the second stage we had a small meeting to discuss how to control the stress and fatigue," Pineau said. "It must be said that your riders did a very good job because because they are strong and confident. Today during the third stage their rivals tried to destabilize them two or three times but they were unperturbed. They stayed together as a unit and behaved as a team."

"David Boucher has done an amazing job," he continued. "With "Boubouche" (Boucher, ed.) it is simple, he was at the front for 50km. On his own he brought the gap to the four escapees down from 8 to 4 minutes Then he was joined by Yoann Offredo and Matthieu Ladagnous who remained calm and caught a number of riders at the bottom of the final climbs."

"There was a final circuit with two climbs including the Notre Dame de Lorette, which is not easy. On the last lap three of my riders were dropped (Ladagnous, Offredo and Boucher ed.) and Mickael Delage was taken out due to a puncture. At the top seven kilometers remained, but I was not worried! "

And he had no reason to be as his team perfectly delivered Demare to another victory.

The FDJ sprinter is of course comfortably in the lead but he faces a big task in today's fourth stage which is expected to determine the final overall GC. The race is held on a very hard circuit with a number of very hard climbs and the finish line is located at the top of one of these. The stage will certainly not be one for the sprinters and after a number of days with Demare in the spotlight, the FDJ team will now turn its attention to Geslin and Vaugrenard.