Arnaud Demare took a hugely convincing second consecutive victory in today's second stage of the 4 Days of Dunkirk when he finished off another day of total domination by his FDJ team. Once again his nearest challengers were Kenny Van Hummel (Vacansoleil) and Ramon Sinkeldam (Argos-Shimano) and the trio are placed in the same order at the top of the general classification.

There seems to be no limit to the FDJ success in France this year and today the team's incredible run of success continued. After a dominant display in yesterday's first stage of the 4 Days of Dunkirk, the team was equally as impressive today and once again Arnaud Demare finished off the work to take the team's 9th win on home soil since March 31 and to solidify his grip on the race's leader's jersey.

The team's strong powerhouses Matthieu Ladagnous and David Boucher almost single-handedly chased down an early 4-man move with 47km to go and when a duo went off a little later, the white-clad team made sure to keep the new group under firm control. With 18km to go it was all back together and all was set for a big bunch sprint.

With 9km to go, the French team momentarily lost the front positions and for a number of kilometres it was Van Hummel's Vacansoleil team which set the pace. A huge battle between FDJ, Vacansoleil and FDJ ensued and for a moment it appeared as though the Cofidis team of Adrien Petit came out triumphant as they had 7 riders lined out at the head of the pelton.

FDJ once again took over the control but they were overtaken by the Garmin team with 1,5km to go. Just as everything appeared to be coming together for the American team, the squad's sprinter Raymond Kreder lost the wheel of lead-out man Alex Rasmussen and as the Dane stopped his effort in frustration, the formidable train of Geoffrey Soupe, Mickael Delage and Demare sneaked past.

From then on there was never any doubt as to who would be the winner and when Demare opened his sprint he immediately opened a huge gap to Petit who was directly in his wheel. He crossed the line several meters ahead of Van Hummel and Sinkeldam to win his third race in a row after he also won the GP de Denain prior to a small mid-season break.

With the bonus seconds Demare is now 10 seconds ahead of Van Hummel and Sinkeldam in the general classification. However, he faces a tough challenge in tomorrow's stage whick has a lumpy finish and a hard climb only 7,5km before the line.

Starting at 14.45 you can follow all the action on CyclingQuotes.com/live.

4 riders move clear

The 178,2km had a slightly lumpier profile than yesterday's completely flat stage and the riders even had to tackle three cobbled sectors along the way. The difficulties were, however, not expected to be hard enough to drop the sprinters and a bunch kick was always on the cars.

Early in the race Evaldas Siskevicius (Sojasun) who is one of his team's GC riders in the race, made surprise move and opened up a gap to the peloton. He was joined by Florian Vachon (Bretagne) and Flavien Dassonville (BigMat-Auber 93) and a little later Yves Lampaert (Topsport Vlaanderen) also gained contact to form the day's early 4-man move.

FDJ in control

FDJ started to control affairs and they never allowed the gap to grow beyond the 2 minute mark. The break always seemed to be doomed but Siskevicius and Vachon used the opportunity to swallow up bonus seconds to move into the overall top 10.

As the peloton approached the day's final pave sector, the Ag2r team tried to put in an attack in a section of crosswinds. Blel Kadri, Sebastien Minard, Christophe Riblon, Samuel Dumoulin and Lloyd Mondory swapped turns as riders fought hard to stay in a good position just behind. FDJ tried to join the effort but when they entered a small city a few moments later, everything calmed down.

An early capture

The gap had, however, been reduced to no less than 20 seconds and as the pace once again picked up as the riders approached the pave sector, their moment in the spotlight seemed to be over. Sebastien Turgot (Europcar) and Yohann Gene (Europcar) set a hard tempo on the cobbles and midway through the sector, the break was caught.

As the exited the sector, everything calmed down and Ladagnous and Boucher once again started to control affairs. With 42km to go Julien El Fares (Sojasun) accelerated and after having been chased by a number of counterattacks he was finally joined by Rudy Kowalski (Roubaix Lille Metropole).

A one minute gap

The small escape suited the FDJ team perfectly and they were allowed to build up a gap of around 1 minute after which Boucher and Ladagnous kept the gap stable for a long time. When Yoann Offredo (FDJ) also started to chase with 25km remaining, the advantage started to come down and a concerted effort from the FDJ trio made sure that the break was caught with 18km to go.

FDJ remained in control for a further 9km while the sprint teams started to organize behind. With 9km to go Vacansoleil took over at the front and started to set up a sprint from which Demare once again emerged as the winner.