Arnaud Demare got his participation in the 4 Days of Dunkirk of to a perfect start with a win in the first stage after his FDJ team had done all the work to chase down an early 3-man break. In the end the team gave their sprinter a perfect lead-out and he convincingly beat Ramon Sinkeldam (Argos-Shimano) and Kenny Van Hummel (Vacansoleil) to take the first leader's jersey.

FDJ has had huge success in France this year with no less than 7 victories in the team's home country since March 31. Today they lined up in one of the biggest stage races on French soil, the 4 Days of Dunkirk, with the firm objective of continuing their success.

The team took their responsibility as the best team on French soil and did a huge work throughout the day to chase down an early break by Robert Bush (La Pomme Marseille), Tim Mertens (Topsport Vlaanderen) and Julien Duval (Roubaix Lille Metropole). Classics riders Matthieu Ladagnous and Yoann Offredo and breakaway specialist David Bouche were at the front most of the day and made sure that it all ended up in the expected bunch sprint.

With 2km to go the Vacansoleil train hit the front to set up their sprinter Kenny Van Hummel and as they passed under the flamme rouge the team still had two riders in front of their designated sprinter. As Wouter Mol took over as the last lead-out man for Van Hummel, he was, however, overtaken by the FDJ team which still had enough horsepower to take control of the peloton on the long flat finishing straight.

Van Hummel got into the wheel of Demare who was delivered perfectly by his teammates Geoffrey Soupe and his trusted lead-out man Mickael Delage and despite the best efforts from the Dutchman his sprint was no match to the burst of speed from the former U23 world champion. Roman Sinkeldam did a strong sprint from behind and took a fine 2nd place.

With the win Demare gets the perfect comeback after a short break. He last raced on April 11 when he won the GP Denain and he has now continued his winning streak immediately. With the victory he of course also takes the first leader's jersey ahead of Sinkeldam and Mertens.

The race continues tomorrow with its second stage which has a much more lumpy profile. The most decisive stages are held on Friday and Saturday before the race finishes with another flat stage on Sunday.

Starting at 14.45 you can follow the second stage on CyclingQuotes.com/live.

A flat stage

The 155,1km first stage of the Four Days of Dunkirk was an almost completely flat affair starting in Dunkirk and finishing in Courrieres. Two climbs were located just before the midpoint of the race but after then the roads were flat all the way to the finish line.

With everybody expecting a big bunch kick there was no big fight to enter the day's early break. Bush, Mertens and Duval were allowed to escape immediately after the start and they built up a gap of 5.50 before FDJ started to chase.

Duval crested the summits of the day's two climbs as the first man and made sure that he will wear the mountains jersey tomorrow. Meanwhile, the gap started to come down and with 70km to go it was down to 4 minutes.

FDJ ease off the pace

FDJ kept the pace high and with 40km to go the advantage of the break was less than a minute. To avoid an early capture FDJ eased off the pace but the break was always doomed and as soon as they were back at the front, the group was caught with 27km to go.

A small group of riders countered but FDJ kept firm control of the peloton and closed it down immediately.

A counterattack

Adrien Petit (Cofidis) won the intermediate sprint with 22,9km to go to secure 3 bonus seconds and moments later Yohann Gene (Europcar), Lloyd Mondory (Ag2r), Clinton Avery (Champion System) and Anthony Geslin (FDJ) managed to escape. They were joined by Julien El Fares (Sojasun) but Geslin was unwilling to do any work and FDJ and Cofidis managed to close it down with 18km to go.

With 15km remaining Champion System hit the front to set up their sprinter Fabian Schnaidt and for a number of kilometres the Chinese team was in charge of the peloton. Later Sebastien Rosseler (Garmin) took over with his sprinters Raymond Kreder, Koldo Fernandez and Steele Von Hoff all well-placed in the front end of the peloton.

FDJ back in charge

With 7km to go FDJ was back at the head of the peloton with Ladagnous and Offredo all doing a huge amount of work. Rudy Kowalski (Roubaix) had a small dig but it was a short-lived one and in was all set for a final bunch sprint.

For a moment FDJ seemed to have mistimed their effort when Vacansoleil managed to take over the pace-setting but just at the right time inside the final kilometer the white team was back in charge and delivered Demare perfectly to another win.

Result:

1. Arnaud Demare

2. Ramon Sinkeldam

3. Kenny Van Hummel

4. Benoit Drujon

5 Yannick Martinez

6. Michael Van Staeyen

7. Adrien Petit

8. Benjamin Giraud

9. Sebastien Turgot

10. Fabian Schnaidt

General classification:

1. Arnaud Demare

2. Ramon Sinkeldam +0.04

3. Tim Mertens +0.05

4. Kenny Van Hummel +0.06

5. Julien Duval +0.06

6. Adrien Petit +0.07

7. Robert Bush +0.07

8. Romain Hardy +0.09

9. Benoit Drujon +0.10

10. Yannick Martinez +0.10