Arnaud Demare is unstoppable in the Four Days of Dunkirk as he took a convincing win in the third stage of the race. His FDJ team once again controlled the race perfectly and delivered their sprinter to his third victory in a row as he beat his lead-out man Geofrrey Soupe and Ramon Sinkeldam (Argos-Shimano).

One rider and one team are completely dominant in the 4 Days of Dunkirk. After two relatively flat days the white-clad team showed that they are also able to control a much lumpier stage as they delivered their fast sprinter to the win at the end of the third stage of the race.

The race was an extremely aggressive one with attacks going off the front all the time on the numerous smaller hills that were littered throughout the final part of the course. The FDJ team managed to stay calm keeping a steady pace on the climbs, accelerating on the flat and carefully controlling which riders were allowed to go up the roads and which had to be closed down immediately.

At the top of the final climb with 7,5km to go a two-rider break emerged as an incredibly strong Blel Kadri (Ag2r) who had been alone for many kilometres were joined by Jean-Pierre Drucker (Accent.jobs-Wanty) while the peloton - which had been reduced to just 30-40 riders - was under firm control by Benoit Vaugrenard and Anthony Geslin who had their pink-clad leader in their wheels. As they momentarily eased off a bit, more riders managed to rejoin from behind and of those was Geoffrey Soupe who is one of Demare's key leadout riders.

While the likes of Kenny Van Hummel (Vacansoleil), Ramon Sinkeldam, Adrien Petit (Cofidis) and Stefan Van Dijk (Accent.jobs) fought hard to get into the perfect position in Demare's wheel, Vaugrenard and Geslin got some assistance from Jaco Venter (MTN-Qhubeka) and did a fantastic job to close down the front duo. Despite a short-lived attack from a La Pomme Marseille rider it was all back together as they passed the flamme rouge.

As it was the case yesterday Vacansoleil managed to take over the FDJ riders inside the final kilometer. Two riders from the Dutch team hit the front and their sprinter Van Hummel managed to move into their wheels. Just as Danny Van Poppel started his lead-out of his Dutch sprinter, he was, however, out powered by a very fast Soupe who moved to the front with Demare just behind.

He opened up a big gap and Demare had no trouble passing his final man to take a hugely convincing win. Soupe just managed to hold a fast-finishing Sinkeldam at bay to make it a 1-2 for FDJ while Sinkeldam had to settle for a third consecutive podium place.

With his third win Demare of course keeps a firm grip on the leader's jersey ahead of Sinkeldam and Van Hummel. He is, however, expected to lose it tomorrow when the riders will tackle the 176km queen stage from Lens to Parc Departemental d'Olhain.

4 riders make an early attack

The 179,1km third stage from Oignies to Lievin was highly anticipated as the first smaller battle between the GC riders. After a flat opening part the riders had to tackle two laps of a hard circuit in the end and each time two categorized ascents had to be climbed. From the top of the last one only 7,5km remained.

After 11km a 4-rider group managed to break clear as Hugo Houle (Ag2r), Maxime Daniel (Sojasun), Maxime Le Montagner (Roubaix) and Jani Tewelde (MTN-Qhubeka) built up a gap of 7.30. Behind the FDJ team started to chase and with 80km to go they had reduced the advantage to only 3 minutes.

Up ahead the breakaway had to stop at a railroad crossing and so lost another 40 seconds of their lead. Behind the peloton did not want to catch the group too early and so the FDJ trio of Matthieu Ladagnous, Yoann Offredo and David Boucher who had done all the early pace-setting eased off the pace to keep the gap stable.

An aggressive race starts

With 50km to go the riders hit the hilly part of the course and immediately the attacks started. Theo Vimpere (BigMat), Mathieu Drujon (BigMat), Mart Ojavee (Champion System), Clinton Avery (Champion System) and mountains leader Julien Duval (Roubaix) managed to create a gap while the FDJ team did not seem to react.

When Kadri and Yoann Paillot (Marseille) joined from behind, the group got too big and the white-clad team decided to close it down. Duval was, however, in no mood to give up the defence of his jersey and he attacked again with Kadri in his wheel.

Kadri and Duval join the front quartet

The duo was allowed to build up a gap and with 43km to go they caught the front quartet in which Tewelde refused to do any more work. As soon as they hit the day's first categorized climb with 41km remaining the Eritrean and Le Montagner were dropped and they were picked up by the peloton soon after.

On the day's second categorized climb Houle - who had done plenty of work to help Kadri - was dropped and moments later Daniel was also unable to keep up. Surprisingly, Duval also had to let go and Kadri starte another solo escape like the one that brought him the victory in the Roma Maxima one-day race in March.

A huge group goes clear

In the peloton a huge group with the likes of Vaugrenard, Geslin, Edwig Cammaerts (Cofidis), Romain Hardy (Cofidis), Florian Vachon (Bretagne), Armindo Fonseca (Bretagne), Yannick Martinez (Marseille), Cyrille Patoux (Roubaix), Vincent Jerome (Europcar) and Lloyd Mondory (Agr2) got clear on the climb and they quickly picked up Houle. The move was, however, way too big and once again FDJ closed it down immediately.

Once again the pace eased off and Gregor Gazvoda (Champion System) used the opportunity to attack. He was joined by David Le Lay (Sojasun), Pirmin Lang (IAM) and Julien Antomarchi (Marseille) and they quickly picked up Daniel. From behind Christophe Riblon (Ag2r) and William Clarke (Argos-Shimano) joined but once again a move was too big and FDJ closed it down and despite a short-lived counter attack from Riblon and Le Lay FDJ kept everything under firm control.

Kadri alone in the lead

With 19km to go they also picked up Duval, and Kadri was now the lone escapee. However, Duval denied to give up and on the day's penultimate climb he made another attack to pick up more mountain points before he was picked up by the peloton for good.

While Kadri managed to extend his gap to almost a minute, Jean-Lou Paiani (Sojasun) attacked on the flat stretch between the day's two final climbs and he was joined by Jose Goncalves (La Pomme Marseille) and Dominic Klemme (IAM). The trio approached Kadri fastly and as they hit the bottom of the final ascent they were only 20 seconds behind.

Goncalves bursts clear

A quick rush by Goncalves brought the Portuguese back up to Kadri while Klemme and Paiani were both caught by the peloton which was now controlled by Geslin and Vaugrenard with Demare firmly placed in their wheel. Impressively Kadri managed to drop Goncalves again and he crested the summit in solo fashion while the Portuguese rider was picked up by the peloton.

Drucker had attacked near the top of the hill and he managed to join up with Kadri. The duo set off in a desperate attempt to hold off the peloton but FDJ always had every under complete control. They brought everything back together and set Demare up for another convincing sprint win.

Result:

1. Arnaud Demare

2. Geoffrey Soupe

3. Ramon Sinkeldam

4. Kenny Van Hummel

5. Michael Van Staeyen

6. Steele Von Hoff

7. Samuel Dumoulin

8. Sebastien Hinault

9. Evaldas Siskevicius

10. Adrien Petit

General classification:

1. Arnaud Demare

2. Ramon Sinkeldam +0.16

3. Kenny Van Hummel +0.20