Arnaud Demare (FDJ) got his title defence at the Four Days of Dunkirk off to the best possible start when he took a very convincing victory in today's first stage of the race. Despite being poorly positioned in the finale, the Frenchman was in a class of his own when he launched a long sprint and easily held off Ramon Sinkeldam (Giant-Shimano) and Yannick Martinez (Europcar) to take both the stage win and the first leader's jersey of the 5-day race.

One year ago Arnaud Demare completely dominated the Four Days of Dunkirk when he used victories in the first three stages of the 5-day race to take the overall victory in one of the most prestigious stage races in his native France. Today he proved that he is fully prepared to defend his title when he kicked off his post-classics season in the best possible way by winning the first stage of the race.

It was a very windy day in Northern France and so the peloton completely blew to pieces when Demare's FDJ team decided to split things up. At one point, the group had split into four but as they faced a headwind in the second part of the race, two bigger groups were formed, with the latter never regaining contact with the first one.

FDJ seemed to be in control the entire day by patrolling the front and neutralizing the many different attacks that were launched throughout the day. However, they got a late scare with 5km to go when Sylvain Chavanel (IAM) took off with Adrien Petit (Cofidis) and built a 10-second gap.

FDJ took a bit of time to get organized but finally joined forces with the small Wallonie team to reel in the two escapees with 2km to go. However, the effort had cost a lot of energy and Demare seemed to be on his own and too far back when Giant-Shimano took control in the finale.

Nikias Arndt delivered Ramon Sinkeldam perfectly on the front but Demare still hadn't given up. Being positioned far back, he launched a very long sprint to blast past several riders, including Sinkeldam.

 His superior speed allowed him to cross the line with a big gap of more than two bike lengths while Sinkeldam had to settle for second in the opening stage for the second year in a row. Yannick Martinez completed the podium.

With the win, Demare also takes the first leader's jersey in the race and he will wear the pink jersey in tomorrow's second stage that head over 166.9km from Hazebrouck to Orchies. The stage is mostly flat but ends with three laps of a 21.1km finishing circuit that includes the 1100m Chemin des Prieres pavé sector that will make the stage reminiscent of a small Paris-Roubaix.

A flat, windy stage

The Four Days of Dunkirk kicked off with a 162.9km stage from Dunkirk to Coudekerque-Banche. After a start at the coast, the riders roledl along flat roads to the hills around the city of Cassel - which are known from Gent-Wevelgem - where they went up three KOM climbs around the midpoint of the stage. From there they returned along flat roads to the finishing city at the coast where they ended the stage by doing two laps of a completely flat 12.3km finishing circuit.

It's WAS very windy day in Northern France and so it was an extremely nervous peloton that rolleD out from the start in Dunkerque. In the pre-race interviews, several riders made it clear that they expected things to split in the harsh conditions.

The wind wreaks havoc on the peloton

Early in the stage, Manuele Boaro (Tinkoff-Saxo), Wouter Mol (Veranclassic) and Jonas Rickaert (Topsport Vlaanderen) managed to escape but they were never allowed much leeway as the nervousness automatically increased the speed of the peloton. As the peloton entered the hills around Cassel, the trio were 2.50 ahead but at this point they turned into a crosswinds.

FDJ and IAM put down the hammer and as a consequence, the peloton split into four groups. The first one was made up of just 29 riders and contained several riders from the French and Swiss teams while a second one with Samuel Dumoulin (Ag2r) was fighting hard 15 seconds behind. The third group was quickly more than a minute behind and merged with the fourth group to form a bunch that never saw the front again.

A new attack

The Dumoulin group rejoined the peloton and the fast pace had also spelled the end for the early break. As they turned into a headwind on the way back to the coast, however, things slowed down and this allowed Rickaert to take off again. This time he was joined by Florian Senechal (Cofidis) and the duo were 15 seconds ahead when they entered the final 40km of the stage.

In the peloton, FDJ had everything completely under control as Matthieu Ladagnous and David Boucher set a steady pace on the front. As they weren't going full gas, however, a second group with the likes of Steve Chainel (Ag2r), Dominic Klemme, Kevin Ista (both IAM) and Yoann Offredo (FDJ) was allowed to rejoin the small main group.

The break is caught

With 30km to go, Senechal had had enough and he decided to wait for the peloton while Rickaert pressed on on his own. While Demare moved into 6th position 5 of his teammates, the young Belgian crossed the line for the first time as the lone leader of the race.

Boucher and Ladagnous had now been joined by their teammate Anthony Geslin in the pace-setting and the trio brought Rickaert back into the fold with 23km to go, the Belgian finally deciding to sit up. At the final intermediate sprint, Sebastien Delfosse (Wallonie) did a long sprint but was passed by Ladagnous who was keen to take away the bonus seconds to protect Demare.

Klemme takes off

Klemme used the confusion at the sprint to take off and he quickly built up a 10-second gap. Behind, Boucher, Geslin and Ladagnous continued their steady pace-setting while the team started to move into position.

Klemme did a good job to stay away for 7km but just before the penultimate passage of the line, Boucher led the peloton back up to the German. Ladagnous led the peloton onto the final lap as FDJ now had to fight for the front positions against a well-organized IAM train.

Chavanel makes his move

IAM took control with 10 kilometres to go, with Marcel Aregger hitting the front as he led a line with Chavanel, Jerome Pineau, Roger Kluge and protected sprinter Matteo Pelucchi. The team were passed by a pair of Cofidis riders that strung out the peloton on a very narrow road.

When they swung off, Chavanel was riding on the front and he used the opportunity to attack. Petit joined him while Pierrick Fedrigo (FDJ) made a big effort in a quest to join them but finally blew up.

FDJ organize the chase

The peloton slowed completely down and in a very short time, the front duo were 7 seconds ahead. Finally, FDJ got their chase organized and they got some assistance from a few Wallonie riders.

The two teams gradually won the battle and with 2km to go, the two escapees were back in the fold as Offredo led the peloton back up to them. Topsport Vlaanderen were the next to take control as they tried to lead out Kenneth Vanbilsen but they were passed by Sebastien Minard who positioned Dumoulin.

Giant-Shimano brought an attack from a Cofidis rider back and they also neutralized a move by Mol under the flamme rouge. From there they remained in control, with Arndt giving Sinkeldam the perfect lead-out. The Dutch team seemed to have nailed it as Demare was nowhere to be seen but suddenly the Frenchman came flying and took a very convincing stage win to continue his domination from last year's edition of the race.