Watson sprints into GC lead at Dunkirk

Sam Watson fired to a powerful sprint win and the overall lead on the fourth stage of the Four Days of Dunkirk, with one stage remaining.

The British rider punched up the final climb to the finish, kicking hard and accelerating to cross the line ahead of Carlos Canal (Movistar), and take the leader’s jersey from third place Lewis Askey (Groupama - FDJ).

With GC leader Axel Zingle (Team Visma - Lease A Bike) abandoning the race with 24km to go, Ben Swift attacked from the peloton at the 19km mark. Swift managed to get away in a group of three, reducing to two as he pushed the pace up the Rue de Tambour.

Despite his efforts, Swift was caught with just 1km remaining, but it was the perfect time for Watson to attack, and he clung on to take the stage win for the team.

Victor Langellotti sprinted to sixth on the stage, and sits eighth on the GC, while Swift’s efforts saw him awarded the Combative award for a second day in a row.

The final flat stage tomorrow will see Watson ride in the white jersey as he sits three seconds ahead of Askey in a battle for the overall win.

Reaction

Sam Watson:

“Thanks to the boys and especially Swifty. I had the easiest ride there - they were always up the road so I could just sit back. As I saw Swifty coming back, I knew if I just took it on on the steep part and keep accelerating all the way up that I could hold everyone off and I managed to do that.

“I knew deep down that a course like this was right up my street so I knew I had to be patient all day. I’ve done this race the past two years and I’ve always got a bit too excited so this year I really sat back and let the race unfold and do one effort and that was the winning effort.

“We’re really unfortunate to have lost Bob and Connor in a nasty crash. But our team is here for the GC so we hope to keep the jersey.”

Over in Italy, it was a tough day in the saddle at the Giro d’Italia, with the Grenadiers showing strong teamwork to keep Egan Bernal and Thymen Arensman in GC contention.

In a day for the climbers, with four categorised climbs over 197km, multiple breakaways littered the race, with eventual winner and ex-Grenadier Luke Plapp (Jayco Alula) taking the overall win solo.

In the final 5km, Jonathan Castroviejo and Brandon Rivera led out Bernal up the finishing climb. The Colombian briefly got away with Tom Pidcock (Q36.5), Juan Ayuso (UAE Team Emirates-XRG), Richard Carapaz (EF Education-EasyPost) and Primož Roglič (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe), before crossing the line with the GC favourites.