The 4-days of Dunkirk, which consists of five days since many years, took place from 6 to 10 May. With a top ten in four of the five stages and a fourth place in the overall, the race in the north of France was a success for Wanty-Groupe Gobert.

“The first day was tough straight away and I couldn’t be happy with the results,” sports director Hilaire Van Der Schueren said. Almost ten kilometres of cobbles known from Paris-Roubaix awaited the peloton. 

The wind made it extra hard. The peloton was split to pieces and the overall chances for Tim De Troyer and Jérôme Baugnies were gone immediately. Frederik Backaert kept his ground in the first echelon and finished 12th. With this results he laid the foundations for a good overall classification. 

In the second stage Boris Dron was part of the day’s breakaway. However the race ended in a bunch kick. On a very dangerous city circuit in Maubeuge, Roy Jans managed to sprint to a tenth place. The day after a three-men breakaway was never caught by the bunch. Jans finished third in the peloton sprint, so sixth on the day’s result.

The fourth stage was the queen’s stage in the 4 Days of Dunkirk. The Kasselberg had to be conquered ten times. Before the start the team’s goals were clear: a good result on the day and a top ten in the overall for Frederik Backaert, currently 12th.

Tim De Troyer was part of the day’s breakaway but at 45 kilometres from the line they were caught already. The battle for the Kassel was about to begin. 

Backaert rode strongly. He easily maintained his place at the front of the race. On the Kasselberg he finished in fifth place, resulting in a fourth place in the general classification.

“Before this race I wanted to use the 4-Days of Dunkirk to prepare for the Bayern Rundfahrt next week,” Backaert said. “But it went better than expected after the little period of rest I had taken. Unfortunately I lose nine seconds in the sprint in the second stage. Otherwise I would have finished third in the overall here.”

However, there was a podium place for Danilo Napolitano. In the final stage with finish in Dunkerque the Italian sprinted to a third position.

“Cofidis rode at the front in the last kilometre but I was immediately behind them,” he explains. “I had to hit the brakes and lost some positions. Luckily I was back on the wheel of winner Theuns immediately. I started my sprint a little bit too late to get passed him.”

After two collar bone surgeries, after a crash in the Three-Days of West-Flanders early March, Napolitano was happy to finish on the podium in his comeback race.

Sports director Hilaire Van Der Schueren was happy with Napolitano’s performance as well. “If you see where he gets back from, after 40 days without any races, this is is good. He clearly trained hard.”

Van Der Schueren  was also happy with the other riders that finished the race. “And that includes Boris Dron who crashes out on the last day and therefore misses Bayern Rundfahrt unfortunately. Other riders showed this week they don’t really live as professional bike riders,” he concludes.