Two weeks after his first professional victory at the Giro dell’Appennino, Omar Fraile continued his and Caja Rural’s excellent string of successes by winning the queen stage of the 4 Days of Dunkirk. Having been on the attack earlier in the race, the Spaniard proved his impressive strength on the final climb of Mont Cassel where he passed lone leader Maurits Lammertink (Roompot) less than 500m from the line to take the victory.

Crashes, illness and injuries made the early part of the 2015 season one to forget for the Caja Rural team who was left frustrated on numerous occasions during the months of February and March. In recent weeks, however, they have managed to turn things around and has taken a number of victories.

It all started in the Vuelta al Pais Vasco where they delivered an aggressive performance that saw Omar Fraile win the mountains jersey. A few weeks later David Arroyo got very close to the first win in the final stage of the Giro del Trentino but it was Pello Bilbao who finally broke the drought when he won the first stage of the Vuelta a Castilla y Leon on April 17.

Since then the Spanish team have been unstoppable. One week later Fraile took his first professional victory when he won the Giro dell’Appennino and the team had a magical Tour of Turkey where both Bilbao and Lluis Mas managed to win a stage, Mas took the sprints jersey and the team took the collective title. That made them one to watch in this week’s 4 Days of Dunkirk where they aimed at continuing their success.

However, nothing went according to plan in the first part of the race where they struggled on the cobbles and in the sprints. Instead, they waited for today’s queen stage where the hilly terrain should make their many climbers more comfortable.

That turned out to be a wise decision as Fraile confirmed his good condition by taking his second professional victory. With an impressive late surge during the 10th and final passage of the Mont Cassel, he passed Maurits Lammertink to cross the line in first position.

"To win a race in the professional league is very hard, but to win two so close together is very exciting," he said. "Winning was very complicated, the pace was very fast and there was a lot of wind, but winning really gives you a sense of tranquillity and I was able to make the most of that, it took me years to achieve that first win, and then the second one comes just a couple of weeks later, this is truly a great moment for me, I have to make the most of it.

"It was a tough stage, a tough circuit with a lot of wind and a final section with pave. With five kilometers to the finish, the GC teams had split the group after Madazo had been in a good break. With 2 laps to go I was part of a group that included the rider in second overall. We were caught and some people started to pull so it was impossible to escape. I tried with 1.5km to go but I saw there there was too much wind and never got a gap. With less than a kilometre to go, I tried again on the descent to see if I could catch Lammerink. I passed him with 400m to go and I attacked immediately to give him no chance to follow me.

"The same goes for the team, our morale is very high right now, we are super motivated and we keep on getting it right, we too have to make the most of this. January, February and March were complicated months for us, but things are going well now so we have to take advantage of that. Without losing an ounce of our ambition, we must be realistic and keep in mind that our great form and this lucky streak we are currently enjoying will not last all year. The atmosphere within the team is great and days spent competing away from home just fly by."

"It was a great joy after a difficult day in which we had problems with one of the vehicles and in addition to crashes for Fernando Grijalba and Lluis Mas, we also lost Angel Madrazo, the only bad news, as he will return home to become a father," sports director Josemi Fernandez said. "Then Omar gave us great joy woth this win. It was a difficult circuit, with a descent and a climb and a complicated wind, a tough stage that took its toll. Luckily for us Omar had a great day and was able to win. The team did well with Madrazo being very active and always looking for the win. We are doing things right, we must continue to work with the desire to improve and make sure that the good news keep coming. Winning is a joy for the whole team, a reward and motivation to keep believing in us."