"I was pretty sure of my victory, but suddenly I saw Sam Bennett appear" - Warre Vangheluwe describes nail-biting 4 Jours de Dunkerque stage final

Warre Vangheluwe recorded his first professional victory in a daily breakaway of 4 Jours de Dunkerque stage 4, where he was the strongest of the front group and in the final managed to narrowly hold off sprinting Sam Bennett.

Until now, 22-year-old Vangheluwe's best professional result had been 6th from Elfstedenronde Brugge (1.1) two weeks ago. However Vangheluwe made a strong impression in his last year as U23 rider, when he won the Youngster Coast Challenge with his typical late attack when he out-sprinted another Belgian talent - Lotto Dstny's Alec Segaert.

"It was an incredible final," Vangheluwe tells Het Nieuwsblad after his surprising victory. "It was taking risks to get the win. It was an exciting stage until the end. We attacked quite early in the race with six riders. Ultimately, four of those remained in the final lap. In the last kilometer, Alexis Gougeard went for his chance. I pulled towards him and was able to keep him behind me."

However, in the final meters things almost seemed to go wrong for the Belgian. "I was pretty sure of my victory, but suddenly I saw Sam Bennett appear. And then I had to wait anxiously to see whether I had actually won. I came to 4 Jours de Dunkerque especially for this cobblestone stage with the aim of showing myself in it. If I could also win that stage, that would have been great."

While Vangheluwe's win is a big boost for the team, Soudal - Quick-Step saw Kasper Asgreen crash for the second time in the race early on in today's stage. The Dane was able to continue which means he's still in the contention for stage wins at the weekend, despite GC being ruined by the crash of stage 1 which saw Asgreen lose more than six minutes.