Results 4 Jours de Dunkerque 2026 Stage 4 - Birthday glory for Natnael Tesfatsion as Laurence Pithie survives Cassel finale
Cycling
Natnael Tesfatsion celebrated his 27th birthday with victory on Stage 4 of the 2026 4 Jours de Dunkerque, attacking from the front group in the final few hundred metres to win in Cassel.
The Movistar Team rider timed his move perfectly after a selective finale had broken the race apart. Stan Dewulf finished second for Decathlon CMA CGM Team on the same time, while Kim Heiduk took third for the Netcompany INEOS Cycling Team at seven seconds.
Sam Maisonobe followed at 13 seconds, with Liam Slock, Lewis Askey and race leader Laurence Pithie all finishing at 16 seconds.
Pithie had been under pressure in the closing kilometres, but the Red Bull - BORA - hansgrohe rider limited his losses and defended his overall lead ahead of the final stage.
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Early break puts pressure on the race
A five-rider breakaway formed early on Stage 4, with Fabien Doubey of TotalEnergies, Wessel Mouris of Unibet Rose Rockets, Baptiste Gillet and Victor Papon of Nice Metropole Cote d'Azur, and Morne Van Niekerk of St Michel - Preference Home - Auber93 moving clear.
The move built its advantage to around the four-minute mark, with Doubey and Mouris moving into the virtual GC picture through the intermediate sprints. Doubey took bonus seconds at Oost-Cappel, Oudezeele and Sainte-Marie-Cappel, while Mouris was second through all three sprints.
Papon again made the mountains classification his focus after his Stage 2 victory. He took repeated maximum points over Rue de Tambour and Rue d'Aire, and by the time the race entered its final third, he had done enough to secure the KOM classification provided he reached the finish.
The peloton began to stretch out through the repeated climbs, with NSN Cycling Team, EF Education - EasyPost, Red Bull - BORA - hansgrohe, Uno-X Mobility and Tudor Pro Cycling Team all appearing in the chase at different points. Roland Thalmann was involved in a crash, while Valentin Madouas attacked from the bunch with around 80km remaining.
The original break began to come apart as the pressure increased. Gillet and Van Niekerk were caught, while Doubey, Mouris and Papon were eventually brought back after a series of accelerations behind.
Tesfatsion finishes it off in Cassel
Kim Heiduk and Stan Dewulf had bridged across from the peloton with Oscar Chamberlain, before Heiduk took maximum points over the final passage of Rue de Tambour ahead of Dewulf and Antoine L'Hote. By that point, the race had been reduced to a far more selective front end, with the peloton close behind.
The attacks kept coming into the final 20km. Lewis Askey accelerated before being caught, then Liam Slock, Robbe Dhondt and Sam Maisonobe went clear. Heiduk and Dewulf responded from behind, while Tesfatsion later crossed across from the peloton after Alexys Brunel had also attacked.
With just over 10km remaining, Heiduk, Dewulf, Slock, Tesfatsion, Dhondt and Maisonobe led the race by 20 seconds. Slock was a danger on the road, while Pithie chased behind in the group of favourites, where Antoine L'Hote was working.
Pithie was still pulling in the peloton inside the final 5km, trying to keep the gap under control as the front group pushed towards Cassel. The leaders held firm, however, and the stage came down to a fight from the reduced move.
Maisonobe and Dhondt lost contact in the final kilometre after Heiduk accelerated at the front. Askey also launched from behind, but Tesfatsion made the decisive move inside the final few hundred metres and powered clear to take the stage win.
Dewulf finished second on the same time, with Heiduk third at seven seconds. Maisonobe was fourth at 13 seconds, while Slock, Askey and Pithie followed at 16 seconds, leaving Pithie still in control of the general classification before the final stage.
Kieran WoodDeputy Editor-in-Chief
Kieran Wood is a sports journalist based in Wales and has been active in journalism since 2022. He regularly contributes to DartsNews.com and CyclingUpToDate.com, where he covers professional cycling and darts. In cycling, his work includes liveblogs from major races, including the Tour de France, the Giro d’Italia, and La Vuelta a España, alongside race reports and analysis. He has also conducted interviews with professional riders.
His reporting spans the full racing calendar, from one-day classics to stage races, with a focus on accurate, real-time coverage and clear contextual analysis. For statistics, results, and historical context, he regularly uses resources such as ProCyclingStats. To support reporting on rider activity and training context where relevant, he also references Strava.
In his work, Kieran places strong emphasis on careful sourcing, editorial accuracy, and updating articles as new, verified information becomes available.
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- 18 broken bones. 78 crashes, among 30 rider per year is a lot. so for a rider over 15 seasons, they will break their bones 7-8 times and crash 38 times.abstractengineer04-11-2026
- i dont think he is ready ot win against the top 2 or the 2nd rung of evenepoel, del toro , Almeida. In the third week in the TDF he was very very defensive, no attacks. i think he was exhausted. right now he needs time not the brutal Giro or the intense TDF.abstractengineer04-11-2026
- Rota is an excellent rider to get in a break with because he always does his turnchapmanesque04-11-2026
- That 3000 extra that the Tour de France is built up in the flat stages
Rafionain-Glas04-11-2026 - maybe this is something else they can protest in the streets of France.mij04-11-2026
- his Roubaix win was amazing. not to take anything away from him - arguably one of MVDP's wins was at the expense of a WVA flat - but so many things need to line up to get one of these. He had a perfect race with fewer bike issues on an attritional course. And crazy strong as usual. Glad he got this done.mij04-11-2026
- Orts was a super smart signing with the new rules regarding cross and UCI pointsmij04-11-2026
- yeah... you're right...PogiSloFans04-11-2026
- Podcast sounds great. Two so called experts stating the f*cking obvious.wrsty04-11-2026
- A mindset that reminds me of Tim Declerq. I loved watching that guy just pound away the kilometers, hours at the front, holding an entire breakaway in check on his own. Bjerg seems like a similar guy. Curling, the team sport.RidesHills04-11-2026
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