2019’S WINNER ON…

FOUR DAYS OF DUNKRIK 4-9 May | France | 2.Pro

The four days name for a race over six days, is pretty funny. Personally, I like those hors category, or .Pro races as they’re called now, even more than WorldTour racing because they’re less controlled. The fans are also more passionate and organised. This race is not the highest level, but it’s a popular race and everyone knows it. I really like racing there, and of course when I can win it. It was a really special race for the team. You look at the results from 2019 and you see Dylan [Groenewegen] won three days when I won the GC and you think it’s easy, but it was not. There were quite a lot of punchy profiles. Also, the stage that I won on the Cassel climb, it’s quite famous, and so the racing is really hard. Almost every day, there was a kick up in the final. On the final day in 2019, I was supposed to do the lead out, and when I went to swing off, Dylan wasn’t on my wheel so I did the sprint and won. It was a hard effort.

With the world as it is, and my injury last year, the injury this year, the weeks where I won at Dunkirk and wore the yellow jersey at the Tour de France were my last good weeks.