Zdenek was unable to dethrone Jimmy Engoulvent in the Four Days of Dunkirk. However, our Czech was able to secure second place overall, despite a challenge from the German John Degenkolb.
The fifth stage brought the riders back to Dunkirk. The rain was pouring down, but that didn’t stop the Omega Pharma-Quick Step men from trying to get the overall win for Styby, even though it was an almost impossible task.
Engoulvent was not about the let himself be caught off guard. The Frenchman from the modest Saur-Sojasun team was never far from our champion and would safeguard his pink jersey. The rest of the stage went as expected: a break got away from the peloton, but was eventually caught to set up a sprint finish.
Zdenek could not get in a good position and ended up crossing the line in 21st. The stage went to the Italian Matteo Pelucchi from Europecar, who prevented Degenkolb from earning 10 bonus seconds. The result meant our man finished second in the general classification, 42 seconds behind Engoulvent.