4 Jours de Dunkerque / Grand Prix des Hauts de France

Fausto Masnada conquered the best climber classification at the Quatre Jours de Dunkerque, becoming the first Italian in seven years and only the third this century to do so. His success was built on the penultimate stage, where the 30-year-old from Bergamo instigated the main breakaway of the day, going early on the attack and scoring points on all but the last four classified climbs.

That impressive raid on the hills around Cassel put Masnada at the top of the KOM standings and he remained there after the sixth stage – animated from the breakaway by teammate Ayco Bastiaens – which concluded in Dunkerque, where French neo-pro Antoine Huby finished as our highest-ranked rider in the general classification.

“I am happy with this jersey! It’s nice for my confidence to be on the podium of a stage race and I am proud that I could fight for this jersey and take it home eventually. It wasn’t an easy race. Actually, it was pretty hectic this week with all those short but hard climbs, the cobbles and the weather, but all these things make my result even more special.”

“It’s not for the first time in my career that I won the climbers’ classification, but it’s been some time since this last happened, so I am obviously satisfied with having this jersey on my shoulders. It’s a morale-boosting result and now I am looking forward to my next appointment with the team”, said Fausto after the race where Soudal Quick-Step also took a stage victory with neo-pro Warre Vangheluwe.

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