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GP de Denain podium history | 2021 edition | 2023 edition | Start list

Denain - Denain, 200.3 km

Race map & profile

Max Walscheid is the winner. Cofidis photo

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Weather at start/finish city of Denain at at 1:00 PM, local time: 9C (49F), partly cloudy, with the wind from the north at 13 km/hr (8 mph). No rain is forecast.

The race: Here's the report from third-place Adrien Petit's Intermaché-Wanty-Gobert team.

This Thursday, the Belgian World Team Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert raced on the roads of the Grand Prix de Denain (1.Pro, 17/03), a classic of exactly 200 kilometer in the Porte du Hainaut region with twelve cobble sections in the second race half.

Behind the breakaway of five riders which escaped in the first race hour, Hugo Page launched a solo counterattack in the third cobble section Maing-Querenaing, the longest one of the race (2500 meter). The 20 year old Frenchman caught the dropped riders from the breakaway and managed to continue his effort until the seventh section, with 46 kilometer to go.

Immediately afterwards, Page joined his teammates who had taken control of the peloton and forced a merger of all escapees and the bunch on the beginning of the eighth cobble section. The whole team under the direction of Steven De Neef and Hilaire Van der Schueren then chased a new breakaway of five riders on the section of Monchaux-sur-Ecaillon – Maing.

The final 25 kilometers showed an intense chase behind the five riders. The gap was maintained at 25 seconds thanks to the Belgian team, the best represented in the reduced peloton despite the crash of Taco van der Hoorn. The pulls of Kévin Van Melsen, Hugo Page, Julius Johansen and Dimitri Claeys resulted in a merger with the breakaway under the red flag.

Adrien Petit was the first one to launch his effort with 300 meter to go. After a powerful sprint, the rider from Arras finished third, his best result in eight participations. In this way, Petit took the second podium for the Belgian World Team. His compatriot Page finished in the top fifteen despite his numerous efforts.

“When we realized that the cobble sections didn't provoke an important selection and that the wind didn't blow in the right direction, we chose to play my card. My teammates did a great job to reduce the gap with the five leaders in the final, I didn't want to disappoint them. In the final hectometers I came from the back and used my speed to launch my sprint.

"I probably started my effort too early because I think I had the legs to win, but I am happy that I would reward the team with this podium. I lost the habit of focusing on a result for myself as I really love my job as a lead out rider. Last winter, we thoroughly reflected on whether it was preferable to add this GP de Denain to my program in view of Paris-Roubaix or to accompany Alexander Kristoff in the Italian classics. In the end, I'm happy that all of this resulted in such a nice result, in front of my home crowd!” - Adrien Petit

Complete Results:

200.3 kilometers raced at an average speed of 42.557 km/hr

Race map & profile:

2022 GP de Denain map

2022 GP de Denain profile

Start list with back numbers, March 16, 2022: