Roglic takes on Tour de France cobbles 'dress rehearsal' at GP Denain

Slovenian Primoz Roglic of JumboVisma crosses the finish line of the fifth stage of 80th edition of the ParisNice cycling race from SaintJustSaintRambert to SaintSauveurdeMontagut 1888 km in France Thursday 10 March 2022BELGA PHOTO DAVID STOCKMAN Photo by DAVID STOCKMANBELGA MAGAFP via Getty Images
Primoz Roglic (Jumbo-Visma) at Paris-Nice (Image credit: Getty Images)

Thursday's GP Denain occupies a relatively minor place among spring's cobbled Classics, the 1.Pro race nestled in the days before the season's first Monument at Milan-San Remo and a week before the cobbles come to the WorldTour on the run-up to Flanders and Roubaix.

Big names like Arnaud Démare, Mathieu van der Poel, and Jasper Philipsen have scored early-spring victories in Denain in recent years, though this Thursday the race will welcome a handful of Tour de France contenders seeking to test the cobbles ahead of July.

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