Dehaes wins GP de Denain

33-year-old Kenny Dehaes powered to victory in the GP de Denain, jumping away from a select group at the end of a weather-shortened 170km race.

Hugo Hofstetter (Cofidis) won the sprint for second ahead of Julien Duval (AG2R La Mondiale).

Near-freezing temperatures and rain forced organisers to delay the start for half an hour, and eventually to scrap all but one of the 12 sectors of cobblestones on the route, which was originally slated to be 200.6km long.

Once underway, Benoît Cosnefroy (AG2R La Mondiale), Kenneth Vanbilsen (Cofidis), Benjamin Declercq (Sport Vlaanderen-Baloise) and Mathias de Witte (Vérandas Willems-Crelan) were the first to attack, but they were reeled in shortly thereafter.

Nine riders then went clear, with most of the teams represented - the group included Romain Seigle (Groupama-FDJ), Gediminas Bagdonas (AG2R La Mondiale), Kamil Gradek (CCC Sprandi Polkowice), Geoffrey Soupe (Cofidis), Gatis Smukulis (Delko Marseille-Provence), Damien Gaudin (Direct Energie), Jonas Rickaert (Sport Vlaanderen-Baloise), Franck Bonnamour (Fortuneo-Samsic), Wout Van Aert (Verandas Willems-Crelan) and Matthias Legley (Sovac-Natura4Ever).

But the WB Aqua Protect team kept the breakaway close and soon Direct Energie sent reinforcements in Sylvain Chavanel and Adrien Petit across.

By the time the group reached the line for the first time with 93km to go, the peloton pulled them back and a new group escaped, with Chavanel, Duval, Quentin Jauregui (AG2R La Mondiale), Frantisek Sisr (CCC Sprandi Polkowice), Przemyslaw Kasperkiewicz (Delko Marseille-Provence KTM), Yoann Offredo (Wanty-Groupe Gobert) and Jimmy Duquennoy (Wb-Aqua Protect-Veranclassic) in the move.

That attack, too, was swallowed up and later another group went clear with 60km to go: Jonas Koch (CCC Sprandi Polkowice), Nikolay Trusov (Gazprom-Rusvelo) and Preben Van Hecke (Sport Vlaanderen-Baloise).

This move gained a lead of about a minute before Direct Energie again took up the reins, with Chavanel going on the attack with some 50 remaining, followed by Frederik Backaert (Wanty-Groupe Gobert). The pair caught up with the three leaders and forged out a gap of 45 seconds.

But when Chavanel punctured with 36km to go, the energy went out of the move, and it soon was reeled in with one lap to go.

Dehaes was part of a counter-attack that went clear as the peloton splintered in the testing conditions. Despite a late attack from Adrien Petit (Direct Energie) that looked like a winning move, the race came down to a reduced group. But a surprise early move from Dehaes spoiled the sprinters' hopes.

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