Max Walscheid (Cofidis) won the Grand Prix de Denain - Porte du Hainaut from a bunch sprint on Thursday. He held off Dries De Bondt (Alpecin-Fenix) at the line, who took second, followed by Adrien Petit (Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert Matériaux) in third.
The race looked like it would come down to a sprint among five breakaway riders, with Ineos Grenadiers having three representatives - Magnus Sheffield, Jhonatan Narváez and Ben Turner - alongside Primož Roglič (Jumbo-Visma) and Damien Touzé (AG2R Citroën). The break had been on the attack for the final 35 kilometres of the 200.3km race, but were caught in the final kilometre to set up Walscheid's victory.
"I'm incredibly happy we just did the best performance possible and I'm so happy to finish it off. We took already control in the beginning and also Piet Allegaert did a good lead out for me, he brought me to the last 500 metres and then it was just a bloc to the line," Walscheid said.
"I knew it was a pretty difficult situation and I was a little bit scared we would not catch them back. I have to say thank you to Wanty who also did an incredible team job and were super committed and luckily they brought it back."
In the race to stay in the WorldTour, Cofidis have been among the winners to avoid relegation, taking the Etoile de Besseges with Benjamin Thomas and two stages and a victory in Tour de la Provence. Today's win earned them 200 more UCI points.
"I'm also super happy for our team, we scored a lot of points. My teammates already collected a few victories so I think we can keep this ball rolling."
| Pos. | Rider Name (Country) Team | Result |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Maximilian Walscheid (Ger) Cofidis | 4:42:24 |
| 2 | Dries De Bondt (Bel) Alpecin-Fenix | |
| 3 | Adrien Petit (Fra) Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert Matériaux | |
| 4 | Pierre Barbier (Fra) B&B Hotels-KTM | |
| 5 | Marc Sarreau (Fra) AG2R Citroen Team | |
| 6 | Sandy Dujardin (Fra) TotalEnergies | |
| 7 | Amaury Capiot (Bel) Arkea-Samsic | |
| 8 | Samuel Leroux (Fra) Go Sport-Roubaix Lille Meropole | |
| 9 | Robbe Ghys (Bel) Sport Vlaanderen-Baloise | |
| 10 | Bram Welten (Ned) Groupama-FDJ | |
| 11 | Jonathan Couanon (Fra) Nice Metropole Cote d'Azur | |
| 12 | William Levy (Den) Uno-X Pro Cycling Team | |
| 13 | Flavien Maurelet (Fra) St Michel-Auber 93 | |
| 14 | Rui Oliveira (Por) UAE Team Emirates | |
| 15 | Hugo Page (Fra) Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert Matériaux | |
| 16 | Ward Vanhoof (Bel) Sport Vlaanderen-Baloise | |
| 17 | Nicolas Debeaumarche (Fra) St Michel-Auber 93 | |
| 18 | Karl-Patrick Lauk (Est) Bingoal Pauwels Sauzen WB | |
| 19 | Evaldas Siskevicius (Ltu) Go Sport-Roubaix Lille Meropole | |
| 20 | Mael Guegan (Fra) Team U Nantes Atlantique | |
| 21 | Maxime Urruty (Fra) Nice Metropole Cote d'Azur | |
| 22 | Tom Wirtgen (Lux) Bingoal Pauwels Sauces WB | |
| 23 | Aurélien Paret Peintre (Fra) AG2R Citroen Team | |
| 24 | Kévin Vauquelin (Fra) Arkea-Samsic | |
| 25 | Kim Heiduk (Ger) Ineos Grenadiers | |
| 26 | Luca Mozzato (Ita) B&B Hotels-KTM | |
| 27 | Paul Lapeira (Fra) AG2R Citroen Team | |
| 28 | Daniel Martinez Poveda (Col) Ineos Grenadiers | |
| 29 | Julien Morice (Fra) B&B Hotels-KTM | |
| 30 | Guillaume Van Keirsbulck (Bel) Alpecin-Fenix | 0:00:06 |
| 31 | Fabian Lienhard (Swi) Groupama-FDJ | 0:00:10 |
| 32 | Piet Allegaert (Bel) Cofidis | 0:00:16 |
| 33 | Jhonatan Narvaez Prado (Ecu) Ineos Grenadiers | 0:00:20 |
| 34 | Samuel Watson (GBr) Groupama-FDJ Continental | 0:00:22 |
| 35 | Rait Ärm (Est) Groupama-FDJ Continental | |
| 36 | Primoz Roglic (Slo) Jumbo-Visma | |
| 37 | Matthieu Ladagnous (Fra) Groupama-FDJ | |
| 38 | Cyril Lemoine (Fra) B&B Hotels-KTM | |
| 39 | Damien Touze (Fra) AG2R Citroen Team | 0:00:27 |
| 40 | Ben Turner (GBr) Ineos Grenadiers | 0:00:39 |
| 41 | Kevin Van Melsen (Bel) Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert Matériaux | 0:00:41 |
| 42 | Magnus Sheffield (USA) Ineos Grenadiers | |
| 43 | Dimitri Claeys (Bel) Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert Matériaux | 0:00:47 |
| 44 | Niki Terpstra (Ned) TotalEnergies | 0:01:01 |
| 45 | Lewis Askey (GBr) Groupama-FDJ | |
| 46 | Jens Debusschere (Bel) B&B Hotels-KTM | 0:01:38 |
| 47 | Milan Fretin (Bel) Sport Vlaanderen-Baloise | 0:04:08 |
| 48 | Kenneth Van Rooy (Bel) Sport Vlaanderen-Baloise | |
| 49 | Martin Urianstad (Nor) Uno-X Pro Cycling Team | |
| 50 | Julius Johansen (Den) Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert Matériaux | |
| 51 | David Dekker (Ned) Jumbo-Visma | |
| 52 | Wesley Kreder (Ned) Cofidis | |
| 53 | Johnatan Cañaveral Vargas (Col) Bardiani CSF Faizane' | |
| 54 | Erik Nordsaeter Resell (Nor) Uno-X Pro Cycling Team | |
| 55 | Quentin Jauregui (Fra) B&B Hotels-KTM | |
| 56 | Nicolas Prodhomme (Fra) AG2R Citroen Team | |
| 57 | Lars Saugstad (Nor) Uno-X Pro Cycling Team | |
| 58 | Jason Tesson (Fra) St Michel-Auber 93 | |
| 59 | Norman Vahtra (Est) Go Sport-Roubaix Lille Meropole | |
| 60 | Ayco Bastiaens (Bel) Alpecin-Fenix Development Team | |
| 61 | Ludovic Robeet (Bel) Bingoal Pauwels Sauces WB | 0:05:18 |
| 62 | Dimitri Peyskens (Bel) Bingoal Pauwels Sauces WB | 0:08:19 |
| 63 | Joris Delbove (Fra) St Michel-Auber 93 | |
| 64 | Markus Pajur (Est) Arkea-Samsic | |
| 65 | Iver Skaarseth (Nor) Uno-X Pro Cycling Team | |
| 66 | Enrico Battaglin (Ita) Bardiani CSF Faizane' | |
| 67 | Aaron Verwilst (Bel) Sport Vlaanderen-Baloise | |
| 68 | Kenneth Vanbilsen (Bel) Cofidis | 0:08:23 |
| 69 | Jelle Wallays (Bel) Cofidis | |
| 70 | Taco van der Hoorn (Ned) Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert Matériaux | |
| 71 | Clément Davy (Fra) Groupama-FDJ |
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