Last season the Grand Prix de Denain – Porte du Hainaut (1.Pro, 17/03) was organized in September just before Paris-Roubaix, but this Thursday the classic returns to its traditional place on the calendar.
The race of exactly 200 kilometer around the village in the Hauts de France region is divided in two parts, with the first race half without any difficulties and the second part containing six cobble sections which have to be repeated twice. The first of them, Haspres-Thiant, has to be covered after 110 kilometer and the last one is Avesnes-le-Sec with 10 kilometer to go. The section of Maing-Quérénaing is 2500 meter and the longest one of the race.
Frenchman Adrien Petit (6th in 2013) from Arras is one of the riders of the World Team at the start in his home region. His compatriot Hugo Page, Danish rider Julius Johansen and Belgian riders Dimitri Claeys and Kévin Van Melsenwill also cover the cobbles in the North of France. Dutchman Taco van der Hoorn, who finished tenth in Kuurne-Brussels-Kuurne, completes the selection under the sportive direction of Hilaire Van der Schueren and Steven De Neef.
« The GP de Denain always brings back memories of my solo attack in 2018, which almost offered me the victory. After a very intense Tirreno-Adriatico and a couple of rest days, I feel ready to battle for a good result in this race I love. Our team has several cards to play, I think for example of Taco van der Hoorn who benefited from the same preparation as I and definitely wants to show his good form. The GP de Denain is even more nervous than Paris-Roubaix, because the distance is shorter and there are less cobble sections. And I saw that the wind will also be present on Thursday. I hope that it will be a good day for the team, I want to return home with no regrets! »
