2022 Grand Prix de Denain

2022 Grand Prix de Denain
2022 UCI ProSeries
2022 French Road Cycling Cup
Race details
Dates17 March 2022
Stages1
Distance200.3[1] km (124.5 mi)
Winning time4h 42' 24"
Results
  Winner  Max Walscheid (GER) (Cofidis)
  Second  Dries De Bondt (BEL) (Alpecin–Fenix)
  Third  Adrien Petit (FRA) (Intermarché–Wanty–Gobert Matériaux)
← 2021
2023 →

The 2022 Grand Prix de Denain – Porte du Hainaut was the 63rd edition of the Grand Prix de Denain one-day road cycling race. It was held on 17 March 2022 as a category 1.Pro race on the 2022 UCI ProSeries calendar.[2] It was also the second event of the 2022 French Road Cycling Cup. After the 2021 edition was postponed to September by COVID-19 precautions,[3] the race returned to its usual spring timeslot.[4]

The race, which was 200.3 kilometres (124.5 mi) long, took place in and around Denain in northern France. After riders covered a 39.6-kilometre (24.6 mi) circuit to the north of Denain and made the first passage across the finish line, they then took on a larger, 60.4-kilometre (37.5 mi) circuit to the south of Denain. After their second passage across the finish line, riders completed two laps of a 50-kilometre (31 mi) circuit that featured 10.4 kilometres (6.5 mi) of cobblestones spread across six sections. The last of these sections, from Avesnes-le-Sec to Hordain, concluded 10.8 kilometres (6.7 mi) before the finish line.[4][5][6]

Early in the stage, a five-rider group went off the front to establish the main breakaway of the race. With around 70 kilometres (43 mi) left, the group began to break up while in the peloton behind, there were several attacks to try and bridge the gap, but the peloton absorbed all of the escapees with around 30 kilometres (19 mi) left. Shortly thereafter, the Ineos Grenadiers trio of Jhonatan Narváez, Magnus Sheffield, and Ben Turner launched another break, and they were joined by Primož Roglič (Team Jumbo–Visma) and Damien Touzé (AG2R Citroën Team). The quintet established a maximum lead of around half a minute before Groupama–FDJ and Intermarché–Wanty–Gobert Matériaux took control at the front of the peloton to close the gap. With under 2 kilometres (1.2 mi) left, the lead group was brought back by the peloton; Narváez tried another attack but was brought back inside the final kilometre. In the final sprint, Adrien Petit led out the sprint before Max Walscheid emerged from his slipstream in the final 100 metres (330 ft) and held off Dries De Bondt for the win.[7][8]

  1. ^ "Parcours 2022" [2022 Course] (in French). Grand Prix de Denain. 14 March 2022. Archived from the original on 17 March 2022. Retrieved 17 March 2022.
  2. ^ "Grand Prix de Denain - Porte du Hainaut". UCI. Archived from the original on 17 March 2022. Retrieved 17 March 2022.
  3. ^ "GP de Denain postponed due to COVID-19". CyclingNews. Future plc. 26 January 2021. Retrieved 17 March 2022.
  4. ^ a b "Le Grand Prix de Denain, c'est le 17 Mars!" [The Grand Prix of Denain is on 17 March!] (in French). Grand Prix de Denain. 9 March 2022. Archived from the original on 17 March 2022. Retrieved 17 March 2022.
  5. ^ Middendorp, Koen (17 March 2022). "Voorbeschouwing: Grand Prix de Denain 2022" [Preview: Grand Prix de Denain 2022]. WielerFlits (in Dutch). Retrieved 17 March 2022.
  6. ^ Guide 2022, pp. 8–19.
  7. ^ Tyson, Jackie (17 March 2022). "Walscheid wins GP de Denain". CyclingNews. Future plc. Retrieved 17 March 2022.
  8. ^ Kaplan, Greg (17 March 2022). "Grand Prix de Denain: Max Walscheid wins with late sprint from reduced peloton". VeloNews. Outside Interactive, Inc. Retrieved 17 March 2022.