The Handzame Classic in Bredene, Belgium, kicked off today under unfavorable weather conditions. The course was altered due to the persistently bad weather, and in the end it took the riders directly to Handzame, where 11 laps had to be completed before crossing the finish line. A total of 196 kilometers were covered. Kenny Dehaes (Lotto Belisol) managed to win in a mass sprint ahead of two Vacansoleil-DCM riders, Kenny van Hummel and Danny van Poppel. Team NetApp-Endura’s Scott Thwaites sprinted into a respectable fifth place.

The strong wind and the snow broke up the peloton into several large groups right at the beginning of the race. Five riders managed to pull away from a lead group of 50 riders, building up a small lead for themselves. Nevertheless, the field kept the breakaway riders in check and eventually caught them with 12 kilometers to go. After a few attacks launched from the peloton, the race was decided in a mass sprint.

“At first, the race proved to be a little difficult for us after we were unable to get more than one rider into the large lead group. Blaz was the only one who managed to join the group. But the situation improved over the course of the race. After all, we had to do our part to catch up with the breakaway riders. Our plan called for setting Scott up for the sprint. In the last couple of races he has shown that he can more than handle his own at the front of the pack, so we wanted to give him another opportunity to prove himself. However, after all the work we had to do catching up, only Blaz managed to bring him up to the 500-meter mark. After that, Scott was on his own. He finished the race in fifth place, which is a respectable performance considering the hectic final part of the race. And so it was a good overall team performance,” explained Jens Heppner after the race.

Website Handzame Classic