Rain, snow and cold made for an epic edition of the Belgian race Handzame Classic today. The peloton caught a three-rider break inside the last kilometer, and Kenny Dehaes (Lotto-Belisol) got the maximal benefit from the subsequent bunch sprint to get his second win of the season.

It has not been easy to organize bike races in Europe this season, and bad weather have forced a number of races to be cancelled. With snow and wind forcing organizers to call off Wednesday's Nokere-Koerse, today's Handzame Classic was also at risk.

A number of course modifications made it possible for the race to go ahead, but with wind, rain and snow it turned out to be a brutal affair with many riders abandoning along the way. The harsh conditions made it difficult to control the usually sprinter-friendly race, and the fast-men's tired domestiques only caught a final three-rider break inside the final km to set up the expected mass sprint.

Kenny Dehaes (Lotto-Belisol) finished off an aggressive performance of his team and outsprinted the Vacansoleil duo of Kenny Van Hummel and Danny Van Poppel to take his second victory of the season. After a number of winless years, the former Katusha rider finally seems to have returned to his former strength, and today's victory was just another confirmation of a career that seems to be back on track.

The wind splits up the peloton

The modifications of the course meant for 197 km journey which mostly consisted of 10 laps of a completely flat 16 km circuit. Temperatures at the start were just 3 degrees Celsius, and the combination of a brisk wind and sleet made for an extremely cold experience.

A number of teams were not discouraged by the terrible weather and immediately tried to used the winds to split up the peloton. 20 km into the race, the field broke into two main parts with plenty of riders struggling on their own further back.

The front group consisted of around 50 riders, and the strong teams of Omega Pharma-Quick Step, Lotto-Belisol and Argos-Shimano had all strong representations. Having missed the break, a number of smaller teams desperately tried to bring back the main peloton, and after a frantic chase the finally succeeded 60 km into the race.

A five rider break goes clear

Five riders used the resulting hesitance in peloton to break clear. William Clarke (Argos-Shimano), Jonas Vangenechten (Lotto-Belisol), Youcef Reguigui (MTN-Qhubeka), Sean De Bie (Leopard Trek) and Kess Heytens (Team 3M) escaped the peloton and built up a gap. For a short time they were chased by Stijn Steels (Crelan-Euphony), Songezo Jim (MTN-Qhukeba) and Christoph Phingsten (CT de Rijke), but the counterattack was eventually caught.

The group built up a maximum advantage of 4.10 before Blanco and NetApp decided to bring back the escape to set up their sprinters Theo Bos and Roger Kluge, respectively. Following an attack from Vangenecten, Heytens was dropped, and only 4 riders remained in the front group. The hard tempo of the chase meant that one of the pre-race favourites, recent Driedaagse van West-Vlaanderen stage winner Danilo Napolitano, was dropped from the peloton.

As the gap fell below the 30 seconds mark with 16 km remaining, Vangenechten once again tried a solo escape and was only joined by Reguiui. It was, however, a short-lived escape, and it was all back together with 12 km remaining.

A dangerous three-man group escapes in the final

Sensing that a number of the sprinters' teams were tired, Bert Grabsch (Omega Pharma-Quick Step), Wesley Kreder (Vacansoleil) and Alphonse Vermote (An Post-Chainreaction) used the opportunity to attack. They built up a gap of 22 seconds and fought valiantly to keep the peloton at bay.

As they passed the flamme rouge, the escape still had a 10 second gap, but it turned out not to be enough. They were swallowed up on the finishing straight, and it was all back together for a final bunch sprint. Kenny Dehaes proved to be faster than the rest and secured an important home victory for his Belgian team.

Results

1 Kenny Dehaes - Lotto Belisol 04.49.12
2 Kenny Robert Van Hummel - Vacansoleil-DCM Pro Cycling Team
3 Danny Van Poppel - Vacansoleil-DCM Pro Cycling Team
4 Tom Veelers - Team Argos-Shimano
5 Scott Thwaites - Team Netapp - Endura
6 Robert Thomas Wagner - Blanco Pro Cycling Team
7 Luka Mezgec - Team Argos-Shimano
8 Roy Jans - Accent Jobs - Wanty
9 Jo Kogstad Ringheim - Team People4You - Unaas Cycling
10 Michaël Van Staeyen - Topsport Vlaanderen - Baloise
11 Justin Van Hoecke - Wallonie - Bruxelles
12 Wesley Kreder - Vacansoleil-DCM Pro Cycling Team
13 Timothy Dupont - Ventilair - Steria Cycling Team
14 Kevin Suarez Martinez - Doltcini - Flanders
15 Alessandro Bazzana - Unitedhealthcare Pro Cycling Team
16 Jim Van Den Berg - Koga Cycling Team
17 Kurt Hovelijnck - Crelan - Euphony
18 Barry Markus - Vacansoleil-DCM Pro Cycling Team
19 Juan Jose Lobato Del Valle - Euskaltel Euskadi
20 Darijus Dzervus - Doltcini - Flanders
21 Jean-Pierre Drucker - Accent Jobs - Wanty
22 Kenzie Boutté - Doltcini - Flanders
23 Julien Stassen - Wallonie - Bruxelles
24 Fabio Silvestre - Leopard - Trek Continental Team
25 Alphonse Vermote - An Post - Chainreaction
26 Andrew Fenn - Omega Pharma - Quick-Step Cycling Team
27 Bert Vanlerberghe - Ventilair - Steria Cycling Team
28 Alexander Serebryakov - Euskaltel Euskadi
29 Benjamin Verraes - Accent Jobs - Wanty
30 Youcef Reguigui - MTN - Qhubeka
31 Andris Smirnovs - Doltcini - Flanders
32 Bart Van Haaren - Koga Cycling Team
33 Iljo Keisse - Omega Pharma - Quick-Step Cycling Team
34 Baptiste Planckaert - Crelan - Euphony
35 Nick Mertens - Doltcini - Flanders
36 Artur Ershov - Rusvelo
37 Adam Blythe - BMC Racing Team
38 James Vanlandschoot - Accent Jobs - Wanty
39 Sam Bennett - An Post - Chainreaction
40 Tom Goovaerts - Team 3M
41 Daniel Klemme - Leopard - Trek Continental Team
42 Marius Bernatonis - Team 3M
43 Sebastian Lander - BMC Racing Team
44 Martin Kohler - BMC Racing Team
45 Wouter Mol - Vacansoleil-DCM Pro Cycling Team
46 Nikolay Trusov - Cyclingteam de Rijke - Shanks
47 Jarl Salomein - Topsport Vlaanderen - Baloise
48 Sjoerd Kouwenhoven - Cyclingteam de Rijke - Shanks
49 Bert Grabsch - Omega Pharma - Quick-Step Cycling Team
50 Jetse Bol - Blanco Pro Cycling Team
51 Marcus Burghardt - BMC Racing Team
52 Aldo Ino Ilesic - Unitedhealthcare Pro Cycling Team
53 Kevin Peeters - Crelan - Euphony
54 Fredrik Ludvigsson - Team People4You - Unaas Cycling
55 Julien Vermote - Omega Pharma - Quick-Step Cycling Team
56 Piero Baffi - Leopard - Trek Continental Team
57 Yu Takenouchi - Colba - Superano Ham
58 Eugenio Alafaci - Leopard - Trek Continental Team
59 Maurits Lammertink - Vacansoleil-DCM Pro Cycling Team
60 Tim Declercq - Topsport Vlaanderen - Baloise
61 Steven Van Vooren - An Post - Chainreaction
62 Kevin Verwaest - Doltcini - Flanders
63 Peio Bilbao - Euskaltel Euskadi
64 Roman Maikin - Rusvelo
65 Michael Olsson - Team People4You - Unaas Cycling
66 Frederique Robert - Lotto Belisol
67 Nikias Arndt - Team Argos-Shimano
68 Jens Debusschere - Lotto Belisol
69 Robert Pölder - Team People4You - Unaas Cycling
70 Blaz Jarc - Team Netapp - Endura
71 Jonas Ahlstrand - Team Argos-Shimano
72 Yoeri Havik - Cyclingteam de Rijke - Shanks
73 Thomas Sprengers - Topsport Vlaanderen - Baloise
74 Martin Wesemann - MTN - Qhubeka
75 Yves Lampaert - Topsport Vlaanderen - Baloise
76 Jeroen Lepla - Ventilair - Steria Cycling Team
77 Antoine Demoitie - Wallonie - Bruxelles 0.25
78 Gaetan Bille - Lotto Belisol
79 Sander Cordeel - Lotto Belisol 0.29
80 Wout Franssen - An Post - Chainreaction 0.49
81 Jack Wilson - An Post - Chainreaction
82 Joren Segers - Team 3M
83 Jon Aberasturi Izaga - Euskaltel Euskadi
84 Tosh Van Der Sande - Lotto Belisol
85 Pit Schlechter - Leopard - Trek Continental Team
86 Frantisek Rabon - Omega Pharma - Quick-Step Cycling Team
87 Tobias Ludvigsson - Team Argos-Shimano
88 Niko Eeckhout - An Post - Chainreaction
89 Laurent Evrard - Wallonie - Bruxelles
90 Andrei Solomennikov - Rusvelo
91 Jonathan Mcevoy - Team Netapp - Endura
92 Olivier Chevalier - Wallonie - Bruxelles 1.01
93 Christoph Pfingsten - Cyclingteam de Rijke - Shanks
94 Sander Helven - Topsport Vlaanderen - Baloise
95 Tarik Chaoufi - Euskaltel Euskadi
96 Tim De Troyer - Accent Jobs - Wanty
97 Steffen Radochla - Euskaltel Euskadi
98 Ralf Matzka - Team Netapp - Endura
99 Alexander Wetterhall - Team Netapp - Endura 1.15
100 Theo Bos - Blanco Pro Cycling Team
101 Roger Kluge - Team Netapp - Endura 1.37
102 John Murphy - Unitedhealthcare Pro Cycling Team 1.45
103 Erick Rowsell - Team Netapp - Endura 1.51
104 Benjamin Day - Unitedhealthcare Pro Cycling Team
105 Jacobe Keough - Unitedhealthcare Pro Cycling Team
106 Clément Lhotellerie - Colba - Superano Ham
107 Michael Cools - Ventilair - Steria Cycling Team 3.18
108 Moreno Hofland - Blanco Pro Cycling Team
109 Tom Thill - Leopard - Trek Continental Team
110 Bradley Potgieter - MTN - Qhubeka
111 Timothy Stevens - Team 3M
112 Tim Mertens - Topsport Vlaanderen - Baloise
113 Arno Van Der Zwet - Koga Cycling Team
114 Jonas Van Genechten - Lotto Belisol
115 Francesco Van Coppernolle - Ventilair - Steria Cycling Team
116 Michael Schwarzmann - Team Netapp - Endura
117 Michael Vingerling - Team 3M
118 Willem Wauters - Vacansoleil-DCM Pro Cycling Team
119 Umberto Atzori - Koga Cycling Team
120 Stefan Vreugdenhill - Koga Cycling Team
121 Philip Lindau - Team People4You - Unaas Cycling
122 Lawrence Warbasse - BMC Racing Team
123 Maarten Neyens - Lotto Belisol
124 Mark Mcnally - An Post - Chainreaction
125 Yannick Eijssen - BMC Racing Team
126 Matthias Vanden Heede - Colba - Superano Ham
127 Niels Schittecatte - Colba - Superano Ham
128 Rutger Roelandts - Ventilair - Steria Cycling Team
129 Stefan Van Dijk - Accent Jobs - Wanty 7.40
130 Adrian Saez - Euskaltel Euskadi
131 Joeri Stallaert - Crelan - Euphony
132 Sean De Bie - Leopard - Trek Continental Team
133 Christopher Jones - Unitedhealthcare Pro Cycling Team
134 William Clarke - Team Argos-Shimano
135 Jos Van Emden - Blanco Pro Cycling Team
136 Jonathan Breyne - Crelan - Euphony 8.01
137 Valery Kaykov - Rusvelo
138 Coen Vermeltfoort - Cyclingteam de Rijke - Shanks
139 Steve Schets - Doltcini - Flanders 8.15