OPENINGThe 2nd edition of the Classique Dunkerque - Grand Prix des Hauts-de-France ran 202.7 km from Dunkirk to Mont-Saint-Eloi, a mostly flat 1.Pro one-day race held the day before the Quatre Jours de Dunkerque stage race began. Cold, soaking rain and a stiff southerly wind defined the day - 13C and 16 km/h winds at the finish - and the crosswinds began thinning the bunch long before the closing circuit. A three-rider break went up the road and built a lead of nearly three minutes.

UNFOLDSWith 45 km to go the front trio still held around 2 min 50 sec over a peloton already fractured by the wind. The chase gradually reeled the move in until only one escapee remained out front - Axel Mariault (CIC Pro Cycling Academy) - as the race reached the finishing circuit around Mont-Saint-Eloi. Behind, a reduced front group containing the day's fastest finishers organised the pursuit, with Decathlon CMA CGM and Red Bull - BORA - hansgrohe most prominent.

DECIDEDOn the final lap, on the rise into Mont-Saint-Eloi that the riders pass just before the finish, Artem Shmidt attacked out of the reduced front group inside the last 14 km. He bridged across to lone leader Mariault, dropped him with a furious turn of pace, and pressed on alone. By 3 km to go his advantage was roughly 30-40 seconds over a disorganised chase strung out in the headwind.

FINALEShmidt held his lead through the long, exposed run-in to win solo by four seconds - his first professional road victory and the first win of the newly rebranded Netcompany INEOS team. Behind him the chasing group sprinted for the minor places: Pierre Gautherat (Decathlon CMA CGM) took second and Jordi Meeus (Red Bull - BORA - hansgrohe) third, with Meeus's young teammate Alessio Magagnotti fourth, all at +4 seconds. Tobias Müller led home the next group at +6 seconds, and INEOS placed a second rider in the top ten with Kim Heiduk seventh.