Four days after taking his first win of the season at the Ronde van Drenthe, Kenny Dehaes (Lotto Belisol) proved that he has hit peak condition in time for the biggest Belgian races when he won the tough uphill sprint on the Nokereberg at the end of the Belgian semiclassic Nokere Koerse. The Belgian held off Tom Van Asbroeck (Topsport Vlaanderen) and Nacer Bouhanni (FDJ) after a strong 16-rider break had dominated most of the day.

After a couple of winless seasons, Kenny Dehaes showed his potential in 2013 when he won four bunch sprints to reestablish himself as one of the leading sprinters on the Lotto Belisol team. After a slower start to the 2014 season, he has finally got the ball rolling and has reached peak condition for the classics season.

Last Saturday, Dehaes showed his versatility when he won the Ronde van Drenthe by making all the key selections on a windy day in the Netherlands that included several passages of the steep Vamberg climb, and today he doubled his tally when he added the Belgian semi-classic Nokere Koerse to his palmares. Unlike Saturday's rare breakaway win, today's victory was a "Dehaes classic" as it was taken in a bunch sprint.

However, it was certainly no easy sprint as the race again ended on the 400m cobbled climb of the Nokereberg and it was a dash to the line for the hard men at the end of the 199.3km race. In the end, it came down to a matter of millimetres when Dehaes held off Tom Van Asbroeck and Nacer Bouhanni in the final dash to the line.

The race was dominated by a strong 16-rider breakaway that was kept under control by the Wanty and UnitedHealthCare teams but it required a huge effort to get things back together in time for the final sprint. The final two escapees, Gert Steegmans (Omega Pharma-Quick Step and Yves Lampaert (Topsport Vlaanderen), were caught on the final lap of the 11km finishing circuit, setting the scene for Dehaes' win.

The Belgian season continues on Friday with the Handzame Classic which is traditionally an affair for the sprinter. Most of today's riders will be back in action in that race and Dehaes will have special motivation as he is the defending champion in the new Belgian semi-classic.

A semi-classic

After a short break, the Belgian season continued with the Nokere Koerse semi-classic. The 199.3km race started in Ronse and brought the riders over mostly flat roads to the city of Nokere. The race ended with 8 laps of an 11km finishing circuit whose main feature was the 400m, 6% cobbled climb of the Nokereberg that led all the way to the finish line.

Last year's edition of the race was cancelled due to bad weather but this year the circumstances were completely different. The riders took off in beautiful weather conditions and this may have inspired the riders to ride hard from the very beginning.

A big group

During the first hour, the peloton covered 48km and the many attacks finally allowed a big 16-rider group to get clear. Iljo Keisse, Julian Alaphilippe, Gert Steegmans (all Omega Pharma-Quick Step), Tosh Van Der Sande, Dennis Vanendert (both Lotto Belisol), Yves Lampaert (Topsport Vlaanderen), Salvatore Puccio (Sky), Martijn Keizer (Belkin), Daniel Oss (BMC), Jerome Baugnies (Wanty), Omar Fraile, Luis Mas (both Caja Rural), Jean-Marc Bideau (Bretagne), Jan Barta, Michael Schwarzmann (both NetApp-Endura), and Niels Van Dijk (Verandas Willems) took off and they were two minutes ahead when they started the first lap of the finishing circuit.

UnitedHealthCare had missed the move and they combined forces with Wanty to lead the chase in the main group, with the latter team apparently not being confident in Baugnies' chances. Despite their hard riding, however, the gap grew to 2.33 but they managed to bring it down to 1.30 where it stayed for most of the final laps.

Steegmans punctures

The escapees had to ride hard to stay away and this proved to be too much for four riders who fell off the pace. The remaining 12 escapees marshaled on but were now losing ground as the gap had dropped below 1.30.

The group lost further momentum when Steegmans had a puncture but the Belgian proved his strength when he chased back on. With 25km to go, the gap was down to just 40 seconds but the escapees managed to reopen it a bit as it was 48 seconds 5km further down the road.

Steegmans and Lampaert take off

11 riders were left in the front group when they started the final lap but with the peloton breathing down their necks, they started to attack each other. Steegmans took off and was joined by Lampaert to form a strong duo that were still 17 seconds ahead when the chasers had all been caught.

In the end, it was too much for the escapees to battle against a hungry peloton and they were swallowed up near the end. The race ended in the expected bunch sprint where Dehaes proved his speed to take his second win of the season.