Two days after winning the Nokere Koerse, Kenny Dehaes was in the role of defending winner when he lined up in the traditional sprint race, Handzame Classic. A puncture in the finale made the sprint difficult for the Belgian who had to settle for 8th.

After several years of struggles, Kenny Dehaes returned to his best in 2013 where he earned himself four sprint victories and this year he has continued his impressive progress. In less than a week, he has taken wins in both the Ronde van Drenthe and Nokere Koerse and today he was again a leader of the Lotto Belisol team.

With his many 2013 wins, Dehaes now finds himself in the position of being the defending champion in certain races. Last year he won the bunch sprint in the Handzame Classic and today he took to the start with the number one dossard on his back.

Unfortunately a late puncture ruined his sprint but Dehaes didn't use the incident as any kind of excuse.

"We took the race in hand with the ambition to win," he told Directvelo. "But I felt a little worse today. In addition, I punctured in the last five kilometres. So I sprinted with less pressure in my rear tire. Otherwise, I may have done a little better, but I would probably not have won. I just was not good enough. Now I focus on Dwars door Vlaanderen and E3 Harelbeke."