Daan Hoole misses one of his main goals this spring due to broken pinky

Daan Hoole had set his sights on the spring classics this season, but a broken pinky has disrupted his smooth build-up to his favorite races. The rouleur aims to return for the E3 Saxo Classic but will have to skip one of his main early-season targets: the Grand Prix de Denain.

This French cobbled race—often dubbed a 'mini-version' of Paris-Roubaix—is scheduled for Thursday. Hoole was slated for this race and even designated as the team leader for his new squad Decathlon CMA CGM, but a crash in the recent Paris-Nice threw a wrench in his plans.

The Dutch rider got off to a strong start representing his new team and also impressed in the 'Race to the Sun,' but things went wrong during the rain-soaked fourth stage. Hoole crashed on the route, had to abandon the race, and was diagnosed with a broken pinky.

Free role
This is a major setback for Hoole, who was very ambitious for the GP de Denain. "I don't need to lead the bunch or position anyone as quickly now. If I don’t reach my form or can’t get far enough in the race, that free role will naturally shift into a support role. But initially, I am free," he said last month in an interview with WielerFlits.

"I will try to get deeper into the finale and mainly be fresher," Hoole continued. "In races like the GP de Denain and Paris-Roubaix, I get my own chance. The team will support me then. That’s obviously very different from last year. It’s a big change because this means a completely different way of racing for me."

Decathlon CMA CGM is counting—without Hoole—mainly on the sprinter Cees Bol and the strong tempo rider Stefan Bissegger for Thursday’s Denain. Oscar Chamberlain, Marius Innhaug Dahl, Kasper Haugland, Rasmus Søjberg Pedersen and Gianluca Pollefliet complete the roster.