As it happened: group sprint determines victor of the 2026 Kuurne-Brussel-Kuurne
The peloton tackles 13 climbs across 194km of racing on day two of Opening Weekend
Hello and welcome to the 2026 Kuurne-Brussel-Kuurne!
Coming up fast after yesterday’s Omloop Nieuwsblad, we’re back in the Belgian countryside for the second installment of Opening Weekend - Kuurne-Brussel-Kuurne.
If you haven’t already caught up with what happened during yesterday’s dramatic, incident-packed Omloop Nieuwsblad, be sure to read our report covering all the thrills and spills.
After sealing victory yesterday on what was his first race of the road season, Mathieu van der Poel is sitting this one out, paving the way for what looks set to be an open race.
The majority of the riders who competed at yesterday’s Omloop Nieuwsblad are present again today, although the parcours is more suited towards sprinters. That’s reflected in what is a more sprinter-heavy start list, featuring some of the fastest finishers in the world.
One such sprinter is Jasper Philipsen, pictured here at the start with Dylan Groenewegen, and the Belgian is hoping to defend his title after the success of his teammate Van der Poel yesterday.
The riders are on the move, making their way through the neutralised zone. They’ll be racing before long.
It’s dry at the start for now, but the forecasts suggest that rain could potentially have a factor later in the day.
The rain might mostly have held off yesterday, but that didn’t curtail the number of incidents, in what Arnaud De Lie described as being “the most dangerous Omloop of my life.” We summarised some of the fall-out from all of the drama.
Incidentally, the Tudor rider mentioned who broke his teeth, Rick Pluimers, was down to start today, but (understandably) has pulled out, along with his teammate Aivaras Mikutis. That leaves Tudor with just five starters.
Dries De Bondt tried to attack right from the get-go, but no break has formed yet.
With the final third of the race being completely flat without any bergs, Kuurne-Brussel-Kuurne is a frontloaded race, and it won’t belong already until they reach the first of the day’s 13 climbs - the Tiegemberg.
Attacks are being made as they climb the first obstacle of the day, the 1.4km, 3.6% Tiegemberg.
TIEGEMBERG
Ten attackers started the climb with a small gap over the peloton.
Those ten attackers have succeeded in going clear, and the race is all back together again.
Three riders have managed to go clear and build a small lead - Dries De Bondt, Cole Kessler and Matis Louvel.
They've been joined by Johan Jacobs and Frits Biesterbos. This is looking promising.
And now Roger Adrià is setting off in pursuit of the five leaders. He's the kind of bigger name the peloton may deem too dangerous to let go.
160KM TO GO
The five-man break are now 23 seconds up on the peloton, and 16 ahead of Roger Adrià, who has also been joined by another rider.
Biniam Girmay has had to stop for a mechanical.
It seems the peloton has at last sat up - the break's lead is up to over a minute.
Meanwhile Adrià is still trying to join them with his compaion, Storm Ingebrigtsen. The pair are just 15 seconds behind.
The five riders up the road, who appear to have succeeded in forming the day's break.
Things haven’t fully calmed down in the peloton yet. There was a flurry of attackers trying to break and clear and attempt to bridge up to the leaders, but that move has been shut down.
150KM TO GO
The five leaders are 1:10 up on the peloton, while Adrià and Ingebrigtsen continue to dangle 20 seconds adrift.
Adrià and Ingebrigtsen, trying to join the leaders.
140KM TO GO
The peloton has well and truly sat up now, allowing the leading five an advantage of 2:25. In between, Adrià and Ingebrigtsen are still soldiering on, but are finding they can't close the deficit of 25 seconds between themselves and the leaders.
With defending champion Jasper Philipsen in their line-up, and having won yesterday’s Omloop with Mathieu van der Poel, there will be an onus on Alpecin-Premier Tech to control this race and bring the breakaway back. One of their riders, Kaden Groves, spoke to Cyclingnews this morning:
“It was a really difficult stage yesterday, with the weather and all that, so we have to see how the legs are, but we think it's gonna be a pretty chaotic race with the wind."
"In the end we have a great leader in Jasper, and a few of us to anticipate depending on how the race unfolds."
Regarding whether he'll have his own chance, Groves said "We always go into it to work to deliver the best result for the team, and in that case it's Jasper in a sprint. But if it's an attacking final, we also need numbers in the front and that's probably a role of mine.
At long last, after such a resillient chase, Adrià and Ingebrigtsen have joined the front group. Chapeau for the effort!
There’s been a crash in the peloton involving a few riders, Rory Townsend seemingly the worst off.
Talking of crashes, more news has come in from yesterday’s chaotic Omloop - and it’s bad news for Stefan Küng. The Swiss classics specialist is set to miss the rest of the Spring after suffering a heavy fall.
Townsend has abandoned the race, becoming the first DNF of the day.
And now another rider has fallen - Josh Burnett of the Burgos Burpellet BH team.
BOSSENAARSTRAAT
We’re entering a new phase of the race, as they take on the Bossenaarstraat, the first of three climbs in quick succession.
The teams of sprinters Jonathan Milan (Lidl-Trek), Paul Magnier (Soudal-QuickStep) and Jasper Philipsen (Alpecin-Premier Tech) are among those showing their faces at the front of the peloton.
Oliver Naesen also spoke to Cyclingnews today before the race. A veteran of a huge number of Classics, Naesen is always one of the most insightful members of the peloton into one-day racing, and he views Kuurne as "being a battle between offensive Classics riders and sprinting Classics riders."
“It's far from the last climbs to the finish line”, Naesen added, “so I would expect to see a select peloton fighting for the sprint, maybe half of the guys from the start."
He agreed that the absence of Mathieu van der Poel changes everything, "but I can imagine Mathieu in the bus last night asking himself do I really want to go on a 65 kilometre solo, ‘cos that's what he'd need to do to win this race, and that's not going to make for a comfortable Sunday."
As for Naesen himself, Decathlon are fighting for Tobias Lund Andresen in the sprint, so Naesen's own role will be to cover breaks on the climbs.
As well as his Unibet Rose Rockets teammate Rory Townsend, Elmar Reinders has also abandoned the race.
As we approach the decisive climbs of the race, which riders can we expect to launch attacks?
Visma-Lease a Bike’s Christope Laporte is one to watch. He looked great on the Muur yesterday, and has made the top eight in each of the last three editions of this race; and though normally he’d wait for a sprint, the fact he’s riding alongside fast-finisher Matthew Brennan, and the quality of the sprint field competing today, means he’s likely to take more of a front-foot approach this time.
There’s been a crash in the peloton, and about a dozen riders have gone down, including Tim Wellens.
As runner-up from two years ago, Tim Wellens would have been another rider to look out for to try and break out of the peloton on the final climbs. We’ll have to wait and see if he can recover from this fall.
And now there’s been another crash, sprinter Tom Crabbe and Silvan Dillier among the fallers. Things are clearly very tense in the peloton.
Sean Christian (Modern Adventure Pro Cycling) has also abandoned as a result of the Wellens crash.
The pace is really up in the peloton as they approach the foot of the climb! Alpecin-Premier Tech win the fight for position, and lead them onto it.
Things calm down in the peloton as they begin the climb. Jonathan Milan is right at the front, and the pace is slow enough for him to adjust his rain jacket.
At the same time, the pace is high enough for some to start being dropped out of the peloton.
And now the pace is much higher, as Visma-Lease a Bike take to the front.
The peloton is all stretched out after the acceleration from Visma-Lease a Bike.
The peloton has bunched up again, at least towards the front of the group, with Alpecin and Lidl among the teams represented.
Ryan Mullen (NSN) has become he latest rider to abandon the race, after being dropped riding up Hameau des Papins.
Lotto Intermarché are really laying the hammer down on this climb in the peloton, significantly upping the pace.
Riders have been dropped out of the peloton as a result of Lotto's pace.
Lotto have swung off, and if the vacuum left riders are attacking, with Visma and Red Bull especially active.
Yesterday's runner-up Tim van Dijke is off the front by a few bikelengths.
Matej Mohorič is active at the front of the peloton and leads the peloton onto the climb.
Now Jasper Philipsen takes over at the front, and is looking very strong.
In fact, Philipsen has opened up a gap over the peloton on this climb!
Paul Magnier is being dropped out of the back of the peloton - he has a puncture.
Matej Mohorič is onto Phlipsen's wheel.
Milan is right at the back of the peloton and struggling to hold on.
Arnaud De Lie is struggling at the back too, despite all the work done by his Lotto team on the previous climb.
Up ahead, about ten riders have joined Philipsen and Mohoric.
Another ten or so riders have joined that group, and more groups are close behind and will hope to join shortly.
There's now just three climbs left to complete.
The front peloton is much bigger now, as some of the chasing groups have rejoined.
There looks to be about 40 or 50 riders in the peloton now.
Milan, De Lie and Magnier are among those not to have made it back yet. Sprinters like Girmay and Groves have made it, though.
Decathlon have four riders at the front of the peloton as they approach the climb, including their sprinter and leader Tobias Lund Andresen.
Detathlon lead the reduced peloton onto the climb, with several Alpecin riders behind them.
Philipsen accelerates again, just like he did on the last climb.
Two Decathlon riders are with Philipsen - Hoole and Bol.
That trio has been joined by a Red Bull rider, Pithie, and now a third Decathlon rider, Andersen.
Brennan has also joined this breakaway group/
The peloton has bridged up to that escape group. Despite the presence of three Red Bull riders and three from Decathlon, they were unable to work well enough together.
Here's the peloton, with Biniam Girmay still safely in it.
The Milan/De Lie/Magnier group is 1:20 behind the peloton. That's a lot of ground to make up - they might be falling out of contention for the win, even with the long flat section to the finish.
Visma lead the peloton towards the climb, before Alpecin take over at its foot.
A Visma rider accelerates, but doesn't manage to get away.
Now Decathlon take it up, and is taking a small group with him.
Dylan van Baarle is one of those riders, and leads the group over the top.
Van Baarle and Kielich of Visma-Lease a Bike have a small lead on the peloton.
Now Van Baarle and Kielich have been joined by Mohoric and Hoole.
With Magnier in te distant dropped group, Van Baarle has licence to attack.
Riley Sheehan has joined the quartet.
And now Mikkel Honoré becomes the sixth rider in that group.
Red Bull are leading the chase in the peloton, and the days of this sextet look numbered.
That's it, they've been brought back. There's still about 60 riders in this peloton.
Just one more climb to come now, the 1.1km, 5.9% Kluisberg.
Girmay has been dropped on the climb, as has Groves
No attacks went clear on the climb, but the peloton is now reduced to only about 20 riders.
It's actually more like 15 riders than 20.
Three of them are Visma riders, one of whom, Timo Kielich, has attacked on the descent.
Kielich has been brought back.
Also in this group are Brennan, Politt, Trentin, Canal, Van Baarle and Abrahamsen, among others.
This group are 15 seconds ahead of the rest of the peloton, and about 15 seconds behind the leading break.
Berckmoes and Álvarez also appear to be in this group.
Decathlon are leading the chase in the group behind.
The Decathlon-led peloton is bearing down on them. This looks like it's about to all come back together.
That's it, the group has been brought back. We have a large peloton together for the race finale.
There looks to be at least 60 riders in this lead group.
With Milan and Magnier missing from this group, Jasper Philipsen is surely now the favourite for the win. Here he was earlier attacking on one of the climbs - he's looked very strong all day.
Splits are happening in the peloton! It's been caused by Visma, capitalising on the wind.
Two groups have clipped off the front, in echelon formation.
Brennan, Laporte, Kielich, Philipsen, Politt are in the front group.
As is Bol, Renard, Andersen Govekar and Rex.
Red Bull are leading the chase in the second group, now just a few seconds behind.
There is a total of ten riders in this front group.
It's come back together again, as those ten riders are caught.
Not everyone has managed to rejoin yet - there's a group of 20 at the front, and another of about 40 chasing.
Philipsen, Andresen and Brennan are the notable fast finishers in this lead grop.
Van Baarle was one of those to rejoin the lead group, and is now accelerating at the front.
Héctor Álvarez has attacked and has a small gap.
Bike change for Jasper Philipsen! It’s a quick one, but as a result he’s been dropped out of the lead group and into the second.
Álvarez leads the chase group by 10 seconds, who themselves are 12 seconds ahead of the larger chase group containing Philipsen.
Jordi Meeus is another quick finisher in the lead chase group.
Álvarez's time leading the race ends - he has been caught
And the chase group has rejoined the lead group - we have a large peloton all back together again!
Could this be the day that 20-year-old Matt Brennan claims his first spring classic victory? The Brit has done brilliantly to ride at the front all day, and is on paper one of the quickest sprinters left in the peloton. But will the taxing efforts of such a had race trake its toll on his young legs?
Given the way he has been sprinting this season, with victories at the Tour Down Under and sixth at the Omloop yesterday, Tobias Lund Andresen has to be considered a favourite for the expected sprint. His Decathlon team has done much of the work to keep this group together.
Andresen's Decathlon and Brennan's Visma are doing the work at the front of the peloton.
Héctor Álvarez, before he was caught by the peloton.
Another chase group is trying to rejoin the peloton behind, and are only a few secods away.
That group has made the juncture.
Still it's Decathlon and Visma who lead.
Notable by their absence at the front is Alpecin-Premier Tech. Jasper Philipsen is still riding on his teammate’s bike, and the team don’t appear to want to commit for now.
Steffen De Schuyteneer has had to change bikes in this lead group, because of a mechanical.
UAE Team Emirates XRG are also now contributing at the front of the peloton.
Attack from Jonas Abrahamsen.
He's been brought back, but as one of several riders here he won't have chance in a bunch sprint finish, we can anticipate that being the first of many attacks.
Philipsen is, at last, getting a bike change.
Philipsen has picked the first crossing of the finish line to make the change. The peloton cross it now, while Philipsen should have an easy enough time making his way back through the convoy on the long, large finishing straight.
There are five Decathlon riders and another five Visma-Lease a Bike riders leading at the front of the peloton. That strength in numbers should help them when it comes to lead out their sprinters.
Philipsen is back in the peloton already, with no problems. That was smartly played by the Belgian and his team, who were patient and did not panic.
Soudal-QuickStep have placed a number of riders towards the front, but with no obvious sprinter on their books in the absence of the long-dropped Paul Magnier.
The Milan / Magnier group, which also contains Girmay, has just crossed the finish line for the first time.They're a long way behind, so no chance of them getting back into contention.
The pace is really up in the peloton - Lotto Intermarché have taken control, despite the lack of their main man De Lie.
Philipsen might be the quickest sprinter on paper in this group, but he’s lacking in support compared to the others - he has just one teammate with him.
They're into the last 5km!
Lotto, Visma, Soudal-Quick-Step are all vying for control at the front.
There’s been a split, four riders have a small lead.
The split’s been undone - Decathlon did a big effort to close it with just 1500m to go.
NSN lead, Laporte and Brennan lurking nearby...
It wasn’t even close - Brennan launched his sprint and nobody could get anywhere near him.
Luca Mozzato takes second-place in the sprint.
Brennan had the advantage of Laporte's wheel to follow, who delivered him perfectly. Brennan could afford to wait to start his sprint after those around him, and once he did, his acceleration was devastating.
Trentin took third place, meaning Tudor place two men on the podium - that’s a great result for the team.
Here's what Brennan had to say at the finish:
“I was caught out a little bit. All day I was nervous after yesterday’s crash, I hit the floor pretty hard. Unfortunately I was caught out, but I had a great guy in Pietro Mattio, who burnt all his bullets to bring me back. And from there, I was able to move forward and get in the move with all the guys.
“We really wanted to make it hard. We knew we were in the best situation possible. We took the initiative, and I’m so happy that it paid off.”
After all the work they did in the finale, Decathlon got it wrong in the sprint, with Andresen down in 7th and Bol down in 8th. Given their strength in numbers, and all the work they did all day they’ll be disappointed by that.
Jasper Philipsen will surely be even more disappointed, not even making the top ten. Things seemed to be playing out perfectly for him, with his rivals Milan and Magnier dropped while he soared up the climbs at the very front of the race. Did the Belgian burn too many matches accelerating on those climbs, leaving him too tired to sprint?
Brennan's successful sprint also means that Visma have now won three of the last four editions of Kuurne-Brussel-Kuurne. And in each of them, Laporte has played a key role, this time delivering a perfect lead-out for his teammate.
After a tough start to the year with injuries, it seems Visma are beginning to blossom. With Van Aert to be added to the line-up, they could be poised to take on Van der Poel and Pogačar in the classics to come.
As for Tudor Pro Cycling, what a result that is after all the woes of yesterday. The crashes at Omloop left them down to just five starters today, but almost half of them have ended up finishing on the podium.
The headline story is, of course, Matthew Brennan taking this breakthrough victory.
We’ve known about his talent for a while, but this was the first time he did it at a Spring Classic - and by surviving the climbs, overcoming adversary, and retaining enough power to have his usual finishing kick in the sprints, he demonstrated that he has all the attributes to become a classics superstar.
Thanks for joining us, for a day that might be remembered as the beginning of a special relationship between Matthew Brennan and the spring classics.
Talking of ‘special’, coming up next weekend is Strade Bianche and the return to racing of one Tadej Pogačar. As ever we’ll be covering the race start to finish!
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