As it happened: Visma-Lease a Bike complete Opening Weekend dominance at Kuurne-Brussel-Kuurne

Hello and welcome to Cyclingnews' live coverage of the 2024 Kuurne - Brussel - Kuurne.

It’s time for round two of Opening Weekend! Omloop Het Nieuwsblad lived up to the hype yesterday, and today many of the same faces who made that race such a thriller will return to recommence battle.

That includes yesterday’s winner Jan Tratnik, and many of the same Visma | Lease a Bike riders who so animated the race - Matteo Jorgenson, Christophe Laporte, and Wout van Aert. Tiesj Benoot also returns to the line-up a defending Kuurne-Brussels-Kuurne, so, if anything, they look even stronger.

But unlike yesterday, Kuurne-Brussels-Kuurne is characterised by a long, flat run to the finish lasting about 60km, which brings the sprinters back into contention. Consequently, all eyes will be on the fastest sprinter in the world - Jasper Philipsen. The Belgian was off the pace yesterday, finishing down in 66th, but everyone here will be eager not to have to sprint against him in the finale.

As well as Philipsen, this race has attracted plenty of other sprinters who declined to ride yesterday, including Arnaud Démare and John Degenkolb (neither of whom, somewhat surprisingly, have ever won this classic). Jonathan Milan won’t be among them, however, having withdrawn due to a gastrointestinal problem.

The big question at Kuurne-Brussels-Kuurne is whether attackers can forge a successful breakaway, or if the race will come back together for a large group sprint. Recently, the pendulum has swung both ways, with a split of four breakaways and three sprints in the last seven editions.

One rider capable of winning however the race unfolds is of course Wout van Aert, pictured here at the start this morning. He might not have been at his very best yesterday, but this durability makes him a top favourite.

In total there will be 13 climbs tackled today, all of them between 17km - 135km. There’s nothing quite on a par with the Muur, which, as ever, provided such a stunning spectacle yesterday, but their relentless nature offers ample opportunities for attacks.

The nature of the parcours, with all of the climbs coming within the first two-thirds of the race, means the action at Kuurne-Brussels-Kuurne tends to kick off early - so good job for joining us already!

The weather can be of paramount importance at Kuurne-Brussels-Kuurne, particularly if the wind blows. Today it’s cold, but calm, and there is no sign (yet) of any rain, meaning there shouldn't be too much for the riders to worry about so long as the cam keep warm. 

196KM TO GO

Here we go then, the flag has been raised and racing has commenced!

The first climb of the day will be the Tiegemberg, tackled about 20km into the race. 

10kms completed so far, and no breakaway has formed yet. You suspect that will change soon, especially once they start climbing.

180KM TO GO

They've arrived at the first of the 13 climbs of the day, the Tiegemberg.

It seems that climb has not had an impact. There have been attacks, but nothing decisive yet.

170KM TO GO

Still no successful attack and the peloton remains together. The next climb is the Volkegemberg, in about 10km’s time.

There has been a crash, caught on camera, as you can see below. That's Axel Zingle, Ide Schelling, Hugo Page and Gerben Thijssen on the floor. None seem too badly hurt, and there's no word of any abandonments. 

The riders are on the Volkegemberg now. Will this be the moment?

160KM TO GO

That's the Volkegemberg crested, and still no breakway. Perhaps the riders are being courteous to viewers and waiting for television coverage to start to make their moves?

Here’s Julian Alaphilipe dropping back to his team car, identifiable by the rainbow bands on his shoulder, and emblem from a more successful time of his career. His participation had been in doubt after crashing out of Het Nieuwsblad yesterday, but he’s soldiered on, coming out of the incident in pain but with no serious injury.

150KM TO GO

The pace is on, as you can tell from the way the peloton is stretched out in a line, but still no successful attack. Up next is the Lepelstraat, which has only a modest average gradient of 2.9% for its 2.2km duration. 

Intermarché - Wanty have confirmed that, despite his crash, Gerben Thijssen has not had to abandon. He might not be the official leader of the team, what with Biniam Girmay also riding, but his current form (which saw him win a stage and the points classification at the Volta ao Algarve) make him an outside contender, should the race end in a large group sprint.

140KM TO GO

Over a quarter into the race, and still no lead group as been formed. 

One rider less fortunate than Thijseen is Riley Pickrell. The Israel-Premier Tech also went down in a separate incident earlier, and has abandoned.

As we’ve been waiting for the action to kick off here, the final stage of the UAE Tour has just come to a dramatic conclusion. Read about what happened here.

130KM TO GO

Starting with the Bossenaarstraat in a kilometre's time, the climbs begin to come thick and fast now, with it being quickly followed by Berg Ten Houte then La Houppe. This is the kind of terrain that might draw out the favourites and their teams.

Here's Jasper Philipsen earlier today, dropping back to his team car. Unlike a lot of teams, Alpecin-Deceuninck have rung the changes for this race compared to Omloop Het Nieuwsblad, with Philipsen the only constant in the line-ups. Aside from classics specialist Soren Kragh Andersen, this one is a less strong team on paper, and they will face a challenge if Philipsen requires a chase later on to bring him into contention for the win.

120KM TO GO

A small group has, at last, managed to gain a bit of a gap. Dries De Bondt and Jasper De Buyst are there, plus three others.

The leaders have climbed to the top of La Houppe, and have a lead of about 18 seconds - still not much, but they have a gap.

There is a bit of respite from the climbing for a little while now, following the completion of the three in quick succession. The next will be Hameau des Papin, which is just over 10km away.

It seems the other three riders in the breakaway group are Luke Rowe (Ineos Grenadiers), Fran Miholjević (Bahrain-Victorious) ,and Luca Mozzato (Arkea-B&B Hotels).

95km TO GO

So the break in full consists of: Luke Rowe (Ineos Grenadiers), Fran Miholjević (Bahrain-Victorious) ,and Luca Mozzato (Arkea-B&B Hotels), Dries De Bondt (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale) and Jasper De Buyst (Lotto-Dstny). 

Here is those five men up the road. It's a strong group, however there days appear to be numbered as the peloton is closing back down on them.

We're climbing again, and Visma | Lease a Bike are putting the hammer down.

Le Bourlique was the climb, and Van Baarle was the rider. His pace has seen plenty of riders drop out of the peloton.

The break were also swallowed up by that acceleration. There can't be more than 20 riders in the peloton now.

Riders who are in the front group with Van Baarle include Visma teammates Van Aert, Jorgenson and Laporte, plus a resurgant Julian Alaphilippe.

Also in that group: Matej Mohorič, Tim Wellens, and Biniam Girmay. The latter is perhaps a bit of a surprise, as he was involved in a crash earlier.

Their now climbing Mont Saint-Laurent, which is a real tough cobbled effort.

Wout Van Aert is setting the pace!

Only Lazkano is on his wheel...

That duo are joined by a Groupama-FDJ rider and a UAE rider

The UAE rider is Wellens and the FDJ rider is Laurence Pithie. They've got a big gap already, being reported as 45 seconds.

85KM TO GO

That was a bit of an exaggeration - actually the gap looks closer to 20 seconds.

There are lots of Visma riders in the chasing group, which is about a dozen riders strong. Laporte, Van Baarle are both there. As too is Julian Alaphilippe, and Matej Mohorič.

This is a tactically interesting conundrum for Visma-Lease a Bike to figure out. Without a teammate with him in the front group, it surely makes more sense for Van Aert to sit on the others’ wheels, and hope his teammates bridge up to him.

The full run-down of the chasing group is: Laporte, Van Baarle, Jorgenson, Alaphilippe, Girmay, Mohorič, Dylan Teuns, Toms Skujiņš, Victor Campanaerts and Pierre Gautherat.

80KM TO GO

The gap between the leading quartet and the chasers is about 45 seconds.

Another climb now; The Kruisberg. Van Aert is indeed sitting towards the back, while Wellens sets the pace.

The quartet have reached the top, and remain together. Their lead is getting bigger, too, now up to nearly a minute.

And now the chasing group is splitting up - Mohoric and Jorgensen have attacked out of it. There doesn't seem to be an organised chase.

The slowing of the pace in the chase group also allowed a few other riders to join it: Alec Segaert, Vito Braet, Fred Wright, Miles Scotson and another Visma rider in Per Strand Hagenes. But their chase is likely to be weakened now with two Visma riders out ahead.

The quartet’s lead is now over a minute for the first time. Even for a duo as powerful as Jorgenson and Mohorič, this is a big ask.

70KM TO GO

Meanwhile the impetus has indeed gone out of the chasing group behind the duo, who are now drifting further away, 30 seconds behind the duo, and 1-30 behind the leaders.

This is an interesting lead group, a mixture of experience and inexperience. Wout Van Aert is surely the favourite, and Tim Wellens too tends to be very strong at this time of year, while Pithie and Lazkano are lesser known prospects, flourishing today having shown potential in the recent past.

Attack from Van Aert on Côte de Trieu, the penultimate climb of the day! Pithie's been dropped, but Lazkano and Wellens hang on to him.

They've reached the top of the climb, but Van Aert isn't done yet. Even on the descent he's flying, and the other 2 have to work to get back onto his wheel.

Here's the group when it was originally formed, in what looks like it might be the key moment of the race.

Pithie is 15 seconds behind Van Aert, Lazkano and Wellens, and still a minute ahead of Jorgenson and Mohorič. This is a tough situation for him, and there's still one more climb to be taken on in a few kilometres time.

Further down the road, the group behind Mohorič and Jorgenson has broken up, somewhere over 1-15 behind the leaders.

The leaders are on the final climb now, the Kruisberg. Does Van Aert have another big attack planned? He's riding on the front for now...

Van Aert leads them over the top, but opted not to attack. This trio now have 61km of flat until the finish. How long will Lazkano and Wellens be willing to work with Van Aert, knowing he will in all likelyhood finish the off in a sprint?

Pithie has also now reached the summit, but has gone backwards. He's now almost a minute down on the leading trio.

Mohorič and Jorgenson are the next to summit it, and are still about 30 seconds behind Pithie.

60KM TO GO

The leading trio are certainly remaining cohesive for now They're all taking turns, and their lead is growing out, now approaching 1-30.

Though the trio are working well, it does seem that Van Aert is going the lion's share of the work. Which is perhaps to be expected given his reputation, but will he be happy to continue burning up more energy?

A development behind, as Pithie is caught by Jorgensen and Mohorič. He'll be able to help them chase once he's had a little break, but the odds are well against them, with the gap continuing to grow - nearly two minutes now.

There are 13 riders in the group behind Mohorič, Jorgenson and Pithie (lets call them group 3). The problem is, 3 of them are Visma riders. Despite their size it'll be hard for them to organise a chase, and they have a defecit of about 2-30.

50KM TO GO

Inside the last 50km now, and the gap between the two front trios is 2-03. Given the late drama and sudden change at the end of Omloop Het Nieuwsblad yesterday, you wouldn’t want to make any premature predictions, but as things stand it seems likely that one of Van Aert, Lazkano and Wellens will be crowned winner of this race.

45KM TO GO

Still no sign of the leaders slowing down. They’re lead now is up 2-20, and going up all the time.

Way further down the road, group three (the one with 13 riders in it, including Laporte and Van Baarle) is being closed down by a larger group, bigger enough to be called a peloton.

A coming together of those groups will surely add some impotus to the chase, but it might be too little too late. They have over three minutes to make up on the leaders.

40KM TO GO

As for the gap between groups one and two, it's still showing no signs of coming down. With 40km to go, it's at 2-30.

As you can tell from these pictures of the leading trio, Van Aert is doing much of the work. But Wellens and Lazkano are still coming through, and there is no sign of any tension yet.

The leaders have just gone over the final flat cobbled sector of the race, Beerbosstraat. It isn't anything to write home about, and they've negotiated it without any probles. 

No word on how far behind the peloton is behind the leaders. But the fact they are still behind Jorgenson, Mohoric and Pithie, who are themselves still 3 minutes adrift, suggests they don't have any hope of coming back into contention.

30KM TO GO

With their lead seemingly safe, it surely can't be long before the three leaders start playing games. With so much time to play with, they can afford to do so from further out. 

Further back, three riders have jumped out of the peloton - Victor Campanaerts, Fred Wright and Vito Braet. They’re battling only for minor places, however, and are still even a long way behind Jorgenson, Mohorič and Pithie.

Probably the only way the winner doesn't come from this lead trio is if they somehow conspire all to crash, so they'll have to make sure to stay careful. A slightly worrying moment saw them almost overshoot a corner, but they remain upright.

20KM TO GO

Into the final 20km now. Three minutes is the lead.

Wellens and Lazkano will know that Van Aert is better than them in a sprint, and will surely try attacks at some point. And Van Aert will know that they know that, so he too might launch his own attack in anticipation. 

Whereas Van Aert has won plenty of races bigger than this, it could arguably stand to be the biggest of Lazkano's career if he can pull it off. He is Spanish national champion, won Clásica Jaén recently, and was 2nd at Dwars door Vlaanderen. A win here would trump all of that, especially considering the calibre of the opposition.

As for Wellens, he’s often on fire at this time of year, but has never actually won a cobbled classic (if you don’t count De Brabantse Pijl, which he triumphed at in 2018).

The leaders get a taste for the finish, as they cross the line and receive the bell, marking the beginning of the last lap. 

Still three minutes behind, now Mohorič, Jorgenson, Pithie and hear the bell. They're riding hard, and are intent on sealing a top 6 finish for each other.

However, that's looking like a tall order. The peloton are arriving at the line now, and are now within 30 seconds of them.

10KM TO GO

Not long to go now! It surely can't be too long till the first attacks come among the leaders.

Each of the three is still taking their turn. Still waiting for things to kick off...

5KM TO GO

Just 5km to go. The tension is ramping up!

Attack from Wellens!

With 4km he launched a move from the back of the group.

Van Aert has covered it, but Lazkano is struggling. He's just about manage to drag himself back.

They're all looking at each other now, and the pace has slackened. The endgame has begun.

3KM TO GO

Van Aert is being made to lead. Another attack feels imminent.

They're all now drinking their bidons and tossing them aside, preparing themselves for the finale.

Wellens and Lazkano still refusing to take a turn, and Van Aert has slowed the pace down to a stroll.

Wellens is up on Van Aert's shoulder, Lazkano is giving himiself about half a bikelength.

Into the final kilometre!

Lazkano has swung to the other side of the road, about two bikenelgths behind.

Lazkano attacks!

Van Aert's latched onto his wheel, Wellens onto his.

Now Lazkano is having to leadout Looks good for WVA.

Van Aert opens his sprint...and Van Aert wins!

Wellens takes second, Lazkano third.

Here comes the peloton, and there's a crash around the final corner.

Christophe Laporte wins the sprint in the peloton. He takes fourth place - the trio of Mohorič, Jorgenson and Pithie must have been caught earlier. 

So it's a win for Van Aert on Kuurne-Brussels-Kuurne debut. From this and Het Nieuwsblad to Gent-Wevelgem and E3 Harelbeke, he's won practically all the major Flemish classics - apart from the big one, the Tour of Flanders. His early season form suggests he could be on his way to ammending that this year.

It was perhaps surprising to see Wellens launch only one attack. He did give Wellens something to think about in the sprint, finishing just a bikelength behind, but surely his best hope of winning was from an attack.

Lazkano didn't have many options in the sprint, given the speed of the others. The way he laboured to follow Wellens attack also suggests he was on his last legs. This performance confirms him as a major talent, who we can expect to be up there in the upcoming classics this spring. At last, a Spanish classics contender to take over the mantle from Juan Antonio Flecha!

Thanks for joining us today! Another classic, another win for Visma | Lease a Bike, but they once again road with great panache to enterain us all, and the ultimate result came down to the wire - even if Van Aert did always feel odds on. Make sure to read out full report here, and join us again for the rest of the classics season