As it happened: Big bunch sprint decides Kuurne-Brussel-Kuurne

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

It's time for part two of Opening Weekend, Kuurne-Brussel-Kuurne. Though not quite as hyped as Omloop Het Nieuwsblad, it's still a great race that always provides thrilling action. 

Søren Wærenskjold was the surprise winner of yesterday’s Opening Week first leg. The Norwegian came out on top in what was a rare sprint finish at Omloop Het Nieuwsblad.

Compared with Het Nieuwsblad, sprint finishes are a more common occurrence at Kuurne-Brussel-Kuurne. Wærenskjold could therefore be in the mix again, though he faces a much higher calibre of sprint opposition this time around. 

One elite sprinter taking part again today is Jasper Philipsen. Despite lacking his usual lethal finishing kick, Philipsen was happy with his third-place yesterday, especially the way he managed the bergs to remain near the front all race. And today’s race is one that should suit him better.

The riders are in the neutralised area and will be starting properly in about five minutes.

196KM TO GO

And they're off!

The two sprinters who have probably been the quickest in the world this year are both appearing today - Jonathan Milan and Tim Merlier. Both won two stages each at the UAE Tour, where they got the better of Jasper Philipsen.

In the event of a sprint finish today, there could be a resumption of that battle - albeit in very different conditions, the cold and cobblestones of Belgium a far cry from the hot deserts of the UAE

190KM TO GO

A few kilometres into the stage, and no break has yet formed. 

Two riders are now trying to go clear - Tomáš Kopecký Leander Van Hautegem

But they're unsuccessful and are back in the bunch.

Still no breakaway has been formed. Another 7 riders tried to go clear, but they too were caught.

180KM TO GO

Still the race remains together. Soon they'll be at the first climb of the day, the Tiegemberg.

TIEGENBERG

As they go over the climb, the peloton remains all together. 

170KM TO GO

We've been racing for about 40 minutes now, and still no break has got up the road. 

That might change soon as they approach the next obstacle of the day - the Volkegemberg, a 1.1km cobbled climb that averages 4.2%.

One rider who will, as ever, attract much attention today is Wout van Aert. He was a protagonist of yesterday’s Omloop, making accelerations and putting his Visma-Lease a Bike team to the front of the race, but is clearly lacking form, unable to make his attacks stick or pack his usual punch in the sprint finish. He ultimately finished down in 11th - will he improve on tha today?

Another attempt is being made to break clear, this time by 6 riders. 

160KM TO GO

Those riders have a small gap. Could this be the break of the day?

It seems not - those riders too have been caught. 

Another break has formed, and this one looks more promising. It has 7 riders in it and they're building a gap.

150KM TO GO

And that gap is rapidly growing. It's nearly a minute already. 

The peloton has sat up properly now, allowing that break almost two minutes. At last, we have our break of the day.

The seven riders in that break are:

Huub Artz (Intermarché - Wanty)

Dries De Bondt (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale)

Marius Mayrhofer (Tudor Pro Cycling)

Ward Vanhoof (Team Flanders - Baloise)

Tomáš Kopecký (Unibet Tietema Rockets)

Ceriel Desal (Wagner Bazin WB)

Axandre Van Petegem (Wagner Bazin WB)

That’s a notably strong break, too, especially with the presence of De Bondt and Mayrhofer. Both riders are capable of a good result here, the latter having won the Cadel Evans Great Ocean race in the past, and the latter a stage of the Giro.

BLOEMBEEK

It had been a while since the last berg, but the breakaway riders are back climbing again, up the Bloembeek.

140KM TO GO

The gap's now 3-30 between the peloton and the 7 leaders.

It’s calm out there for now though that’s likely to change when we reach the next cluster of climbs. From 128km to go, there will be three climbs and three cobbled sectors in the space of just 13km.

Sam Bennett is an outside bet for the win today, should he still be in contention for a bunch sprint. 

"I'm looking forward to the race, 'cos I haven't done it for so many years, it always clashed with UAE," he told Cyclingnews in the start in Kortrijk.

"I feel quite good, so I'm just excited to see what I can do here, it's a bit of an unknown. A lot of the times it's a big group and, ok, Provence [where he won two stages last month] was a different level, but I was still there."

"I don't know, I'm more looking forward to the middle part of the race and just compare myself to the rest of the field and just enjoy it. It's strange, I'm always putting myself under pressure to get a result  and I know that's the aim for today but here I'm just looking forward to racing today and seeing what's possible."

As for Saturday and how much you could read from Omloop into possible results at Kuurne, Bennett said "nobody was standing out, nobody was absolutely flying so anything is possible."

"Often I come to these races I'm not super, and I'm with a bit of anxiety because I know I'm going to get my ass kicked. But here I'm knowing I can ride the race."

If the race does conclude with a big bunch going for the finish line, Bennett describes the scenario as "a tired sprint. So it's like riders try to kick off as if it's a normal sprint but riders then realise their legs aren't there any more. There's a lot more moving around. It's different with the fatigue."

"At UAE you'd see the real powerhouses coming through, this is more one for Jasper [Philipsen]. It's different."

Here's a look at the breakaway up the road.

Last year's Omloop winner Jan Tratnik had a puncture just before the Mur de Geraardsbergen, and as he told Cyclingnews on Sunday morning at the Kuurne start, his race was effectively poleaxed as a result.

"It was a strange race," Tratnik said, "for Belgium, at least, it was a strange race. Quickly there was a breakaway and then it was quite relaxed in the bunch, then the last two, two and a half hours was quite fast, but we didn't see many attacks. The group split on the Molenberg, but because there was a crash and then naturally it fell apart."

"But yeah, the feelings were good, I was behind on the Molenberg, but I could stay with the moves. It just wasn't the race I wanted."

"I just wanted more attacks, a more uncontrolled race, and then of course I punctured, just before the Mur so it was the worst timing. And when I punctured, I immediately knew the race was over."

Tratnik is again representing Red Bed Bull-Bora Hansgrohe, having made his debut for the team at yesterday’s Omloop.

"We're coming together as a new group of riders and for sure we need to work together to get used to each other, just like it was a new group in Algarve, but what I could see was a good group, with the brothers Van Dijke [Mick and Tim], and Roger Adria was up there too, in his first ever cobbled Classic. Jordi [Meeus] and Ryan [Mullen] did an amazing job early on as well, and I saw some positive things as well and for sure we saw we made some mistakes, but this will help us moving forward in other races."

Those other races start with Kuurne, of course, and Tratnik says he will be there to help Jordi [Meeus, stage and points classification winner in Volta ao Algarve] as much as possible, and follow moves. “Then we'll see what happens on the climbs."

"I don't know if we'll see a bunch sprint, there are a lot of teams with sprinters, but I see other teams are interested in different scenarios. There's also no wind, so it's very hard to predict."

BOSSENAARSTRAAT

Back to the racing, and the breakaway are climbing again. This is the first of a cluster of bergs that could ignite the race.

BERG TEN HOUTE

They're already on the next climb, Berg Ten Houte. This one climbs for a kilometre at 4.9%

120KM TO GO

The break has made it over these climbs with a lead still intact over over four minutes. 

Matteo Jorgenson was arguably the strongest rider for his Visma-Lease a Bike team at Omloop on a day when globally the results were not up to expectations, with Wout van Aert their best finisher in eleventh. At Kuurne-Brussels-Kuurne, where Van Aert is defending champion, they're hoping for a very different outcome.

"My own performance, personally, was really good, I had a good feeling, it's just to come back from altitude and have a good feeling straightaway like I normally do but always with the first race it's good to put the doubts away and know that you're one of the strongest in the race. So that was good on a personal note."

Regarding Kuurne, "Thankfully we can try to win under the two scenarios. Normally, it's either a frontal group that goes away in the hilly part, or it can be a big bunch sprint, the group comes back from behind. We have Olav [Kooij] who will always stay with the sprinters, but Plan A is to make it really hard in the hills and try to win from there with a select group."

LA HOUPPE

Another climb now, as the breakaway take on La Houppe (1.7km at 4.4%)

110KM TO GO

Having crested La Hoppe, the riders are enjoying a flatter stretch before the next cluster of bergs.

100KM TO GO

The gap remains steady, at 4-25.

Though that gap is coming down as tr pace is on in the peloton. They’re battling for position, with Visma leading the way.

HAMEAU DES PAPINS

This is what they've been battling for position for - the Hameau des Papins climb

It's all happening on this climb - 2 riders have attacked, and another has crashed.

Tratnik is the rider who fell. His bad luck continues following yesterday's puncture before the Muur.

Some riders are being dropped on this climb, including yesterday's winner Søren Wærenskjold. He must be fatigued from the efforts made to win that.

There were in fact 3 rider who attacked on the climb, and they've got a small gap.

Those riders are Lewis Askey, Jhonatan Narváez and Timo Kielich.

This trio has 20 seconds over the peloton.

Now it's up to 3 seconds. This is a strong trio, and they've put themselves in a good position ahead of the coming climbs.

Lidl-Trek are taking responbility of chasing them. They could be controlling things for Milan, or possibly setting up Jasper Stuyven.

Puncture for Timo Kielich, who's changing his bike now. That leaves Narváez and Askey alone together.

It was a slow change for Kielich, too. The bunch caught and passed him before he had managed to remount. 

LE BOURLIQUET

The peloton are climbing Le Bourliquet, with Visma leading them.

Jorgenson's the rider at the front, and he's causing splits.

As Jorgenson said this morning, Visma's strategy is to make the race hard during this section of hills. They don't want a big bunch sprint.

Jorgenson went clear with about ten riders, but they've been brought back.

The leaders are on Mont Saint Laurent, one of the hardest climbs of the race. The peloton are approaching, 2-30 behind.

MONT SAINT LAURENT

An attack from Tim Wellens on the climb.

Abrahamsen is on Wellens' wheel.

Wellens and Abrahamsen have caught Askey, who was dropped by Narváez earler on the climb.

Problem for Jordi Meeus on the climb. It'll be hard for him to get back onto the peloton. 

Stan Dewulf has joined that trio.

Those four have been brought back by another group that escaped from the peloton.

And now Narváez has been brought back too.

This new group features Van Aert, Jorgenson among others.

80KM TO GO

Meanwhile the leaders are now only 1-40 ahead of this group.

There's less than 20 riders in this group. 

The impetus has gone out of this group, however, and the peloton are bearing down on them.

That's it for this group, they've been brought back by the peloton. There are now no riders between the peloton and the leaders.

KRUIBSERG

The peloton are climbing Kruisberg, the last cobbled climb of the race. Surely there's going to be some attacks...

Visma are the team lighting things up, with Jorgenson again at the front.

Milan was on his wheel, but is struggling as they near the top.

Jorgenson's pace was fast, but not enough to force splits. Now Van Aert is leading on the draggy road after the summit.

Rui Oliveira and a EF rider tried an attack, but it was short-lived.

Attack from Van Aert!

He's taken a few riders with him, but they're not breaking the elastic.

All back together now.

70KM TO GO

Meanwhile all this action is going to spell the end of the break's chances. They're only 45 seconds up the road.

Stefan Bissegger is the latest to attack out of the peloton. They're less worried about him than they were of Van Aert. 

COTE DE TRIEU

Attack from Tim Wellens on the Côte du Trieu, the penultimate climb of the day.

Wellens is about to catch Bissegger.

It's all breaking up in the peloton after that climb, it's strung out and there are splits.

There are about 25 riders in a front peloton, and many caught out behind.

Top sprinters Milan and Philipsen are both in that front peloton.

Meanwhile ahead, Bissegger and Wellens are still 25 seconds away from the leaders They've also picked up Huub Artz who was dropped out of that group.

60KM TO GO

The pelotons have come back together, to form one big peloton again. They're 56 seconds behind the leaders.

Wellens, Bissegger and Artz have joined the leaders, just as they're about to start the day's final climb.

KLUISBERG

Van Aert attacks on the climb!

It's a big one this time. He's gone away with just one other rider.

They crest the top with a gap of several seconds.

In the reduced peloton behind, Van Aert has multiple Visma teammates towards the front. That could make the chase complicated. 

The Red Bull rider with Van Aert is Roger Adrià.

Van Aert and Adrià have 10 seconds on the peloton, and 17 seconds behind the leaders. 

If this duo can join the leaders, that'll be a strong and dangerous group.

The gap's grown a little between Van Aert/Adrià and the peloton. It's now 17 seconds.

Van Aert's not happy though! Adrià hasn't been taking any turns, and now the Belgian is remonstrating with him.

Van Aert's sitting up. He's going to allow himself to get caught by the peloton.

Adrià's sat up too. The pair have been caught.

50KM TO GO

That leaves just the nine riders out front. They're lead is 35 seconds.

It seems very likely that the race will come down to a sprint. The bunch is still very large, and most of the big name sprinters are in it - Philipsen, Merlier, Milan, Kooij.

Here's Van Aert on the attack earlier, with Roger Adrià glued firmly to his wheel.

Philipsen is at the team car, sorting a problem with his radio. He might be the top contender for the win following the way this race has unfolded.

40KM TO GO

The peloton aren't rushing to bring the break back yet. The gap remains at 36 seconds.

The sprinters' teams have this firmly under control. They're setting a fast enough pace for noone to attack on this flat terrain, which doesn't feature any more hills from now until the finish.

There is an attack in the break, however, fom De Bondt.

Wellens and Desal have joined De Bondt.

Now most of the others bridge over, but not Van Petegem nor Bissegger.

It's surprising to see Bissegger dropped, you'd have thought he'd be one of the strongest given that he was the rider who bridged to the group with Wellens earlier. But he's been caught by the peloton now.

Wellens is off on the attack again.

De Bondt and Desal are onto his wheel.

Artz is the latest rider from the break to drop back into the peloton.

 Mayrhofer has joined the leaders. He, De Bondt, Desal and Wellens are working well together.

30KM TO GO

They're working well enough in fact to retain a lead of 30 seconds on the peloton.

Soudal-QuickStep and Lidl-Trek are especially well represented in the long train of riders leading the peloton. If they still have enough left in the tank come the finale, they could be able to give their respective leaders Merlier and Milan good lead-outs in the sprint.

Here's De Bondt earlier, attacking. The riders behind him, Wellens and Desal, are the ones he's with now, along with Mayrhofer.

Milan, Philipsen and Merlier are the top favorites for the win as we approach a likely bunch finish. But sprint finishes in tough classics like this don’t always play out like you’d expect - as we saw yesterday.

There are plenty of riders here who could spring a surprise. Look out for Sam Bennett, Milan Fretin, among others.

Cofidis clearly fancy their man Fretin’s chances. They’ve sent a rider to help the chase in the peloton, who is leading it at the moment.

20KM TO GO

Just 13 seconds now for the break. The end is nigh.

One team conspicuously absent from the front is Visma-Lease a Bike. Their plan on tearing the race to pieces and forcing a break to go clear did not work out, but it’s not too late for them to rescue this race. They have Kooij for the sprint, who is one of the sprinters capable of challenging the big three.

These are the four riders up the road. The peloton can see them now, on a long, straight road only 12 seconds ahead.

As the break cross the finish line to hear the bell, there's a bit of a fight to cross the line first. Desal moved to the front to take it, only for De Bondt to sprint past him.

That's it, the break has been caught. 

10KM TO GO

The break caught, the sprinters' teams jobs aren't over yet - they've got to control the peloton, deter attacks, keep their man well-positioned and prepare the final lead-out.

The break, shortly before the peloton's capture.

Jordi Meeus is also present in the peloton and a contender in the sprint, though did have to work hard earlier to rejoin the peloton after bike problems.

Decathlon are leading the peloton. Could this be a day for Sam Bennett?

5KM TO GO

UAE take control as we enter the final 5km.

Now Uno-X have a train at the front.  Wærenskjold's been dropped but Tiller is here. Can they make it an unlikely two wins in two days?

Crash in the peloton, Govekar is the only faller. It hurt, but he doesn't look injured.

EF have numbers at the front, as we enter the final 3km.

EF still at the front with 2km to go.

1KM TO GO

Final kilometre!

Visma lead into it.

Now Alpecin takes over...

Philipsen sprints...

..Philipsen wins!

JASPER PHILIPSEN WINS

Olav Kooij came very close to passing him, but couldn't quite.

That's Philipsen's first win of the season, after his near missess in the UAE

Philipsen benefited from a brilliant lead-out from Kaden Groves. Other sprinters tried to go around him even before Philipsen started his sprint, but were unable to such was the pace from Groves.

While Alpecin kept Philipsen perfectly positioned in the finale, the other big favourites Milan and Merlier found themselves well down in the finale. 

Behind Philipsen and Kooij, Hugo Hofstetter was 3rd, Arne Marit 4th and Rick Pluimers 5th

Milan finished 6th, starting his sprint from too far back to compete for the win.

Philipsen is building quite the palmares of classics. He today adds Kuurne-Brussel-Kuurne to Milan-Sanremo, Eschborn–Frankfurt, two editions of Scheldeprijs and two editions of Brugge-De Panne.

Thanks for joining us today. That’s Opening Weekend finished, and the racing comes thick and fast from here on in for the rest of the Spring. The season is well and truly underway