photo credits @ WTFK
Matthew Brennan scored an early-season victory for his Visma-Lease a Bike team, after triumphing in today’s Kuurne-Brussel-Kuurne, delivering a powerful sprint that held-off the Tudor Pro Cycling duo of Luca Mozzato and Matteo Trentin, who finished second and third respectively.
Race Highlights
It took 77km of racing before a small group of seven riders eventually jettisoned the peloton, later building up a modest advantage of just under four minutes.
With 89km to go, Soudal-Intermarche upped the pace on the Le Bourliquet, temporarily splitting the peloton, which was followed by another acceleration by Jasper Philipsen on the cobbled climb of Mont Saint-Laurent, causing additional splits in the bunch.
From there, Matej Mohorič and Omloop runner-up Tim van Dijke formed around Philipsen along moderately steep Kruisberg-Hoton. But, the trio couldn’t stay away from peloton, forcing Philipsen to once again up the pace, bringing the chase within 1:30 of the breakaway with 73km remaining.
Shortly thereafter, Mohorič rode clear with a few riders in tow on Côte du Trieu, later reeling the lead group in on the final climb of the Kluisberg with 61km to race.
However, the peloton came back together in the town of Kortrijk, entering the finishing circuit with a 50-rider strong contingent, with Decathlon-CMA, Visma-Lease-a-Bike and Soudal-QuickStep factoring prominently at the front.
Lotto-Intermarche and Red Bull quickly joined the fray, with a small group of riders attacking out of the peloton with 2.6km to go.
Nevertheless, things ultimately came down to a reduced sprint, with Brennan latching onto his teammate Christophe Laporte’s wheel before executing up his winning move.
Today’s victory came as much needed win for Visma-Lease a Bike, as the Dutch squad has been plagued with illnesses and injuries from the outset of the season.
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