Can Matthew Brennan’s Kuurne win spark Visma into life after difficult start to 2026? “Wout van Aert is still to come back”

For Team Visma | Lease a Bike, Kuurne - Bruxelles - Kuurne was more than a race win. It felt like a release.

After a bruising Opening Weekend that had already delivered crashes, illness and near-misses across Europe, Matthew Brennan’s emphatic victory landed at precisely the right moment.

“There were a lot of smiles,” sports director Maarten Wynants told WielerFlits after the finish. “We had a lot of confidence after how things went yesterday. We hoped it would fall a bit more our way today. I think we really took control of the race, and then we didn’t let go.”

That sense of control had been missing just 24 hours earlier.

Saturday had been defined by frustration. Christophe Laporte salvaged fourth at Omloop Het Nieuwsblad, but Brennan crashed late, halting momentum at a crucial moment. In southern France, Matteo Jorgenson twice found himself close but not close enough, beaten by 19-year-old Paul Seixas at Faun-Ardèche and then by Romain Gregoire at Faun Drôme.

Meanwhile, Wout van Aert’s illness had already delayed his Classics start, and Jonas Vingegaard’s disrupted winter build-up left Visma without their two most visible figureheads in early 2026.

None of it amounted to a crisis. But for a team accustomed to setting the tone, it was a subdued beginning.

Kuurne changed the temperature.

Unlike Omloop, Visma were proactive. They shaped the crosswind sections, controlled the front when splits formed and ensured they were present every time the race fractured.

“Today it was mainly a different course,” Wynants explained. “The wind was better, and at certain points the roads were narrower. Yesterday we wanted to do something similar, but the scenario has to suit you. That was less the case yesterday than it was today.”

The difference was visible. When Brennan briefly found himself out of position in the hill zone, the team did not panic. Pietro Mattio guided him back. The rest locked down the front.

At the finish, the execution was clinical.

Wynants was keen to underline that Brennan’s performance was not accidental, nor was it burdened by expectation. “He’s naturally very calm and mature,” he said. “I don’t think he necessarily felt he had to step into Wout’s shoes. He mainly wanted to win for himself.”

That distinction matters. Brennan was not filling a void. He was advancing his own trajectory.

For Visma, that internal clarity may be as important as the result itself. “I see this as the first logical step,” Wynants added. “He has to prove himself at this level. He’s done that, and now he can move on to the next round.”

The broader takeaway was understated but telling. “Our riders are at level,” Wynants concluded. “That’s definitely encouraging. And Wout van Aert is still to come back.”

In other words, the foundation is intact. The positioning has improved compared to 2025. The system is functioning.

If Brennan’s Kuurne victory was a statement in isolation, its real significance may lie in what it suggests about momentum. A team that had spent the opening days of the spring absorbing setbacks suddenly looked assertive again.

The Spring Classics calendar does not pause for reflection. But if Visma needed a spark to reset the narrative of their 2026 campaign, Brennan may just have provided it.