“I didn’t have fresh legs anymore” – Jasper Philipsen’s wait for first 2026 win continues after chaotic Kuurne - Bruxelles - Kuurne

Kuurne - Bruxelles - Kuurne was supposed to offer Jasper Philipsen a reset. Instead, it delivered another hard lesson in how unforgiving Opening Weekend can be.

Caught behind the wrong wheel, chasing back after a puncture and fighting through a race shredded by wind and pressure, Philipsen arrived in the final but not at his sharpest.

“I didn’t have fresh legs anymore,” he admitted afterwards in comments collected by HLN. “The race was hard, and the puncture didn’t help. In the final with a headwind, it just didn’t come out. No complaints. My sprint didn’t fully come out, but that’s just how it is.”

For a rider still searching for his first win of 2026, it was another near-miss shaped more by cumulative damage than pure speed.

“I chose the wheel of the Red Bull - BORA - hansgrohe riders because I was counting on their strong lead-out,” Philipsen said. “But they got boxed in on the right-hand side.”

In a finale already shaped by crosswinds and fatigue, that split-second loss of space proved decisive. With no clear lane opening in front of him, the acceleration never fully materialised.

By the time the race returned to Kuurne for the local laps, the expected full bunch had long since been dismantled. Tim Wellens had crashed out earlier in the day. On Mont Saint Laurent, the tempo distanced several headline sprinters. Crosswinds inside the final 35 kilometres forced further splits, thinning the front group in waves.

Philipsen himself had already been compromised once. A puncture forced a bike change and an energy-sapping chase back to the leaders. He did return, but the cost was visible in the closing metres.

The finale briefly threatened to splinter again before settling into a positioning battle inside the final kilometre. When the sprint opened, Matthew Brennan proved clearly fastest, while Philipsen could not produce the acceleration that has so often defined him in recent seasons.

There was no visible frustration in his words, only realism. “No complaints.”

It continues a stop-start beginning to the campaign. After a DNF at Omloop Nieuwsblad and without a victory during the Volta ao Algarve, Kuurne represented a chance to reset the narrative. Instead, it underlined how unforgiving Opening Weekend can be when crashes, cobbles and crosswinds combine.

Philipsen was there in the decisive group. He made the selections over the hills. He fought back after adversity. But in a sprint that demanded both freshness and perfect positioning, neither quite aligned.

For now, the search for a first win of 2026 goes on.