"It's really difficult to get away" - Jasper Philipsen lacked the climbing legs but had a full-on sprint to win Kuurne - Bruxelles - Kuurne
Cycling
On the day of his birthday, Jasper Philipsen gave himself the best possible gift - to himself and Alpecin-Deceuninck. The Belgian team has won for the first time today, only on the 2nd March, but it was a convincing triumph, fruit of a spotless leadout and a strong sprint.
"A little bit unbelivable to win today on my 27th anniversary... Gets me maybe one year [of] extra power," he jokes. "But it all came together today, we had a really strong team at the end and it wouldn't be possible without them".
Kuurne is typically a race that ends in a sprint, but over the past two years the escapees managed to resist the surge of the peloton to fight between themselves. Visma benefited from strength and depth on both past editions, but today there was no team to be able to make the difference on the tough climbs and cobbled sectors. Only Tim Wellens and Stefan Bissegger moved away from the peloton to join the day's breakaway, and the peloton was still in control of everything.
Philipsen had curiously been dropped earlier and didn't look his best, but was part of the peloton over the last hour of racing. Alpecin didn't spend much time in the wind, and then it's leadout hit the front at the perfect time. With all of his rivals except for Olav Kooij well behind, Philipsen benefited from an ideal leadout of Kaden Groves to then take a spotless win in Kuurne.
"In the end I knew the chances of a bunch sprint were pretty high. The part in between in the hills there were some movements but there was always a big bunch fighting to get back always," he described. "It's really difficult to get away. Honestly I didn't have the strongest legs like yesterday on the climbs".
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Jasper Philipsen wins the 2025 Kuurne Brussels Kuurne!
— Mathew Mitchell (@MatMitchell30) March 2, 2025
The first win of the 2025 season for the Belgian sprinter#KBK25 pic.twitter.com/JxPvH4tQCg
kaden Groves relegated to leadout. He should not have signed for them again
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