PREVIEW | Kuurne - Bruxelles - Kuurne 2025 - Visma vengeance or sprint battle between Milan, Merlier, Philipsen and Kooij?

On the 2nd of March, the peloton races the second of the 'Opening Weekend' classics: Kuurne - Bruxelles - Kuurne. The race that closes the weekend is one of Belgium's most popular classics and deliver a lot of spectacle every year. We preview the race ahead.

The Belgian race features 1800 meters of climbing, mostly in the first two thirds. It is always an extremely interesting race, where attacks come aplenty from the classics specialists over the many climbs and cobbled sectors that the race has to offer.

But the final 60 kilometers present very little difficulties, which creates an interesting dynamic between the attackers and the teams of the sprinters that wish to bring things back. Every year drama is promised and delivered into the streets of Kuurne.

This is a race where often there is a lot of attacking in the hilly area, and there is always an exciting battle between the attackers and the sprinter teams within the final hour of racing. Over the past two years the attackers have indeed succeeded, but this year we see some of the world's very best fast men present at the start line.

Jonathan Milan, Tim Merlier, Jasper Philipsen and Jordi Meeus will certainly have their teams working overtime to get the peloton to reach the finish in a sprint scenario; whilst the likes of Visma, UAE and many other riders will look to make their moves earlier in the day and hold off the rest of the field.

*** Tim Merlier, Jonathan Milan, Jasper Philipsen
** Jordi Meeus, Olav Kooij, Mathias Vacek, Jhonatan Narváez, Soren Waerenskjold
* Wout van Aert, Matteo Jorgenson, Kaden Groves, Luca Mozzato, Fred Wright, Marijn van den Berg, Ivan García Cortina, Jan Tratnik, Tim Wellens, Florian Vermeersch, Brent van Moer, Matteo Trentin, Alexander Kristoff

Pick: Jonathan Milan

How: A lot of attacks but too many interests in a sprint. I believe there will be another bunch sprint, with many top riders, and Milan will take the win.