Wout van Aert happy with Kuurne - Bruxelles - Kuurne win but remains focused on the main goal: "It's time to work again and become that last percentage better ahead of the monuments"

Wout van Aert made his debut at Kuurne - Bruxelles - Kuurne today and added another strong classic to his palmarès. The Team Visma | Lease a Bike rider was again dominant and overwhelming against the rest, and the Belgian sealed it off with a convincing win.

"I'm really happy with this win and with the performances of this weekend. I think it's a great way to start the classics seaosn and as a team we were really good. My first attempt in Kuurne and my first win," van Aert said in a post-race interview. After Visma broke the race apart, the Belgian attacked with 88 kilometers to go and was joined by Laurence Pithie, TIm Wellens and Oier Lazkano.

The latter two kept up with the strong pace over two intense and grueling hours, comfortably holding off the peloton however. The victory was to play for in the finale, and van Aert successfully responded to attacks from both riders in the final kilometers, to then beat them in the final sprint. "Of course it's really good for my confidence to win this race, but it's a very different race than the classics that are coming," he acknowledges

Van Aert remains very focused in the monuments however, after a very successful weekend. "It's time to work again and become that last percentage better ahead of the monuments," he concludes. He sets off for a training camp at Mount Teide over the coming weeks alongside - at least - Jan Tratnik, Tiesj Benoot and Per Strand Hagenes. He will resume racing at the crucial E3 Saxo Classic in late March, skipping Milano-Sanremo in the process.