25/02/2024

Wout van Aert wins Kuurne - Bruxelles - Kuurne following 90-kilometer long attack; Wellens and Lazkano complete podium after tactical finale

Team Visma | Lease a Bike have dominated the Opening Weekend. After Jan Tratnik won Omloop Het Nieuwsblad, the Dutch team doubled up as Wout van Aert won Kuurne - Bruxelles - Kuurne as a result of a long-range attack.

The race in Belgium began with a flurry of attacks and riders trying to make it into the breakaway. Knowing of the day's early climbs that could be decisive for the race, many wanted to have an advantage over the peloton entering it. This neutralized many attacks.

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Eventually a small group did go up the road including Luke Rowe, Dries de Bondt, Jasper de Buyst, Luca Mozzato and Fran Miholjevi´c. A very good group, but the peloton never let the pace go with counter-attacks flying off, the quintet never had any chance of surviving the acceleration from the peloton.

With around 95 kilometers to go there was a crash in the peloton which caused a split, the breakaway was caught and Team Visma | Lease a Bike pushed the pace on a climb, further breaking apart the peloton. The Dutch team again was in full control of the action.

With 88 kilometers to go Wout van Aert attacked, followed by Tim Wellens, Oier Lazkano and Laurence Pithie. Three teammates were in the small chasing group. Eventually Pithie was dropped leaving three riders in front, and was joined by Matteo Jorgenson and Matej Mohoric coming from behind.

However the front trio's gap was expanding to all groups behind and the victory was in front. The rest of the chasers were group by group caught by the peloton but the advantage was very big towards the end. Wellens launched an attack with just over three kilometers to go in a dash to drop van Aert, but the Belgian responded promptly whilst Lazkano struggled to match. The trio then went into a standstill into the finish line.

Lazkano tried to surprise with a late attack but to no avail. Van Aert followed and then sprinted to victory, beating Wellens and the Spanish champion. Christophe Laporte was the best of the rest in the bunch sprint that took place behind.