Kuurne-Brussels-Kuurne 2019 [FULL RACE]

March 03, 2019

Kuurne-Brussels-Kuurne 2019 – Kuurne – Kuurne : 201,1 km

Kuurne–Brussels–Kuurne is an annual single-day road cyling race in Belgium. It is held one day after Omloop Het Nieuwsblad, on the last Sunday of February or the first of March, and completes the opening weekend of the Belgian cycling season. It is ranked a 1.HC event of the UCI Europe Tour.

Bob Jungels completed an Opening Weekend double for Deceuninck-QuickStep as he soloed to victory at Kuurne-Brussel-Kuurne, 24 hours after his teammate Zdenek Stybar annexed Omloop Het Nieuwsblad.

The Luxembourg champion powered away from the decisive break with 16 kilometres remaining and he employed his qualities as a rouleur to hold off the chasing peloton and land victory. Owain Doull (Team Sky) clipped away to take second place ahead of Niki Terpstra (Direct Energie), seven seconds down.

Winner of Liège-Bastogne-Liège a year ago, Jungels was seconded to Deceuninck-QuickStep’s cobbled Classics unit this season and he produced a remarkably accomplished display in what was only the second Flemish Classic of his career after his 16th place at Omloop on Saturday.

Jungels does, of course, have some pedigree on the pavé, having won the under-23 Paris-Roubaix in 2012, and he showcased those skills to force the winning move on the flat stretch of cobbles at Varent with 66km remaining when he was part of a reduced peloton that formed after the ascent of the Kwaremont.

Oliver Naesen (AG2R La Mondiale), Davide Ballerini, Magnus Cort (Astana) and Sebastian Langeveld (EF Education First) were the only men who could follow Jungels, and that quintet soon established a lead of a minute over a peloton that was still piecing itself together the fragmenting in the hills that dotted the middle section of the race.

“I was a bit too far away on the Kwaremont, but due to the headwind there was a regrouping,” Jungels said. “On the cobblestones of the Varent I wanted to thin the group and the five of us got away.”

The quintet had 40 seconds in hand when they crossed the finish line for the first time with 30km to race, but while they collaborated smoothly, Jungels opted to attack alone with 16km remaining. He quickly distanced his erstwhile companions, carrying a lead of 34 seconds in the final 10km.

“I saw that I was the strongest and a15km time trial is something I can do,” Jungels said of his solo effort.

Jumbo-Visma and Bora-Hansgrohe performed the pace-setting duties on behalf of Dylan Groenewegen and Pascal Ackermann, respectively, but Jungels’ teammates – most notably Yves Lampaert – performed a fine job of disrupting the pursuit.

The chase lost further momentum when Mitchelton-Scott stopped pulling after Matteo Trentin was distanced in the finale, and by the time Jungels reached the flamme rouge, it was already apparent that he had a winning gap.

Doull clipped off the front of the bunch in the final kilometre with Terpstra, Lampaert and Jens Keukeleire (Lotto Soudal), and was rewarded for his endeavour across both days of Opening Weekend with second place. But, as was the case so often last spring, the top step of the podium belonged to Deceuninck-QuickStep.

“To win the second race I’ve done on the cobbles is quite extraordinary,” said Jungels. “We’ve won twice this weekend and the boss will be happy too.”

How it unfolded

Under wind and showers, the peloton rolled out from Kuurne, with the majority of those involved still feeling the effects of Saturday’s Omloop in their legs.

The first major break of the day formed after two groups merged with Magnus Cort (Astana), Pim Ligthart (Direct Energie), Jimmy Turgis (Vital Concept-B&B Hotels), Lawrence Naesen (Lotto Soudal), Ludwig De Winter (Wanty-Groupe Gobert), Alex Kirsch (Trek-Segafredo) and Benoit Jarrier (Arkéa-Samsic) linking up the early climbs. By the feed, the seven-man move had established a lead of over four minutes, while Alexey Lutsensko (Astana) was among the early retirements in the race

On the day’s sixth climb, the Kruisberg, the break still had over three minutes on the bunch but their advantage almost doubled to seven minutes at the half-way point as the main field took their foot off the gas before a concentration of key climbs.

Ahead of the Oude Kwaremont Deceuninck-QuickStep lifted the pace, stringing out the field with Yves Lampaert and Omloop winner Zdenek Stybar starting the selection. But it was Team Sky’s Ian Stannard who did most of the damage, splitting the bunch on the lower slopes of the climb with a turn reminiscent of his Classics form of several years ago.

Only Lampaert, Stybar, Oliver Naesen, Stannard, Owain Doull, Kasper Asgreen, Davide Ballerini and Stefan Küng could match the former British national champion and as they crested the climb and approached the Kluisberg the day’s early break had just a 16-second advantage. Over the climb, the lead groups merged with a further batch of riders, including Bob Jungels, Andre Greipel and Matteo Trentin making contact.

Dylan Groenewegen and Pascal Ackermann both missed the split with Deceuninck-QuickStep once again driving the lead group with a number of riders in contention.

It was Jungels who forced the next split, moving clear on the Varent with only Magnus Cort, Ballerini, OIiver Naesen and Langeveld willing or able to follow. By the time the quintet reached the penultimate climb of the Holstrat, they had 23 seconds over the second group, and over a minute on the defending champion and Ackermann.

With just under 50km to go the peloton, led by Jumbo-Visma and Bora-Hansgrohe, caught the Stybar group, but the five leaders still had over a minute’s advantage as they crested the final climb of the race and made the long run-in back to Kuurne.

Jasper Philipsen, making his debut in the race, changed bikes with 33km to go, while the five leaders still held 55 seconds. By this point, however, Jumbo Visma and Bora had upped the tempo, and with a headwind, and then assistance from Mitchelton-Scott, the gap began to slowly drop.

A lull in action was brought to a halt with 25km to go when Trentin was brought down in a crash. The European champion took an age to regain contact with the break’s lead dangling at just over 30 seconds.

Jungels attacked the break with 16km to go and then tucked himself into something approaching a time trial position as he took the bell and settled down to the task at hand.

Results :
1 Bob Jungels (Lux) Deceuninck-QuickStep 4:42:54
2 Owain Doull (GBr) Team Sky 0:00:12
3 Niki Terpstra (Ned) Direct Energie
4 Dylan Groenewegen (Ned) Team Jumbo-Visma
5 Yves Lampaert (Bel) Deceuninck-QuickStep
6 Florian Senechal (Fra) Deceuninck-QuickStep
7 Jens Keukeleire (Bel) Lotto Soudal
8 André Greipel (Ger) Arkéa Samsic
9 Jasper De Buyst (Bel) Lotto Soudal
10 Carlos Barbero (Spa) Movistar Team
11 Hugo Hofstetter (Fra) Cofidis, Solutions Credits
12 Tom Van Asbroeck (Bel) Israel Cycling Academy
13 Ivan Garcia (Spa) Bahrain-Merida
14 Edward Theuns (Bel) Trek-Segafredo
15 Jens Debusschere (Bel) Katusha-Alpecin
16 Andrea Pasqualon (Ita) Wanty-Gobert
17 Pascal Ackermann (Ger) Bora-Hansgrohe
18 Adrien Petit (Fra) Direct Energie
19 Milan Menten (Bel) Sport Vlaanderen-Baloise
20 Hugo Houle (Can) Astana Pro Team
21 Stefan Küng (Swi) Groupama-FDJ
22 Pieter Vanspeybrouck (Bel) Wanty-Gobert
23 Boy van Poppel (Ned) Roompot-Charles
24 Piet Allegaert (Bel) Sport Vlaanderen-Baloise
25 Mitchell Docker (Aus) EF Education First
26 Silvan Dillier (Swi) AG2R La Mondiale
27 Jurgen Roelandts (Bel) Movistar Team
28 Guillaume Van Keirsbulck (Bel) CCC Team
29 Antoine Duchesne (Can) Groupama-FDJ
30 Kasper Asgreen (Den) Deceuninck-QuickStep
31 Sebastian Langeveld (Ned) EF Education First 0:00:18
32 Reto Hollenstein (Swi) Katusha-Alpecin
33 Zdenek Stybar (Cze) Deceuninck-QuickStep
34 Jean-Pierre Drucker (Lux) Bora-Hansgrohe 0:01:01
35 Marco Marcato (Ita) UAE Team Emirates
36 Benoit Jarrier (Fra) Arkéa Samsic 0:01:24
37 Jimmy Turgis (Fra) Vital Concept-B&B Hotel
38 Kevin Ledanois (Fra) Arkéa Samsic
39 Davide Ballerini (Ita) Astana Pro Team
40 Jorge Arcas (Spa) Movistar Team
41 Remy Mertz (Bel) Lotto Soudal
42 Oliver Naesen (Bel) AG2R La Mondiale 0:01:34
43 Nikolas Maes (Bel) Lotto Soudal
44 Jenthe Biermans (Bel) Katusha-Alpecin
45 Ian Stannard (GBr) Team Sky
46 Danny van Poppel (Ned) Team Jumbo-Visma
47 Clement Venturini (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale 0:02:08
48 Cyril Lemoine (Fra) Cofidis, Solutions Credits 0:02:22
49 Alexander Edmondson (Aus) Mitchelton-Scott
50 Aaron Verwilst (Bel) Sport Vlaanderen-Baloise
51 Jesper Asselman (Ned) Roompot-Charles
52 Dion Smith (NZl) Mitchelton-Scott
53 Imanol Erviti (Spa) Movistar Team
54 Tom Bohli (Swi) UAE Team Emirates
55 Kenneth Vanbilsen (Bel) Cofidis, Solutions Credits
56 Josef Cerny (Cze) CCC Team
57 Bert Van Lerberghe (Bel) Cofidis, Solutions Credits 0:02:25
58 Iljo Keisse (Bel) Deceuninck-QuickStep 0:02:31
59 Alex Kirsch (Lux) Trek-Segafredo
60 Robert Stannard (Aus) Mitchelton-Scott 0:02:55
61 Gijs Van Hoecke (Bel) CCC Team
62 Guillaume Boivin (Can) Israel Cycling Academy 0:03:15
63 Lawrence Naesen (Bel) Lotto Soudal 0:03:30
64 Francisco Ventoso (Spa) CCC Team
65 Thomas Boudat (Fra) Direct Energie
66 Christopher Lawless (GBr) Team Sky
67 Tom Scully (NZl) EF Education First
68 Cesare Benedetti (Ita) Bora-Hansgrohe
69 Taco van der Hoorn (Ned) Team Jumbo-Visma
DNF Alexey Lutsenko (Kaz) Astana Pro Team
DNF Viacheslav Kuznetsov (Rus) Katusha-Alpecin
DNF Zhandos Bizhigitov (Kaz) Astana Pro Team
DNF Laurens De Vreese (Bel) Astana Pro Team
DNF Yevgeniy Gidich (Kaz) Astana Pro Team
DNF Edvald Boasson Hagen (Nor) Dimension Data
DNF Lars Bak (Den) Dimension Data
DNF Jaco Venter (RSA) Dimension Data
DNF Magnus Cort Nielsen (Den) Astana Pro Team
DNF Julien Vermote (Bel) Dimension Data
DNF Brian van Goethem (Ned) Lotto Soudal
DNF Giacomo Nizzolo (Ita) Dimension Data
DNF Michael Valgren Andersen (Den) Dimension Data
DNF Grega Bole (Slo) Bahrain-Merida
DNF Matteo Trentin (Ita) Mitchelton-Scott
DNF Luke Durbridge (Aus) Mitchelton-Scott
DNF Mads Pedersen (Den) Trek-Segafredo
DNF Ryan Mullen (Irl) Trek-Segafredo
DNF Rasmus Tiller (Nor) Dimension Data
DNF Michael Hepburn (Aus) Mitchelton-Scott
DNF Alex Frame (NZl) Trek-Segafredo
DNF Christopher Juul Jensen (Den) Mitchelton-Scott
DNF Ramon Sinkeldam (Ned) Groupama-FDJ
DNF Leonardo Basso (Ita) Team Sky
DNF Valerio Agnoli (Ita) Bahrain-Merida
DNF Logan Owen (USA) EF Education First
DNF Sonny Colbrelli (Ita) Bahrain-Merida
DNF Kristijan Koren (Slo) Bahrain-Merida
DNF Ignatas Konovalovas (Ltu) Groupama-FDJ
DNF Luka Pibernik (Slo) Bahrain-Merida
DNF Matti Breschel (Den) EF Education First
DNF Alex Howes (USA) EF Education First
DNF Fumiyuki Beppu (Jpn) Trek-Segafredo
DNF Daniel Hoelgaard (Nor) Groupama-FDJ
DNF Christian Knees (Ger) Team Sky
DNF Harry Tanfield (GBr) Katusha-Alpecin
DNF Olivier Le Gac (Fra) Groupama-FDJ
DNF Bert-Jan Lindeman (Ned) Team Jumbo-Visma
DNF Sven Erik Bystrøm (Nor) UAE Team Emirates
DNF Clément Carisey (Fra) Israel Cycling Academy
DNF Ludwig De Winter (Bel) Wanty-Gobert
DNF August Jensen (Nor) Israel Cycling Academy
DNF Mihkel Räim (Est) Israel Cycling Academy
DNF Zakkari Dempster (Aus) Israel Cycling Academy
DNF Kris Boeckmans (Bel) Vital Concept-B&B Hotel
DNF Marc Fournier (Fra) Vital Concept-B&B Hotel
DNF Jérémy Lecroq (Fra) Vital Concept-B&B Hotel
DNF Lorrenzo Manzin (Fra) Vital Concept-B&B Hotel
DNF Jonas Van Genechten (Bel) Vital Concept-B&B Hotel
DNF Corentin Ermenault (Fra) Vital Concept-B&B Hotel
DNF Clément Russo (Fra) Arkéa Samsic
DNF Amund Grøndahl Jansen (Nor) Team Jumbo-Visma
DNF Franck Bonnamour (Fra) Arkéa Samsic
DNF Timo Roosen (Ned) Team Jumbo-Visma
DNF Maarten Wynants (Bel) Team Jumbo-Visma
DNF Lukas Pöstlberger (Aut) Bora-Hansgrohe
DNF Juraj Sagan (Svk) Bora-Hansgrohe
DNF Michael Schwarzmann (Ger) Bora-Hansgrohe
DNF Rüdiger Selig (Ger) Bora-Hansgrohe
DNF Pieter Serry (Bel) Deceuninck-QuickStep
DNF Pawel Bernas (Pol) CCC Team
DNF Kamil Gradek (Pol) CCC Team
DNF Bagdonas Gediminas (Ltu) AG2R La Mondiale
DNF Nico Denz (Ger) AG2R La Mondiale
DNF Dorian Godon (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale
DNF Stijn Vandenbergh (Bel) AG2R La Mondiale
DNF Anthony Turgis (Fra) Direct Energie
DNF Timothy Dupont (Bel) Wanty-Gobert
DNF Roberto Ferrari (Ita) UAE Team Emirates
DNF Jasper Philipsen (Bel) UAE Team Emirates
DNF Rory Sutherland (Aus) UAE Team Emirates
DNF Carlos Betancur (Col) Movistar Team
DNF Antonio Pedrero (Spa) Movistar Team
DNF Eduardo Sepulveda (Arg) Movistar Team
DNF Christophe Noppe (Bel) Sport Vlaanderen-Baloise
DNF Kenneth Van Rooy (Bel) Sport Vlaanderen-Baloise
DNF Sasha Weemaes (Bel) Sport Vlaanderen-Baloise
DNF Thimo Willems (Bel) Sport Vlaanderen-Baloise
DNF Stan Dewulf (Bel) Lotto Soudal
DNF Conor Dunne (Irl) Israel Cycling Academy
DNF Tom Devriendt (Bel) Wanty-Gobert
DNF Florian Vachon (Fra) Arkéa Samsic
DNF Elmar Reinders (Ned) Roompot-Charles
DNF Boris Vallee (Bel) Wanty-Gobert
DNF Nacer Bouhanni (Fra) Cofidis, Solutions Credits
DNF Emmanuel Morin (Fra) Cofidis, Solutions Credits
DNF Bram Welten (Ned) Arkéa Samsic
DNF Lars Boom (Ned) Roompot-Charles
DNF Sean De Bie (Bel) Roompot-Charles
DNF Michaël Van Staeyen (Bel) Roompot-Charles
DNF Angelo Tulik (Fra) Direct Energie
DNF Wesley Kreder (Ned) Wanty-Gobert
DNF Pim Ligthart (Ned) Direct Energie
DNF Romain Cardis (Fra) Direct Energie
DNF Senne Leysen (Bel) Roompot-Charles
DSQ Nils Politt (Ger) Katusha-Alpecin
DNS Dylan van Baarle (Ned) Team Sky
DNS Nathan Van Hooydonck (Bel) CCC Team
DNS Mads Schmidt Würtz (Den) Katusha-Alpecin
DNS Juan Sebastian Molano (Col) UAE Team Emirates
DNS Zico Waeytens (Bel) Cofidis, Solutions Credits
DNS Jasper Stuyven (Bel) Trek-Segafredo