Jasper Philipsen sprints to Kuurne-Brussels-Kuurne victory after another lively finale on Opening Weekend
Updated 02/03/2025 at 17:39 GMT
Jasper Philipsen claimed his first victory of the season after a patient display in Sunday's Kuurne-Brussels-Kuurne. On his 27th birthday, Philipsen hid away in the peloton throughout the afternoon, then as a second bunch sprint of the weekend began to look likely, he seized the opportunity. Olav Kooij and Hugo Hofstetter finished second and third respectively, with Wout van Aert faltering again.
‘Boy did he need that’ – Philipsen sprints to sublime Kuurne-Brussels-Kuurne victory
Video credit: TNT Sports
Jasper Philipsen (Alpecin–Deceuninck) sprinted to Kuurne-Brussels-Kuurne victory, in another race which delivered high drama right at the death.
It was a second dramatic sprint finale in as many days on Opening Weekend, after Philipsen finished third at Omloop Nieuwsblad behind unlikely winner Soren Waerenskjold.
In a fairly steady start to the race, the pack largely stuck together, with several attempts at creating a break nullified.
Finally though, with 150km to go, a meaningful break formed as seven riders, including Dries De Bondt (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale) and Marius Mayrhofer (Tudor Pro Cycling), pulled away from the peloton.
The breakaway managed to extend their lead to over four minutes through a series of climbs, ahead of the key Hameau des Papins, while Jan Tratnik (Red Bull–Bora–Hansgrohe) crashed out and Saturday's shock Omloop winner Waerenskjold slipped behind the pack.
Behind, Lewis Askey (Groupama-FDJ), Jhonatan Narvaez (UAE Team Emirates) and Timo Kielich (Alpecin-Deceuninck) attacked from the bunch, but the latter soon suffered a puncture.
It was not long before a group featuring Visma-Lease a Bike duo Wout van Aert and Matteo Jorgensen broke away from the peloton and caught up with Narvaez – who had managed to shake off Askey. Back up the road, the breakaway's lead remained healthy, but with 80km to go, there were still plenty of twists and turns to come.
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Highlights: Waerenskjold takes surprise Omloop win on the sprint
Video credit: TNT Sports
Jorgensen and Van Aert's animations ultimately came to nothing as the peloton ebbed and flowed, but the Cote de Trieu proved divisive as splits began to break up the pack – Jonathan Milan (Lidl-Trek) and Jorgensen emerging in a front peloton made up of around 25 riders.
Stefan Bissegger (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale) and Tim Wellens (UAE Team Emirates) attacked out of the group with success as they closed the gap on the leaders ahead of Kluisberg, the final climb, while Van Aert looked set to attack.
The Belgian, joined by Roger Adria, began to put some distance between himself and the peloton, but sat up when he could not get a turn out of the Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe rider – the pair seemingly engaging in a verbal exchange before slowing their pace.
As the peloton approached the final 20km, they had managed to cut the gap to just 13 seconds, with a bunch sprint for the second time in as many days appearing more and more likely.
And it was not long before the breakaway were finally caught, with Decathlon, UAE, Uno-X and EF Education–EasyPost all trading turns on the front in a frantic finale.
But it was Alpecin–Deceuninck's Philipsen who emerged favourably from the final bunch sprint, powering through the group to clinch his first victory of the new campaign, and his second podium of Opening Weekend.
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