NOS Wielrennen•zondag, 16:45
Van Aert wins Kuurne-Brussels-Kuurne
The second battle at the traditional opening weekend of the Flemish cycling spring is also for Team Visma – Lease a Bike. After Jan Tratnik’s surprising victory on Saturday followingnoon in Omloop Het Nieuwsblad, the win in Kuurne-Brussels-Kuurne today went to Wout van Aert.
After 196.4 kilometers, the 29-year-old Belgian was too fast for fellow refugees Oier Lazkano (Movistar) and Tim Wellens (UAE Team Emirates) on the streets of Kuurne. It is Van Aert’s first victory in the Belgian semi-classic. Last year his teammate Tiesj Benoot won.
Visma – Lease a Bike, just like a day earlier in the Omloop, the peloton quickly separated on the Flemish and Walloon hills. With 87 kilometers to go, Van Aert accelerated on Mont Saint-Laurent and from a group of 20 only Spanish champion Lazkano, Wellens and New Zealander Laurence Pithie might follow.
AFPWout van Aert, Tim Wellens and Oier Lazkano
The latter dropped out on the Côte de Trieu, the twelfth of the thirteen slopes in total. After the Kluisberg, the last slope, there was still 60 kilometers to go, with only a few cobblestones.
First participation, first win
Things were going well for the leaders and Dylan van Baarle, Matteo Jorgenson and Christophe Laporte controlled the chasing group on behalf of Visma. Partly because of this, a counterattack by the Slovenian Matej Mohoric (Bahrain Victorious) did not succeed.
In the final, Van Aert was not surprised when Wellens attacked and he also parried an attack from Lazkano without any problems. Van Aert immediately won in his first participation in Kuurne-Brussels-Kuurne. On Saturday he finished third in the Omloop.
Wellens came second in Kuurne, Lazkano third. Van Aert’s French teammate Laporte won the sprint of the chasing group and the Dutchman Nils Eekhoff (Team dsm-firmenich PostNL) finished fifth.
