The third step of the podium in Kuurne was taken up by Bahrain Victorious and their Slovenian star Matej Mohorič. He had the power to make the deciding split 84km out at Le Bourliquet and race to the final with the eventual five-man group that emerged thereafter, but at the line, missed out as Tiesj Benoot and Nathan Van Hooydonck sprinted to glory.
Despite the near miss after spending almost half the race out in front, the feeling in the Bahrain Victorious camp afterwards was largely one of satisfaction that they had done all they could to make the race and go for their third win of 2023.
"I think we've been riding really well," Fred Wright told Cyclingnews on the long N50 road that hosted the start and finish of Sunday's race. "We're maybe not quite on the same level as Jumbo-Visma, but I thought we rode really well as a team today."
After taking to the stage to celebrate a hard-earned podium spot, his first of the season, Mohorič told Cyclingnews that he was happy with his day's work.
"I'm happy because it was the most I could do," he said. "I don't think I could have won today because the parcours was not hard enough in the final.
"I mean, if I had the legs to counter Nathan really super, then yes, but I didn't, so it was the maximum I could do.
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"Yes," he added when asked whether it was too flat to make a gap in the finale. "Also, Taco [Van der Hoorn, fourth] was gambling a lot, and I was expecting a big, big attack from him. That would make it easier for me to counter, too, but I didn't come. But everybody does their own race in the final. This is the way it should be."
The results sheet shows Jumbo-Visma having dominated the race, and that was pretty much the story of that final run-in, too. Aside from a countermove by Mohorič at 3.5km to go, the front group saw Benoot and Van Hooydonck take turns to jump at the front before the final, successful move came after the last bend onto the home straight.
As Benoot shot away, Tim Wellens turned around to see Van Hooydonck behind him, the 27-year-old forcing the rest to come around him to chase and sprint. Mohorič said that following Benoot in the final would just have seen him lose out on even a podium place. Jumbo-Visma had played the numbers game perfectly.
"I didn't want to close the gap to Tiesj also because then it would have probably cost me the podium," Mohorič said. "Because I would have drawn the other guys with me, and that would ruin my chances in the sprint. So, third place is fine."
Mohoric (right) on the final podium of Kuurne-Brussel-Kuurne (Image credit: Luc ClaessenGetty Images)
Wright, who was pleased with his form on the day despite missing the winning attack, said he thought that his teammate was the strongest man in the move, which began as Jumbo-Visma put in an uphill acceleration on the 1.3km, 6.1% Le Bourliquet.
The Dutch squad took Mohorič and Wellens, plus Peter Sagan, along with them as they caught Van der Hoorn and the rest of the day's breakaway before the group slimmed down to five on the cobbled Mont Saint Laurent 5km later.
"I was caught in two minds," Wright said of the cobbled hill, at which point the leaders were only 20 seconds up the road. "With Matej up the road, I missed that split. But on the cobbled climbs, I don't know – I think I had the legs to be there if I had got the positioning right.
"Matej was there, and it's a shame because he was the strongest guy in the break, I think. But with two Jumbo riders, it's always going to be difficult. Then we had Johnny [Milan] for the sprint in the end there."
During the long chase following the split – which saw the gap swing out to 1:45 at the Kluisberg climb 52km out before slowly eroding to the minute the leaders took into the final kilometre – several Bahrain riders, including Wright, could be seen waving away the motorbike leading the peloton.
The Briton acknowledged that the slipstream behind the bike does have some influence, with his team keen to avoid the sprint squads catching Mohorič but mused that the leaders would have had similar assistance in any case.
"The motorbikes are ridiculous at these races," he said. "They shape the races, you know? It's annoying sometimes. But I'm sure they had motorbikes in the front ahead of Matej as well, so it's swings and roundabouts, really."
After the tough climb at Mont Saint Laurent, the lead group was down to four, with Mohorič, Benoot and Van der Hoorn responding to Wellens' acceleration. Van Hooydonck was gone, but not for long, with Benoot bargaining that he couldn't ride with another man behind him.
His fellow Belgian would get back on a few kilometres later, and the rest, as they say, was history.
"We did drop Nathan, eh?" Mohorič said. "But of course, Tiesj wouldn't give us a turn on the front – it's obvious that I would do the same if I was them.
"So, then we knew also that we had to stay together in order to stay away because it was clear that Tiesj isn't going to pull through if we don't wait for Nathan. It is what it is. You know, we have to race as a team in these races, and they were the strongest ones today."
It wasn't all smiles for Mohorič and Bahrain at Kuurne, though. After 193km of hard racing and a podium to show for it, he had his Garmin stolen at the finish. Taking to Twitter later, he jokingly wrote, "Whoever stole my Garmin off my bike today after the finish, you can keep the device, but please send me today's file over."
Whoever stole my garmin off my bike today after the finish, you can keep the device, but please send me today's file over 🙏😁February 26, 2023
Dani Ostanek is Senior News Writer at Cyclingnews, having joined in 2017 as a freelance contributor, later being hired full-time. Her favourite races include Strade Bianche, the Tour de France Femmes, Paris-Roubaix, and Tro-Bro Léon.
