After Mathieu van der Poel's stunning victory in Omloop Het Nieuwsblad, Alpecin-Premier Tech came into Kuurne-Brussels-Kuurne with high hopes of dominating the entire weekend with defending champion Jasper Philipsen. However, things went awry as Philipsen ran out of legs just when it mattered the most.
Van der Poel's last-minute decision not to take part in Kuurne-Brussel-Kuurne meant that Philipsen was the rider who needed to step up to the plate. The Belgian sprinter's very active role throughout the hilly middle section, trying to create a breakaway group on repeated occasions, seemingly boded well for the finale.
As things played out, when the crunch moments came, Philipsen was already lacking his key lead-out man from last year, Kaden Groves.
That might not have mattered given his own promising show of strength mid-race. Philipsen managed to remain in the running when other top sprinters such as Jonathan Milan (Lidl-Trek) were dropped well before the finish, but the effort left Philipsen with little left for the sprint.
The Belgian star finally placed a low-key 18th in the dash for the line in Kuurne, well out of the running, and any hopes that he would be able to score his first victory on home soil were dashed.
"I was quite exhausted in the final stages; it was a tough race," Philipsen told reporters after stopping in the mixed zone. "I had a good feeling, but my sprint just wasn't quite there."
"I had followed Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe sprinters because I was counting on their strong lead-out. But they got boxed in on one side of the road, and my legs weren't fresh anymore, either.
"So in that final sprint in the headwind, I just couldn't do anything."
Still more factors had piled up against Philipsen, it turned out, including a late bike change after a puncture.
"That was unlucky, but I had a good feeling. I even came back after that bike change and knew there was a headwind in the final part of the race. "
"But then I was a bit too far back as we reached the last kilometre, and then it was impossible to get through because there was a lot of stuff going on on that side of the course. So the sprint didn't go as I wanted."
While Alpecin-Premier Tech came up trumps in Omloop and Philipsen was delighted for his teammate Van der Poel on Saturday, his own lack of success made for a difficult weekend.
"It was a race to forget," Philipsen, third in last year's Omloop, said afterwards to Sporza. "I'd had two punctures, and that was it for me. But despite those tough conditions, I still felt pretty good."
Although he abandoned Omloop, given his feelings, he seemed more than ready to race in Kuurne, only for things to go wrong at the last moment once again. But with a full program of cobbled Classics to come for the 2024 Milan-San Remo winner, ranging from La Primavera all the way through to Paris-Roubaix, fortunately, there are still plenty of opportunities to set the record straight.
Get unlimited access to our unrivalled 2026 Spring Classics coverage with a Cyclingnews subscription. We'll bring you breaking news, reports, and analysis from some of the biggest races on the calendar, including Milan-San Remo, Paris-Roubaix and the Tour of Flanders. Find out more.
