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Kuurne-Brussel-Kuurne 2019

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The beauty of Opening Weekend is that they get to do it all again. Not everybody who lined up at Omloop Het Nieuwsblad yesterday is on the start line in Kuurne this morning, of course, but teams who fell short in Ninove on Saturday afternoon have a chance to salvage their weekends at Kuurne-Brussel-Kuurne today. Dylan Groenewegen (LottoNL-Jumbo) won last year's race in a bunch sprint. There is a strong field of fast men on show here, but with 13 hills on the agenda, the terrain is there for willing attackers to upset the odds.

As ever, there is enough rugged terrain in the middle of the race to break up the peloton, but the flat final 50km gives the sprinters a chance to regroup. The climbs are as follows:

The peloton is currently in the neutralised zone in Kuurne, and is due to reach kilometre zero at 11.53 local time.

There are a number of riders named on the start list who have opted not to line out today, including 2016 winner Jasper Stuyven (Trek-Segafredo), Dylan van Baarle (Team Sky) and Zico Waeytens (Cofidis).

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There are accelerations aplenty on the front of the peloton, but as yet nobody has managed to forge clear. The temperature is a pleasant 12 degrees, though there has been some light rain in the Flemish Ardennes this morning and a risk of more in the afternoon.

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At the moment, the selection looks more likely to come from the back of the race than the front. A group of 40 or so riders briefly lost contact at the rear of the peloton but there was a regrouping shortly afterwards.

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The big news this morning concerns Stefan Denifl. Austrian newspaper Kronen Zeitung and state broadcaster ORF reported that Denifl confessed to blood doping when interviewed by Austrian police last week. Denifl was questioned as part of the doping inquiry that saw five cross-country skiers arrested at last week's World Championships. The 31-year-old signed for CCC last October following the demise of Aqua Blue Sport, but then parted company with the team in December - the news was announced/buried late in the evening of December 23 - without any explanation. Read more on this developing story here.

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Naesen joins Cort, Turgis and Ligthart, and this quartet extends its lead over the peloton to half a minute.

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Daniel Benson spoke with CCC manager Jim Ochowicz about the Denifl blood doping case at the start this morning. Denifl signed with CCC last October but parted by mutual consent in December before turning a pedal in anger for the team. Ochowicz said that the Austrian had asked to leave the team due to personal reasons. "He said it had nothing to do with sport but to do with his family business," Ochowicz told Cyclingnews."It was something with his wife, and then something with his father, and sister. I didn't ask a lot of questions. He said he wasn't able to do this [join the team]. So I said okay, fair enough." Read the full story here.

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After two hours of racing, the average speed was 42.65kph.

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Alexey Lutsensko (Astana), who finished 4th at Omloop yesterday, has abandoned the race. According to the team's Twitter feed, Lutsenko"quit the race to recover for his upcoming races."

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A crash in the peloton sees Dorian Godon (AG2R), Daniel Hoelgaard (Groupama-FDJ) and Franck Bonnamour (Arkea-Samsic) among the fallers. Godon abandons the race.

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Yves Lampaert and Zdenek Stybar are prominent at the front and they have managed to split the peloton into several echelons. 

Sonny Colbrelli (Bahrain-Merida), meanwhile, has crashed further back the road. He gets to his feet but has yet to remount and his challenge might be coming to an end.

There is a delegation from LottoNL-Jumbo in this front echelon, which is being driven by Deceuninck-QuickStep. They are rapidly reducing the deficit to the seven leaders on the approach to the Kwaremont.

Deceuninck-QuickStep are without their recognised fast man Fabio Jakobsen due to illness, hence their desire to try to eliminate as many sprinters as they can in this lumpy mid-section of the race.

The escapees are on the lower slopes of the Kwaremont with a lead of 57 seconds over the chasers.

The peloton looked set to regroup at the base of the Kwaremont, but now Ian Stannard (Team Sky) is laying down a brisk tempo on the lower part of the climb and the race is breaking up once again.

Yves Lampaert and Zdenek Stybar are lined up on Stannard's wheel, while Oliver Naesen is also present in this increasingly elite front end of the peloton.

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Lampaert, Stybar, Naesen, Stannard, Owain Doull, Kasper Asgreen, Davide Ballerini and Stefan Kung form a rather elite chasing group over the top of the Kwaremont. They are 16 seconds down on the break on the approach to the Kluisberg.  

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The men in this front group are: Yves Lampaert, Zdenek Stybar, Kasper Asgreen (Deceuninck-QuickStep), Davide Ballerini, Magnus Cort (Astana), Ian Stannard, Owain Doull (Team Sky), Stefan Küng (Groupama-FDJ), Oliver Naesen (AG2R La Mondiale), 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).

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Dylan Groenewegen has also missed this split, and LottoNL-Jumbo have joined Bora-Hansgrohe in organising the chase. 

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Bob Jungels takes over on the Varent and stretches things out. Stannard battles to hold his wheel, with Kung just behind.

Jungels split the front group on the Varent, and only Magnus Cort, Ballerini, OIiver Naesen and Langeveld have managed to stay with him.

This group of strongmen is pressing on with a small advantage over the rest of the front echelon. With nobody willing to take up the chase, their lead is growing.

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Jungels, Cort, Ballerini, Langeveld and Oliver Naesen are swapping turns quite smoothly. Jens Keukeleire leads the chase, but there are four QuickStep riders still in this group - Lampaert, Stybar, Asgreen and Senechal. The Jumbo-Visma-led peloton is at 1:05.

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Bora-Hansgrohe set the tempo in the main peloton. They have nobody at all up front. Jumbo-Visma do at least have Danny van Poppel ahead in the cashing group.

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A crash for Clement Venturini (AG2R) who remounts and gives chase, but he will struggle to catch the peloton, where Jumbo-Visma are ratcheting up the pace.

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The race concludes with two laps of a local circuit around Kuurne. The riders cross the finish line for the first time with 30.4km to go.

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A mechanical issue for Jasper Philpsen (UAE Team Emirates), who gets a quick bike change and starts to chase back on to the peloton.

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Jungels, Naesen and company are putting up fierce resistance, and the peloton is struggling to make any real inroads into their advantage. The fast finisher in this peloton include Pascal Ackermann, Matteo Trentin, Dylan Groenewegen, Jasper Philipsen and Andre Greipel.

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A crash in the peloton sees Matteo Trentin come down. He doesn't appear to be hurt and he quickly remounts, but he will have to chase hard to get back on. The incident will also - temporarily at least - excuse Mitchelton-Scott from the chase effort at the head of the bunch.

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Meanwhile, Bora-Hansgrohe and Jumbo-Visma wind up the pace in the bunch, which is still 34 seconds down on Jungels and company.

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Jempi Drucker rides on the front of the peloton for Bora-Hansgrohe, 24 seconds down on the break.

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Matteo Trentin, incidentally, has finally rejoined the peloton ahead of the final lap of the finishing circuit.

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Deceuninck-QuickStep come to the front of the peloton in a bid to hinder the pursuit effort. Jempi Drucker shakes his head as he moves around Yves Lampaert to resume his position on the front.

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Naesen launches once defiant kick as the bunch catches him, but his challenge is over. Jumbo-Visma, Cofidis and Lotto Soudal each have riders at the front. QuickStep are still trying to upset the rhythm of the chase.

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Matteo Trentin has lost contact with the peloton. It looks as though he may have been ordered out by the commissaires for riding on the pavement during his pursuit of the bunch, but we await confirmation of what has transpired.

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Into the final straight for Jungels, who is going to win Deceuninck-QuickStep's second Classic in as many days.

Bob Jungels (Deceuninck-QuickStep) wins Kuurne-Brussel-Kuurne.

Owain Doull (Team Sky) takes second place with Niki Terpstra (Direct Energie) third. 

Jungels won with 12 seconds to spare over Doull, who came home just in front of the closing peloton.

Iljo Keisse (Deceuninck-QuickStep) was a faller in a crash in the finishing straight. 

Result:

Winner of Liege-Bastogne-Liege last year, Jungels has been seconded to Deceuninck-QuickStep's cobbled Classics unit this season. He last raced a cobbled Classic when he placed 84th at Paris-Roubaix as a neo-professional in 2013, having won the race as an under-23. After 16th at Omloop yesterday, he soloed to victory here for his second win of the 2019 season after a stage of the Tour Colombia. And, of course, he completes an Opening Weekend double for Deceuninck-QuickStep, who took Omloop through Zdenek Stybar yesterday.

Matteo Trentin did not finish the race, but his Mitchelton-Scott team have confirmed that he was not disqualified.

Results:

Thanks for following our live coverage of Kuurne-Brussel-Kuurne this afternoon. A full report, results and pictures are available here.

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