Jungels wins Kuurne-Brussel-Kuurne

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Bob Jungels completed an Opening Weekend double for Deceuninck-QuickStep as he soloed to victory at Kuurne-Brussel-Kuurne, 24 hours after his teammate Zdenek Stybar annexed Omloop Het Nieuwsblad.

The Luxembourg champion powered away from the decisive break with 16 kilometres remaining and he employed his qualities as a rouleur to hold off the chasing peloton and land victory. Owain Doull (Team Sky) clipped away to take second place ahead of Niki Terpstra (Direct Energie), seven seconds down.

Winner of Liège-Bastogne-Liège a year ago, Jungels was seconded to Deceuninck-QuickStep’s cobbled Classics unit this season and he produced a remarkably accomplished display in what was only the second Flemish Classic of his career after his 16th place at Omloop on Saturday.

Jungels does, of course, have some pedigree on the pavé, having won the under-23 Paris-Roubaix in 2012, and he showcased those skills to force the winning move on the flat stretch of cobbles at Varent with 66km remaining when he was part of a reduced peloton that formed after the ascent of the Kwaremont.

Oliver Naesen (AG2R La Mondiale), Davide Ballerini, Magnus Cort (Astana) and Sebastian Langeveld (EF Education First) were the only men who could follow Jungels, and that quintet soon established a lead of a minute over a peloton that was still piecing itself together the fragmenting in the hills that dotted the middle section of the race.

"I was a bit too far away on the Kwaremont, but due to the headwind there was a regrouping," Jungels said. "On the cobblestones of the Varent I wanted to thin the group and the five of us got away."

The quintet had 40 seconds in hand when they crossed the finish line for the first time with 30km to race, but while they collaborated smoothly, Jungels opted to attack alone with 16km remaining. He quickly distanced his erstwhile companions, carrying a lead of 34 seconds in the final 10km.

"I saw that I was the strongest and a15km time trial is something I can do," Jungels said of his solo effort.

Jumbo-Visma and Bora-Hansgrohe performed the pace-setting duties on behalf of Dylan Groenewegen and Pascal Ackermann, respectively, but Jungels' teammates – most notably Yves Lampaert – performed a fine job of disrupting the pursuit.

The chase lost further momentum when Mitchelton-Scott stopped pulling after Matteo Trentin was distanced in the finale, and by the time Jungels reached the flamme rouge, it was already apparent that he had a winning gap.

Doull clipped off the front of the bunch in the final kilometre with Terpstra, Lampaert and Jens Keukeleire (Lotto Soudal), and was rewarded for his endeavour across both days of Opening Weekend with second place. But, as was the case so often last spring, the top step of the podium belonged to Deceuninck-QuickStep.

"To win the second race I've done on the cobbles is quite extraordinary," said Jungels. "We've won twice this weekend and the boss will be happy too."

How it unfolded

Under wind and showers, the peloton rolled out from Kuurne, with the majority of those involved still feeling the effects of Saturday's Omloop in their legs.

The first major break of the day formed after two groups merged with Magnus Cort (Astana), 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) linking up the early climbs. By the feed, the seven-man move had established a lead of over four minutes, while Alexey Lutsensko (Astana) was among the early retirements in the race

On the day's sixth climb, the Kruisberg, the break still had over three minutes on the bunch but their advantage almost doubled to seven minutes at the half-way point as the main field took their foot off the gas before a concentration of key climbs.

Ahead of the Oude Kwaremont Deceuninck-QuickStep lifted the pace, stringing out the field with Yves Lampaert and Omloop winner Zdenek Stybar starting the selection. But it was Team Sky's Ian Stannard who did most of the damage, splitting the bunch on the lower slopes of the climb with a turn reminiscent of his Classics form of several years ago.

Only Lampaert, Stybar, Oliver Naesen, Stannard, Owain Doull, Kasper Asgreen, Davide Ballerini and Stefan Küng could match the former British national champion and as they crested the climb and approached the Kluisberg the day's early break had just a 16-second advantage. Over the climb, the lead groups merged with a further batch of riders, including Bob Jungels, Andre Greipel and Matteo Trentin making contact.

Dylan Groenewegen and Pascal Ackermann both missed the split with Deceuninck-QuickStep once again driving the lead group with a number of riders in contention.

It was Jungels who forced the next split, moving clear on the Varent with only Magnus Cort, Ballerini, OIiver Naesen and Langeveld willing or able to follow. By the time the quintet reached the penultimate climb of the Holstrat, they had 23 seconds over the second group, and over a minute on the defending champion and Ackermann.

With just under 50km to go the peloton, led by Jumbo-Visma and Bora-Hansgrohe, caught the Stybar group, but the five leaders still had over a minute's advantage as they crested the final climb of the race and made the long run-in back to Kuurne.

Jasper Philipsen, making his debut in the race, changed bikes with 33km to go, while the five leaders still held 55 seconds. By this point, however, Jumbo Visma and Bora had upped the tempo, and with a headwind, and then assistance from Mitchelton-Scott, the gap began to slowly drop.

A lull in action was brought to a halt with 25km to go when Trentin was brought down in a crash. The European champion took an age to regain contact with the break's lead dangling at just over 30 seconds.

Jungels attacked the break with 16km to go and then tucked himself into something approaching a time trial position as he took the bell and settled down to the task at hand.

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