Kasper Asgreen wins Kuurne-Brussel-Kuurne

Image 1 of 14

Kasper Asgreen (Deceuninck-QuickStep) produced a remarkable solo display to fend off the chasing peloton and claim victory at Kuurne-Brussel-Kuurne ahead of Giacomo Nizzolo (NTT) and Alexander Kristoff (UAE Team Emirates) on Sunday.

The Dane bridged across to the remnants of the day’s early break with 29km remaining and maintained his effort even when it was apparent that neither Roy Jans (Alpecin-Fenix) nor Boris Vallée (Bingoal-Wallonie Bruxelles) could contribute much to the pace-making after almost 100 miles off the front.

Undeterred, Asgreen’s efforts saw the trio build a lead of 45 seconds over a peloton where his Deceuninck-QuickStep team held a reliable alternative in the shape of sprinter Fabio Jakobsen. Just before reaching the 15km finishing circuit in Kuurne, Asgreen kicked to rid himself of Jans’ company, and he took the bell burdened by Vallée’s presence on his wheel but heartened by their 34-second lead over a peloton led by Sunweb, Lotto Soudal and Ineos.

 Asgreen dropped Vallée just inside the last 10km, where his lead stood at 15 seconds. In the last 5km, the 25-year-old briefly looked to be flagging and his advantage dwindled to just 8 seconds but he rallied once more inside the last 3km. He passed beneath the flamme rouge with that gap still in hand, and he freewheeled across the line ahead of Nizzolo, Kristoff and his teammate Jakobsen to claim the first Classic victory of his young career.

"It was so hard," Asgreen said. "I had to drop the Alpecin rider in the crosswinds because he was not pulling but obviously he had [Tim] Merlier in the group behind so of course he should not pull but of course it was a bit annoying so I had to get rid of him. That effort was really hard and afterwards I was really doubting if I could make it to the line. Then, I didn’t know how fast [Vallée] is in a sprint, so I preferred to arrive alone."

Asgreen emulated his teammate Bob Jungels, who won the race after a similar lone effort twelve months ago, and his performance was all the more striking given the role he played earlier in the race in attempting to tee up a bunch sprint for Deceuninck-QuickStep’s resident fast man Jakobsen.

"Bob told me in the bus to do like he did last year," Asgreen said. "We knew it was possible to get away because the roads were so small. I tried to get away and make it to the finish. Otherwise, we had Fabio for the sprint."

In comparison with Omloop Het Nieuwsblad 24 hours previously, the second instalment of Belgium’s Opening Weekend had been slow to ignite. The trek through the Flemish Ardennes had largely failed to provoke much by way of attacking, but a tumultuous final hour of action proved more than compensated.

The peloton fragmented and then reformed after the combination of the Oude Kwaremont and Kluisberg with 50km to go, where the early break still held a lead of 3 minutes. That advantage was slashed dramatically when the bunch splintered once again on the cobbles at Beerbosstraat, and though the respective groups eventually came back together, the race remained lined out.

That breathless form of racing seemed to suit Asgreen, who produced a searing acceleration to bridge across to Vallée and Jans. With almost 30km to go and a host of sprinters still in contention, it was a move that seemed unlikely to go the distance, but after carving out his opportunity, Asgreen was determined not to let it go.

How it unfolded

Former professional rider Zico Waeytens, now a boxer and the star of the 2020 Kuurne-Brussel-Kuurne race poster flag the peloton away from the start at the Kuurne hippodrome beneath pleasant sunshine. In the small town near Kortrijk, there was, as ever, big support for local riders like Yves Lampaert, Julien Vermote and Sep Vanmarcke.

After a rapid start to proceedings, a break eventually forged clear after 20km. Mikkel Bjerg (UAE Team Emirates), Hugo Houle (Astana), Roy Jans (Alpecin-Fenix), Boris Vallée (Bingoal-Wallonie Bruxelles) and Jonas Abrahamsen (Uno-X Norwegian Development Team) combined well to build a lead of almost seven minutes by the time they hit the day’s fourth climb, the Mont Saint-Laurent.

From there, the gap started to come back down again, albeit very slowly. In the peloton, the pace often increased just ahead of the so-called hellingen where the roads are narrow, but then relented again afterwards. Apart from those accelerations, there were a few minor crashes and mechanicals, but the action was rather less constant than at Omloop Het Nieuwblad 24 hours previously.

At the Côte du Trieu, at 67km from the finish, the leaders still had a lead of more than five minutes. Behind, on the often narrow roads from the Trieu towards the long cobbled Oude Kwaremont climb, a crash occurred in the peloton. Gianni Moscon (Team Ineos) was among the riders to come down, and he could be seen throwing another rider’s bike away from the pile-up and against a rider from B&B Hotels - Vital Concept. Shortly afterwards, the race jury disqualified Moscon for what was just the latest in a long line of disciplinary infractions.

Out in front, Bjerg lost contact with his breakaway companions after a rear wheel mechanical ahead the Oude Kwaremont but the four remaining escapees continued to ride strongly. In the peloton, Jens Keukeleire (EF) set the early tempo on the climb before Matteo Trentin (CCC) took over and split it into pieces.

A group of twenty riders, including Greg Van Avermaet and Jasper Stuyven, had a nice gap but nobody seemed willing to commit fully and, after the final climb of the day, the Kluisberg, the peloton was back together, while the break still had 3 minutes in hand with 50km to go.

The race ignited again, however, on the cobbles of Beerbosstraat, where the Omloop winner Stuyven’s acceleration split the peloton and helped to bring a group of 20 or so strongmen clear in pursuit of the leaders. Van Avermaet, Tiesj Benoot and John Degenkolb were among them, but Deceuninck-QuickStep were eager to bring Fabio Jakobsen back into contention, with Asgreen prominent in the chase.

When the peloton reformed with 30km to go, the break looked on the cusp of being caught, but the move found new momentum when Asgreen bridged across alone. Only Vallée and Jans could follow the Dane’s infernal pace-making as he stretched their buffer back out to 45 seconds.

Julien Vermote (Cofidis) made a forlorn effort to bridge across, and when he relented, Sunweb, Ineos and Lotto Soudal looked to marshal the chase in an expanded peloton. Asgreen continued to perform the bulk of the pace-making out in front, with the flagging Jans and Vallée both reluctant to work. He dropped the former with 20km to go and then dispatched of the latter on the final lap.

Results