Kuurne-Brussel-Kuurne LIVE – Riders take on the early climbs as the likes of Jasper Philipsen, Jonathan Milan and Paul Magnier hope for a bunch finish

The break are on the latest climb, which has some especially nasty cobbles. Their lead has plummeted, to just over 2:30.

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Yesterday’s runner-up Tim van Dijke is off the front by a few bikelengths.

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Lotto have swung off, and if the vacuum left riders are attacking, with Visma and Red Bull especially active.

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Riders have been dropped out of the peloton as a result of Lotto’s pace.

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Lotto Intermarché are really laying the hammer down on this climb in the peloton, significantly upping the pace.

The increase in pace in the peloton is having an affect on the break, whose lead has gone down from four minutes to little more than three.

The break is climbing again, up the 1.3km, 6.2% La Bourliquet.

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Ryan Mullen (NSN) has become he latest rider to abandon the race, after being dropped riding up Hameau des Papins.

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The peloton has bunched up again, at least towards the front of the group, with Alpecin and Lidl among the teams represented.

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The peloton is all stretched out after the acceleration from Visma-Lease a Bike.

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And now the pace is much higher, as Visma-Lease a Bike take to the front.

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At the same time, the pace is high enough for some to start being dropped out of the peloton.

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Things calm down in the peloton as they begin the climb. Jonathan Milan is right at the front, and the pace is slow enough for him to adjust his rain jacket.

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The pace is really up in the peloton as they approach the foot of the climb! Alpecin-Premier Tech win the fight for position, and lead them onto it.

The break have begun ascending the first of those six, the Hamea des Papins.

The break’s lead is at four minutes, but might start to come down now, as they enter the crucial period of the race with 6 climbs crammed into about 40km. This is where we anticipate the action kicking off in the peloton.

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Sean Christian (Modern Adventure Pro Cycling) has also abandoned as a result of the Wellens crash.

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And now there’s been another crash, sprinter Tom Crabbe and Silvan Dillier among the fallers. Things are clearly very tense in the peloton.

Unfortunately, it’s bad news for Wellens. He has had to abandon the race

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As runner-up from two years ago, Tim Wellens would have been another rider to look out for to try and break out of the peloton on the final climbs. We’ll have to wait and see if he can recover from this fall.

Meanwhile the break still holds a big lead over the peloton, of almost four minutes.

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There’s been a crash in the peloton, and about a dozen riders have gone down, including Tim Wellens.

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As we approach the decisive climbs of the race, which riders can we expect to launch attacks?

Visma-Lease a Bike’s Christope Laporte is one to watch. He looked great on the Muur yesterday, and has made the top eight in each of the last three editions of this race; and though normally he’d wait for a sprint, the fact he’s riding alongside fast-finisher Matthew Brennan, and the quality of the sprint field competing today, means he’s likely to take more of a front-foot approach this time.

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As well as his Unibet Rose Rockets teammate Rory Townsend, Elmar Reinders has also abandoned the race.

The riders are now tacking on the last of these three quickfire climbs, La Houppe. After this, they’ll enjoy the respite of a flat section before the race really intensifies for the final six climbs.

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“It’s far from the last climbs to the finish line”, Naesen added, “so I would expect to see a select peloton fighting for the sprint, maybe half of the guys from the start.”

He agreed that the absence of Mathieu van der Poel changes everything, “but I can imagine Mathieu in the bus last night asking himself do I really want to go on a 65 kilometre solo, ‘cos that’s what he’d need to do to win this race, and that’s not going to make for a comfortable Sunday.”

As for Naesen himself, Decathlon are fighting for Tobias Lund Andresen in the sprint, so Naesen’s own role will be to cover breaks on the climbs.

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Oliver Naesen also spoke to Cyclingnews today before the race. A veteran of a huge number of Classics, Naesen is always one of the most insightful members of the peloton into one-day racing, and he views Kuurne as “being a battle between offensive Classics riders and sprinting Classics riders.”

“It will be the same today. There is a favourable wind so attacks can go far, but the peloton is sprinter-heavy and in breaks there’s always going to be teammates of sprinters that can block those attacks.”

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The teams of sprinters Jonathan Milan (Lidl-Trek), Paul Magnier (Soudal-QuickStep) and Jasper Philipsen (Alpecin-Premier Tech) are among those showing their faces at the front of the peloton.

(Image credit: Getty Images)

And now they take on the cobbles of the Berg Ten Houte, which rises for 1km at 5.2%.

We’re entering a new phase of the race, as they take on the Bossenaarstraat, the first of three climbs in quick succession.

Meanwhile the break’s lead continues to grow, now up to 3:45.

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And now another rider has fallen – Josh Burnett of the Burgos Burpellet BH team.

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Townsend has abandoned the race, becoming the first DNF of the day.

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Talking of crashes, more news has come in from yesterday’s chaotic Omloop – and it’s bad news for Stefan Küng. The Swiss classics specialist is set to miss the rest of the Spring after suffering a heavy fall.

The peloton has well and truly sat up now, allowing the leading five an advantage of 2:25. In between, Adrià and Ingebrigtsen are still soldiering on, but are finding they can’t close the deficit of 25 seconds between themselves and the leaders.

The riders are climbing again, this time up the 2.2km, 3.4% Lepelstraat.

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Adrià and Ingebrigtsen, trying to join the leaders.

(Image credit: Getty Images)

The five leaders are 1:10 up on the peloton, while Adrià and Ingebrigtsen continue to dangle 20 seconds adrift.

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Things haven’t fully calmed down in the peloton yet. There was a flurry of attackers trying to break and clear and attempt to bridge up to the leaders, but that move has been shut down.

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The five riders up the road, who appear to have succeeded in forming the day’s break.

(Image credit: Getty Images)

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Meanwhile Adrià is still trying to join them with his compaion, Storm Ingebrigtsen. The pair are just 15 seconds behind.

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It seems the peloton has at last sat up – the break’s lead is up to over a minute.

The five out front are mainting their lead as they climb up the second hill of the day, the Volkegemberg.

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Biniam Girmay has had to stop for a mechanical.

The five-man break are now 23 seconds up on the peloton, and 16 ahead of Roger Adrià, who has also been joined by another rider.

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And now Roger Adrià is setting off in pursuit of the five leaders. He’s the kind of bigger name the peloton may deem too dangerous to let go.

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They’ve been joined by Johan Jacobs and Frits Biesterbos. This is looking promising.

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Three riders have managed to go clear and build a small lead – Dries De Bondt, Cole Kessler and Matis Louvel.

Still no sign of any breakaway forming. The next climb, the Volkegemberg, could provide an opportunity for one, but is still 10km away.

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Those ten attackers have succeeded in going clear, and the race is all back together again.

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Ten attackers started the climb with a small gap over the peloton.

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Attacks are being made as they climb the first obstacle of the day, the 1.4km, 3.6% Tiegemberg.

They’ve been racing for almost 15km and still a break is yet to go free.

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(Image credit: Getty Images)

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With the final third of the race being completely flat without any bergs, Kuurne-Brussel-Kuurne is a frontloaded race, and it won’t belong already until they reach the first of the day’s 13 climbs – the Tiegemberg.

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Dries De Bondt tried to attack right from the get-go, but no break has formed yet.

And they’re off!

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Incidentally, the Tudor rider mentioned who broke his teeth, Rick Pluimers, was down to start today, but (understandably) has pulled out, along with his teammate Aivaras Mikutis. That leaves Tudor with just five starters.

2026-03-01T11:27:26.647Z

The rain might mostly have held off yesterday, but that didn’t curtail the number of incidents, in what Arnaud De Lie described as being “the most dangerous Omloop of my life.” We summarised some of the fall-out from all of the drama.