Kuurne-Brussel-Kuurne – Dwell protection | Cyclingnews

The break hits the day’s second climb, the Kattenberg, with a lead of 2:35 over the peloton. 

-171km

Break:

Lluis Mas (Movistar), Taco van der Hoorn (Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert), Luke Durbridge (BikeExchange-Jayco), Wessel Krul (Human Powered Health), Arjen Livyns, Bas Tietema (Pauwels Sauzen-Bingoal) and Jules Hesters (Sport Vlaanderen-Baloise).

Peloton at 2:35

-173km

Lotto Soudal take up the reins in the peloton on behalf of Caleb Ewan, who is firmly among the favourites for today. His lone previous appearance was his 15th place in 2016, but he has two wins so far in 2022 and he is building steadily towards another tilt at Milan-San Remo to boot. 

Bas Tietema (Pauwels Sauzen-Bingoal) previously rode for the BMC development team, An Post and Beat Cycling before stepping away from racing and launching a cycling-based YouTube channel. Bingoal is among the channel’s sponsors and this winter, he trained with the team with a view to returning to racing and turning professional. And now, here he is in the break at Kuurne. The Dutchman has some pedigree, having placed third at the under-23 Paris-Roubaix in 2014, a race won by Mike Teunissen.

-175km

Break:

Lluis Mas (Movistar), Taco van der Hoorn (Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert), Luke Durbridge (BikeExchange-Jayco), Wessel Krul (Human Powered Health), Arjen Livyns, Bas Tietema (Pauwels Sauzen-Bingoal) and Jules Hesters (Sport Vlaanderen-Baloise).

Peloton at 2:10

Lluis Mas (Movistar), Taco van der Hoorn (Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert), Luke Durbridge (BikeExchange-Jayco), Wessel Krul (Human Powered Health), Arjen Livyns, Bas Tietema (Pauwels Sauzen-Bingoal) and Jules Hesters (Sport Vlaanderen-Baloise) are on the day’s first climb, the Tiegemberg, and their advantage is already approaching two minutes. 

-181km

The reinforcements duly arrive for Mas in the shape of Taco van der Hoorn (Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert), Luke Durbridge (BikeExchange-Jayco), Wessel Krul (Human Powered Health), Arjen Livyns, Bas Tietema (Pauwels Sauzen-Bingoal) and Jules Hesters (Sport Vlaanderen-Baloise).  This looks set to be the day’s early break.

-186km

Lluís Mas (Movistar) attacks alone and opens a small gap over the peloton, but he will need some company if he is going to stay away for any distance. 

-190km

And the eight would-be escapees have duly been brought to heel. 

There has been a typically rapid start to proceedings since kilometre zero, with a flurry of early attacks. A group of eight riders has detatched itself from the bunch, but it’s too soon to say if they will be granted permission to establish themselves.

-195km

The peloton has reached kilometre zero and the 2022 Kuurne-Brussel-Kuurne is formally underway. 

Here’s the running order for the climbs on today’s parcours:

1. Tiegemberg – 17.1km

2.  Katteberg – 35.2km

3. Boembeek – 56.6km

4. Bossenaarstraat – 75km

5. Berg Ten Houte – 78.4km

6. La Houppe – 85.5km

7. Hameau des Papin – 103.4km

8. Le Bourliquet – 112.3km

9. Mont Saint-Laurent – 117.3km     

10. Kruisberg – 126.9km

11. Hotond – 128.1km

12. Côte du Trieu – 135.5km

13. Kluisberg – 142.8km

The peloton has been flagged away from Kuurne and is making its way through the neutralised zone. They are scheduled to hit kilometre zero at 12.15 local time.

Caleb Ewan and the sprinters will be glad of the clear blue skies overhead. The weather conditions certainly don’t appear conducive to breaking up the race. “I haven’t raced in Belgium so much so my knowledge isn’t so good but a few days ago, I did the last 100k so I got to see some of the important climbs. The thing is, I’ve got a very good team around me so I’ll be relying on them to keep me in position,” said Ewan. “This race can go either way, sometimes it can be a big bunch sprint. There’s probably three sprinters who can win from a sprint: Jakobsen, Merlier and me. So I think other teams will race aggressively in the middle part of the course but hopefully it will come back for a sprint.”

Tom Pidcock was aggressive yesterday as part of the first four-man move that went with Wout van Aert, but he couldn’t respond when the Belgian attacked at the foot of the Bosberg.

“When Van Aert attacked, it was a bit stupid I didn’t follow, that climb wasn’t one of my favourites. In the end, I sat up and I shouldn’t do that. But when I was in the four-man group, that showed the level and shape I had,” Pidcock said at the start in Kuurne. “There are quite a few sprinters here that are changed from yesterday. There’ll be a few teams wanting to ride for a sprint today, but we’re one of the teams who don’t want that, we’ll be looking to upset that.”

2021 winner Mads Pedersen is an absentee, leaving his Trek-Segafredo teammate and 2016 winner Jasper Stuyven to wear dossard number 1. Omloop winner Wout van Aert (Jumbo-Visma) has also opted out of today’s race, but Tiesj Benoot is on hand. Ineos again line out with Tom Pidcock, Ethan Hayter and Jhonatan Narvaez, while Greg Van Avermaert and Oliver Naesan form AG2R’s leadership duo, and Bahrain Victorious field Sonny Colbrelli, Matej Mohoric and Heinrich Haussler.

Fast finishers in the field include Peter Sagan (TotalEnergies), Alexander Kristoff (Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert), Tim Merlier (Alpecin-Fenix) and Caleb Ewan (Lottto Soudal), who skipped the UAE Tour to come here. Fabio Jakobsen’s sprint is a key part of QuickStep-AlphaVinyl’s strategy, though men like 2020 winner Kasper Asgreen, Zdenek Stybar and Yves Lampaert will be keen to put yesterday’s disappointment to rights.

The peloton will be flagged away from Kuurne at 12.06 local time and is scheduled to reach kilometre zero at 12.15 for the official start of the 195km race.

There’s no Oude Kwaremont on the route this year, as Kuurne-Brussel-Kuurne undergoes something of a refresh, but the basic tenets of the race remain intact. The peloton leaves Kuurne, splinters as it tackles thirteen hellingen and then has a chance to regroup on the flat 50km run-in, which features a lap of a 12.5km finishing circuit in Kuurne.

Patrick Fletcher has all the details in his race preview:

There are a total of 13 climbs on the menu, the last of which tops out some 52km. Despite the claims of a ‘renewed route’, the final 50-plus kilometres give it a similar overall complexion to previous editions.

The riders set out and make their way to the paved slopes of the Tiegemberg before heading for a new climb in the form of the Kattenberg and then ticking off the Boembeek. The first real string of climbs comes between 120 and 110 kilometres to go, with the Bossenaarstraat, Berg Ten Houte, and La Houppe.

There’s then a 20km jolt over into Wallonia, for a phase of the race that could suit the audacious. Three new climbs – Hameau des Papins, Le Bourliquet, and Mont Saint-Laurent – come in the space of 14km. Of the three, the latter looks the most brutal, with an average gradient of nearly eight per cent, pitches of 17 per cent, and rough curving cobblestones.

From there, the race heads back into Flanders on a 10km stretch before the decisive phase of the race. With 68km to go, they’ll take on the Kruisberg, followed immediately by Hotond. It’s then onto the Côte de Trieu – also known as Knoketeberg – and Kluisberg, which tops out 52.3km to the line.

We go again. The second instalment of Belgium’s Opening Weekend presents a slightly different challenge to Omloop Het Nieuwsblad, but Kuurne-Brussel-Kuurne always offers an immediate chance of redemption for those who fell short on Saturday. QuickStep-AlpaVinyl, as flagged before this weekend, don’t have an unblemished track record at Omloop, despite wins in 2019 and 2021, and yesterday’s showing was rather in keeping with their displays there in the Tom Boonen era. In the Boonen era, however, QuickStep also developed the useful habit of responding by winning in Kuurne the following day – Tommeke won here three times, after all – and we can surely expect the empire to look to strike back this afternoon.