Yesterday, the cobbles season opened with the Omloop Het Niewsblad and now we are onto the Kuurne – Bruxelles – Kuurne, where Sam Bewley will be looking to do the double on the opening weekend of the Northern Classics.


193 riders lined up on the start line in Kuurne, and 203km of racing lay ahead. Only 3 cobbled sections, but when two of them are the Kruisberg and the Oude Kwaremont, they aren’t exactly strolls in the park…



Just like the Omloop, a group of 3 riders formed the day’s break, with Juan Abenhamar Gallego Martin yet again present, along with Francis De Greef and Alexander Rybakov. A further 6 riders, including Kristof Vandewalle, Patrick Olesen and Arnaud Grand tried to join the trio off the front, but sadly the peleton felt that was too large of a group.



Evonik, Becherovka and Jayco’z set themselves up on the front and set a good pace over the opening sections of the race. Approaching the La Houppe climb, the once 7 minute gap to the breakaway group was down to under 3 minutes. This break looks like it not going to be make it to halfway at this rate!



Onto the Kruisberg, and the escapees gap was down to just 2 minutes. Gallego Martin led the group onto the short cobbled climb, with De Greef on his wheel. After the frantic start, Rybakov was not enjoying this at all, and looked to be struggling already.



Over the same climb, the peleton began to splinter – this was just like Omloop all over again! Jayco’z weren’t to blame this time, but instead it was Becherovka and RedBull. Summerhill was caught out, as well as Vandenbergh and Daniel.



It all came back together for the Oude Kwaremont, and this was when the break was caught too. But what is happening with the Commisaires car? It hasn’t come out of the gap between peleton and break before the cobbles, and it is now stuck in the way of the riders. This is a disaster, and the race organisers will take the blame if there are any crashes!



No crashes, but the race is in pieces due to the issue with the car. Off the front is a group of favourites that is only around 40 riders strong. Many big names are present, but missing out are Vandenbergh, Daniel, Farrar, Sbaragli and Saber.

Present in the lead group are:

Bewley	Puccio	Kristoff
Berghardt	Summerhill	Senechal
Vanspeybrouck	Cavendish	Blythe
Stallaert	Kamyshev	Kennaugh
Rowe	Vanmarcke	Nolf
Van Avermaet	Van Asbroeck	Altur
Kreder

The pace at the front is too much for some, but it is mainly the domestiques whose jobs are done for the day. Kreder and Havik are part of this group, and Nolf is just hanging onto the favourites are the front. A combination of Aker and Evonik are keeping the pace as high as they can on the flat run into the circuit around Kuurne.



Vanbilsen and Vanspeybrouck strangely lead the peleton around the first lap of the Kuurne finishing circuit, almost pushing hard enough to kill off any chances later on. Given that other teams had domestiques to do this, it was a strange decision from the two riders.



ATTACK BURGHARDT! 6km to go and the German do not fancy his chances in the sprint at the end. With Cavendish, Kristoff, Kennaugh and Rowe, as well as Bewley, in the group, can you blame him? Sadly though, all he does is string out the pack and not manage to distance big names…



Flamme rouge and Burghardt’s attack has led to him leading everyone out towards the sprint! The main men had moved up to the front, with another 10 riders or so sat behind them just out of shot. Vanspeybrouck took over from the Jayco’z man as everyone prepared to kick for the line.

		Vanspeybrouck
		Cavendish
Burghardt	Kristoff	Vanbilsen	Bewley
		Stallaert	Van Asbroeck	David
		Van Avermaet
			Senechal
				Kennuagh

The sprint is underway, with Cavendish the first to jump. Bewley was just behind after having to come around a slowing Vanspeybrouck, whilst Kristoff had taken the Manxman’s wheel. Further back, Van Asbroeck was being lead out by Vanbilsen, whilst Rowe and Kennaugh look completely out of it towards the back.



Less than 100 meters to go, and it looks like Cavendish has this. Bewley is pushing him all the way, but Kristoff is coming fast off of Cav’s wheel! It is going to be close on the line between these three. Van Avermaet was sprinting well for 4th place, whilst out of shot, there was a gap to the battle between Kennaugh and Van Asbroeck for 5th place.



VICTORY CAVENDISH! The Manxman wins the Kruune – Bruxelles – Kuurne with a fantastic sprint to the line. Kristoff betters Bewley to second spot on the podium, and probably could have taken the win if the finish was another 50 meters further on.

Greg Van Avermaet crosses the line in 4th, with a small gap to Kennaugh in 5th. Van Asbroeck, David, Stallaert, Summerhill and Senechal round out the Top 10, and the rest of the 19 riders from lead group crossing in the same time.

1	Mark Cavendish	Red Bull - Huawei	4h32'59
2	Alexander Kristoff	Aker - MOT	s.t.
3	Sam Bewley	Becherovka - Petrof	s.t.
4	Greg Van Avermaet	Evonik - ELKO	s.t.
5	Peter Kennaugh	Orange - KLM Cycling	s.t.
6	Tom Van Asbroeck	Lierse SK - Pizza Ullo PCTeam	s.t.
7	Tom David	Team I-Gen - Festina	s.t.
8	Joeri Stallaert	BPost-Vlaanderen	s.t.
9	Danny Summerhill	Azteca - NBCSN	s.t.
10	Florian Senechal	Pendleton's	s.t.
11	Marcus Burghardt	Jayco'z Cycling Project	s.t.
12	Luke Rowe	Grieg - Eftel	s.t.
13	Kenneth Vanbilsen	Lierse SK - Pizza Ullo PCTeam	s.t.
14	Adam Blythe	Team Puma - SAP	s.t.
15	Pieter Vanspeybrouck	BPost-Vlaanderen	s.t.
16	Sep Vanmarcke	Vesuvio - Accumalux	s.t.
17	Roger Kluge	Pokerstars.com	s.t.
18	Jiri Polnicky	Becherovka - Petrof	s.t.
19	Gediminas Bagdonas	Evonik - ELKO	s.t.
20	Daniel Oss	Aker - MOT	s.t.
21	Marcos Altur	Movistar - US Postal	s.t.
22	Matteo Trentin	Grieg - Eftel	s.t.
23	Arman Kamyshev	Orange - KLM Cycling	s.t.
24	Vladimir Gusev	Tinkoff Sport Academy	s.t.
25	Francis De Greef	Gazelle	s.t.
26	Janis Dakteris	Evonik - ELKO	s.t.
27	Louis Verhelst	Lierse SK - Pizza Ullo PCTeam	s.t.
28	Frederik Nolf	Metinvest-Dacia	s.t.
29	Salvatore Puccio	Orange - KLM Cycling	s.t.
30	Jan Polanc	RBC Pro Cycling	+ 2'23
31	Lars Petter Nordhaug	Aker - MOT	s.t.
32	Matthieu Ladagnous	Pendleton's	s.t.
33	Ramon Sinkeldam	eBuddy	s.t.
34	Tyler Farrar	Movistar - US Postal	+ 3'34
35	Yoeri Havik	eBuddy	s.t.
36	Marcel Sieberg	Pokerstars.com	s.t.
37	Vegard Breen	Aker - MOT	s.t.
38	Scott Thwaites	Red Bull - Huawei	s.t.
39	Eric Young	RBC Pro Cycling	s.t.
40	Michel Kreder	Orange - KLM Cycling	s.t.
41	Andrew Fenn	Pendleton's	s.t.
42	Zdenek Stybar	Becherovka - Petrof	s.t.
43	Lahcen Saber	Jayco'z Cycling Project	s.t.
44	Kristian Sbaragli	Aegon - Lavazza	s.t.
45	Nur Amirul Marzuki	Evonik - ELKO	s.t.
46	Lars Boom	Aegon - Lavazza	s.t.
47	Bjorn Selander	Movistar - US Postal	s.t.
48	Wouter Wippert	Jayco'z Cycling Project	s.t.
49	Juan Abenhamar Gallego Martin	Pokerstars.com	s.t.
50	Michael Boroš	Becherovka - Petrof	s.t.
51	Vincent Jérôme	Orange - KLM Cycling	s.t.
52	Alexey Tsatevich	Movistar - US Postal	s.t.
53	Tom Leezer	eBuddy	s.t.
54	Jesus Del Nero	Pokerstars.com	s.t.
55	Lukasz Wisniowski	Grieg - Eftel	s.t.
56	Michal Golas	Aker - MOT	s.t.
57	Niels Albert	Metinvest-Dacia	s.t.
58	Philipp Walsleben	eBuddy	s.t.
59	Patrick Naud	RBC Pro Cycling	s.t.
60	Johann van Zyl	RBC Pro Cycling	s.t.
61	Stijn Vandenbergh	Kenya Airways - Dimension Data	s.t.
62	Alexander Sulimov	Tinkoff Sport Academy	s.t.
63	Olli Kulppi	Evonik - ELKO	s.t.
64	Tom Veelers	Gazelle	s.t.
65	Charalampas Kastrantas	Team I-Gen - Festina	s.t.
66	Dan McLay	RBC Pro Cycling	s.t.
67	Yves Lampaert	eBuddy	s.t.
68	Gianni Meersman	Evonik - ELKO	s.t.
69	Mikiel Habtom	Becherovka - Petrof	s.t.
70	Chun Kai Feng	Jayco'z Cycling Project	s.t.
71	Jaroslaw Marycz	Pendleton's	s.t.
72	Willie Smit	Grieg - Eftel	s.t.
73	Sebastian Lander	Team Puma - SAP	+ 4'41
74	Maxime Daniel	Team Puma - SAP	s.t.
75	Kevin Fouquet	BPost-Vlaanderen	s.t.
76	Josef Cerny	Lierse SK - Pizza Ullo PCTeam	s.t.
77	Bob Schoonbroodt	BPost-Vlaanderen	s.t.
78	Yves Ngock Ngue	Pendleton's	s.t.
79	Guillaume Van Keirsbulck	BPost-Vlaanderen	s.t.
80	Stijn Joseph	Lierse SK - Pizza Ullo PCTeam	s.t.
81	Vegard Robinson Bugge	Aker - MOT	s.t.
82	Pit Schlechter	Vesuvio - Accumalux	s.t.
83	Jon Ander Insausti	Pokerstars.com	s.t.
84	Mektel Eyob	Orange - KLM Cycling	s.t.
85	Fernando Gaviria	Lierse SK - Pizza Ullo PCTeam	s.t.
86	Tim Declerq	Team Puma - SAP	+ 7'03
87	Evert Verbist	Jayco'z Cycling Project	s.t.
88	Jonas Vangenechten	Gazelle	s.t.
89	Eduard Alexander Beltran	Azteca - NBCSN	s.t.
90	Timothy Vangheel	Red Bull - Huawei	s.t.
91	Oumaru Minoungou	Pendleton's	s.t.
92	Robbie Squire	Metinvest-Dacia	s.t.
93	King Lok Cheung	Pendleton's	s.t.
94	Jan Oelerich	Pokerstars.com	s.t.
95	Mauricio Sanz	Pokerstars.com	s.t.
96	Conor Dunne	Team Puma - SAP	s.t.
97	Hakon Frengstad Berger	Aegon - Lavazza	s.t.
98	Sascha Weber	Team Puma - SAP	s.t.
99	Christian Bertilsson	RBC Pro Cycling	s.t.
100	Pavel Korzh	Tinkoff Sport Academy	s.t.
101	Ricardo Van der Velde	eBuddy	s.t.
102	Eugert Zhupa	Becherovka - Petrof	s.t.
103	Hersony Canelon	Azteca - NBCSN	s.t.
104	Oleksandr Golovash	Metinvest-Dacia	s.t.
105	Grzegorz Stepniak	Team I-Gen - Festina	s.t.
106	Ramon Domene	Movistar - US Postal	s.t.
107	Andzs Flaksis	Evonik - ELKO	s.t.
108	Niki Terpstra	Gazelle	s.t.
109	Konstantin Klimiankou	Metinvest-Dacia	s.t.
110	Alex Wohler	Jayco'z Cycling Project	s.t.
111	Daniel Eaton	Becherovka - Petrof	s.t.
112	Floris Gerts	eBuddy	s.t.
113	Tesfay Abraha	Pendleton's	s.t.
114	Egoitz Garcia	Movistar - US Postal	s.t.
115	Cristian Cominelli	Red Bull - Huawei	s.t.
116	Patrick Bercz	Team Puma - SAP	s.t.
117	Geert Van der Sanden	Aegon - Lavazza	s.t.
118	Bakhtiyar Kozhatayev	Bouygues Telecom	s.t.
119	Nathan Haas	Jayco'z Cycling Project	s.t.
120	Remco Broers	eBuddy	s.t.
121	Andriy Vasylyuk	Metinvest-Dacia	s.t.
122	Thomas Bonnin	RBC Pro Cycling	s.t.
123	Sven Nooytens	Aegon - Lavazza	s.t.
124	Martin Pedersen	Orange - KLM Cycling	s.t.
125	Mikhail Kochetkov	Orange - KLM Cycling	s.t.
126	Johan Esteban Chaves	Azteca - NBCSN	s.t.
127	Victor Shishelov	Team Puma - SAP	s.t.
128	Jo Kogstad Ringheim	Aker - MOT	+ 8'01
129	Adrian Gjølberg	Aker - MOT	s.t.
130	Arnaud Grand	Evonik - ELKO	s.t.
131	Thomas De Gendt	Gazelle	s.t.
132	Ahmad Arissol	Red Bull - Huawei	s.t.
133	Welle Jallays	BPost-Vlaanderen	s.t.
134	German Anibal Orue	Azteca - NBCSN	+ 9'08
135	Kevin Peeters	Lierse SK - Pizza Ullo PCTeam	s.t.
136	Alexander Rybakov	Tinkoff Sport Academy	s.t.
137	Samuel Coronel	Azteca - NBCSN	s.t.
138	Igor Boev	Tinkoff Sport Academy	s.t.
139	Cameron Meyer	Kenya Airways - Dimension Data	s.t.
140	Tesfom Okbamariam	Kenya Airways - Dimension Data	+ 10'05
141	Jasper Stuyven	Lierse SK - Pizza Ullo PCTeam	s.t.
142	Jasper Bovenhuis	Aegon - Lavazza	s.t.
143	Nawuti Liphongyu	Red Bull - Huawei	s.t.
144	Ben Curfs	BPost-Vlaanderen	s.t.
145	Adel Barbari	Kenya Airways - Dimension Data	s.t.
146	Albert Kireva	Kenya Airways - Dimension Data	s.t.
147	Hillary Kiprotich	Kenya Airways - Dimension Data	+ 11'35
148	Nandra Eko Wahyudi	Vesuvio - Accumalux	s.t.
149	Michael Vink	Grieg - Eftel	s.t.
150	Christian Ranneries	Vesuvio - Accumalux	s.t.
151	Sergiy Lagkuti	Metinvest-Dacia	s.t.
152	Jörgen Matt	Bouygues Telecom	s.t.
153	João Gaspar	Bouygues Telecom	s.t.
154	Alexis Gougeard	Team I-Gen - Festina	s.t.
155	Ivan Rovny	Tinkoff Sport Academy	s.t.
156	Kristof Goddaert	Metinvest-Dacia	s.t.
157	Richard Laningo Laizer	Kenya Airways - Dimension Data	s.t.
158	Maxime Bouet	Team I-Gen - Festina	s.t.
159	George Atkins	Pokerstars.com	s.t.
160	Roman Senyenov	Gazelle	s.t.
161	Truls Engen Korsaeth	Grieg - Eftel	s.t.
162	Yake Hou	Red Bull - Huawei	s.t.
163	Marco Minnard	Gazelle	s.t.
164	Janvier Hadi	Bouygues Telecom	s.t.
165	Ever Rivera	Vesuvio - Accumalux	s.t.
166	Andrea Zordan	Gazelle	s.t.
167	Geert Steurs	Grieg - Eftel	s.t.
168	Eliot Lietaer	BPost-Vlaanderen	s.t.
169	Øystein Stake Laengen	Grieg - Eftel	s.t.
170	Kristof Vandewalle	Aegon - Lavazza	s.t.
171	Sakari Lehtinen	Vesuvio - Accumalux	s.t.
172	Faycal Hamza	Aegon - Lavazza	s.t.
173	Valens Ndayisenga	Vesuvio - Accumalux	s.t.
174	Patrick Olesen	Bouygues Telecom	s.t.
175	Evgeny Shalunov	Tinkoff Sport Academy	s.t.
176	Chequan Richardson	Azteca - NBCSN	s.t.
177	Nejc Kosic	Team I-Gen - Festina	s.t.
178	Paul Ariko	Kenya Airways - Dimension Data	s.t.
179	Daniel Ruiz	Movistar - US Postal	s.t.
180	Benedikt Mundle	Vesuvio - Accumalux	s.t.
181	Irakli Bablidze	Bouygues Telecom	s.t.
182	Dadley Corwin	Azteca - NBCSN	s.t.
183	Matvey Zubov	Tinkoff Sport Academy	s.t.
184	Jacob Salcone	Jayco'z Cycling Project	s.t.
185	Simone Petilli	Bouygues Telecom	s.t.
186	Serafin José Blanco	Movistar - US Postal	s.t.
187	Marcelo Felipe	Red Bull - Huawei	s.t.
188	Karel Hnik	Becherovka - Petrof	s.t.
189	Andreas Hofer	Team I-Gen - Festina	+ 21'07
190	Charles Matte	RBC Pro Cycling	s.t.
191	Markus Eibegger	Team I-Gen - Festina	+ 26'28
192	Dylan Teuns	Bouygues Telecom	s.t.