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Kuurne - Bruxelles - Kuurne Discussion
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| kandesbunzler26 |
Posted on 05-11-2023 12:15
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 [C1] Kuurne – Bruxelles - Kuurne
Welcome to Flanders, right within the heart of the cobbles, where 14 PCT and 9 CT teams are fighting on the cobbles.
As the name suggests, the route of the race leads the peloton from Kuurne to Kuurne, exploring the surrounding landscape in between Kortrijk, Gent and Bruxelles. And to no ones surprise we have a classic profile here for a cobbled classic in Flanders: flat in general, but with quite some short and steep hills – some of them cobbled as well.
There have been several multiple winners here, and though the days of Leif Hoste and Pieter Vanspeybrouck are long gone  Joeri Stallaert (who’s also the only three time winner) is still a well known name in the PCT cobbles circuit. He’s amongst the favourites this year too. The only other previous winner at the start is  Matteo Trentin.
The race has been won in a sprint from a small to medium group in most of the recent editions, though a solo has been the usual way to win here in the first years. Stallaert has done it both ways with sprint wins in 2021 and 2022 and a solo in 2019.
Previous winners:
Spoiler
| Year | Winner | | | | | | | | | 2022 | Joeri Stallaert (Bralirwa - Stevens) | | 2021 | Joeri Stallaert (Bralirwa - Stevens) | | 2020 | Matteo Trentin (Mapei) | | | | | | | | | 2019 | Joeri Stallaert (Volvo acc. by Spotify) | | | | | | | | | 2018 | Roger Kluge (Team Cerveceria Costa Rica) | | | | | | | | 2017 | Sam Harrison (World Cycling Centre) | | | | | | | | 2016 | Mark Cavendish (Red Bull - Huawei) | | | | | | | 2015 | Pieter Vanspeybrouck (TeamBpost) | as Omloop Het Volk | | | | | | | | 2012 | Jens Renders (Tyskie) | as Kuurne - Bruxelles - Kuurne | | 2011 | Pieter Vanspeybrouck (Team IKEA - Bianchi) | | 2010 | Leif Hoste (NVidia Intel) | | 2009 | Tom Boonen (Warner Brothers) | | | | | | | | | 2008 | Leif Hoste (Wiesenhof) | | |
2022 results:
Spoiler
| 1 | Joeri Stallaert | Bralirwa - Stevens | 4h28'43 | | 2 | Sam Bewley | Amaysim Cervelo | s.t. | | 3 | Maxime Daniel | HelloFresh - Lampre | s.t. | | 4 | Matteo Trentin | Carlsberg - Danske Bank | s.t. | | 5 | Gianni Vermeersch | Staffbase - BHP | s.t. | | 6 | Kenneth Vanbilsen | Trans Looney Tunes | s.t. | | 7 | Tom David | Sauber Petronas Racing | s.t. | | 8 | Robert Bush | Binance | s.t. | | 9 | Vegard Breen | Tafjord Kraft | s.t. | | 10 | Andrew Fenn | BWT Hyundai N Cycling | s.t. | | | | |
The favourites for this race are those riders who combine two major skills: they have to be good cobblers and – given the group finishes in recent editions – they probably need a good sprint.
Cobblers:
Given the few chances for PCT cobblers in the MGUCI calendar it’s no surprise we see the usual suspects rounded up:  Spengler,  Zepuntke,  Van Hooydonck, and Summerhill are the best of the pure cobblers, while Stallaert,  Daniel and especially this seasons two time winner  Theuns may be the better bets given their surpreme sprint abilities.
| | FL | ST | RS | CB | SP | AC | | | Spengler | Lukas | 74 | 74 | 73 | 83 | 62 | 70 | Team UBS - Tissot | | Zepuntke | Ruben | 72 | 79 | 72 | 82 | 72 | 65 | Los Pollos Hermanos | | Stallaert | Joeri | 77 | 76 | 68 | 81 | 79 | 76 | Bralirwa - Stevens | | Van Hooydonck | Nathan | 73 | 75 | 74 | 81 | 61 | 72 | Fastned | | Summerhill | Danny | 76 | 73 | 69 | 81 | 68 | 70 | Tryg - Gobik | | Theuns | Edward | 72 | 76 | 73 | 80 | 77 | 76 | Jura GIANTS | | Daniel | Maxime | 73 | 76 | 76 | 80 | 76 | 72 | Lampre - Pinarello |  Debesay | Mekseb | 75 | 75 | 79 | 79 | 69 | 78 | DuckDuckGo - Everesting |  Gamper | Patrick | 77 | 77 | 77 | 79 | 63 | 71 | Lierse SK - Pizza Ullo PCTeam |
Sprinters:
If the race doesn’t get very selective, some of the sprinters with at least decent cobbles skills could get in the mix for the win. The best riders not mentioned among the cobblers are shown below, but it’s hard to judge who of them really is a threat given it mostly depends on how hard the race is ridden. The best bet should be  Havik, though the Lampre duo of Rowe and Thwaites doesn’t look too bad on paper too – but they’re probably here as domestiques given they’re only the third and fourth best cobblers of their team.
| | FL | ST | RS | CB | SP | AC | |  Lo Cicero | Ivano | 68 | 65 | 57 | 65 | 80 | 72 | Adidas - Eurocash | | Havik | Yoeri | 73 | 74 | 68 | 76 | 79 | 76 | Hilcona Racing Team | | Van Asbroeck | Tom | 74 | 74 | 71 | 73 | 79 | 77 | Team UBS - Tissot |  Riabushenko | Aliaksandr | 76 | 71 | 74 | 66 | 79 | 77 | Babymetal Cycling |  Willwohl | Willi | 73 | 71 | 67 | 66 | 79 | 78 | Team Würth MODYF | | Rowe | Luke | 77 | 74 | 68 | 74 | 78 | 78 | Lampre - Pinarello | | Thwaites | Scott | 72 | 72 | 68 | 75 | 77 | 74 | Lampre - Pinarello | | McLay | Dan | 73 | 74 | 72 | 72 | 77 | 76 | Saeco |
Full start list:
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| Laurens147 |
Posted on 05-11-2023 14:01
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Thanks KB for the preview! 
Looking forward to another Theuns-Stallaert battle.
For us the goal is to pick up some minor points with Chatarunga and maybe a breakaway appearance.
Good luck everyone!
MG - Lotto - Caloi
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| Croatia14 |
Posted on 05-11-2023 15:02
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Great preview! I'd love a Stallaert win.
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| Fabianski |
Posted on 05-11-2023 19:12
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Agree with Croatia, Stallaert winning would be good, he wasn't exactly well treated by the engine this month. Theuns has already exceeded the expectations for this month, but I'll obviously happily take any points I can get, especially after the Ukraine disaster and a bad start in Juárez.
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| cunego59 |
Posted on 05-11-2023 22:36
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Fabianski wrote:
Agree with Croatia, Stallaert winning would be good, he wasn't exactly well treated by the engine this month.
I mean, he finished 4th and 3rd, if that's not being treated well, I can't complain too much  Of course, this is the race that suits him most of the three this month, and it would be nice to hit at least one of our two win goals. But another Top 3 result would still be fine, too. Looking forward to the race, thanks for the preview!
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| AbhishekLFC |
Posted on 06-11-2023 07:40
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More of the same from our guys will do! Hoping we either get good depth scoring from our four man cobbles unit, or get one of them to have a go towards the end and stick the move.
Thanks for the preview kb
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| whitejersey |
Posted on 06-11-2023 11:08
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Hoping for a great result here as we have multiple strings to play on. Thanks for the preview!
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| Bjartne |
Posted on 06-11-2023 11:21
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We have had some fun C2-cobbled experiences so far, so why not try joining the big guns as well? |
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| Ad Bot |
Posted on 28-09-2024 22:22
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| MacC |
Posted on 06-11-2023 11:25
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Another calendar cock-up here from Glanbia manager MacC but any excuse to sit on Grand Place with a pack of frites
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| cunego59 |
Posted on 06-11-2023 21:13
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There's the Stallaert we know and love! This time, he was tactically perfect and then he's hard to stop. Happy with Teggart in the Top 25, a very nice addition to the cobbles squad.
Van Hooydonck and Theuns continue to prove their worth, too. Tough break for Spengler after initially getting in on the right move to then even fall out of the Top 10.
Thanks for the nice report kb, enjoyed that a lot
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| Bjartne |
Posted on 06-11-2023 22:42
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Not much to celebrate for us here. Breen with a poor performance.
Really good fight at the finish so exciting right till the end
Thanks for the report kandesbunzler, and for some great photos! |
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| Bushwackers |
Posted on 06-11-2023 22:50
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Thanks kandesbunzler for the race and congrats to cunego on the win and knocking out one of your season goals!
I'm a bit bummed to see Spengler make the split but then get dropped and fall all the way out of the top 10. At least we scored with our depth and Jacobs got a decent result. I must say, we are really working for our points in these races.
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| Fabianski |
Posted on 06-11-2023 22:52
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Big congrats to Bralirwa and Stallaert, getting a win goal must feel great (don't know that feeling, but for you it must be like a usual day in the office )!
For once, Theuns wasn't active at all, but you can't always get on the right move. He did what he had to do from the chasing group, though, easily bossing the sprint. 3 races this month, 3 podiums, over 300 points - I guess I can call that a pretty good month
However, I'd have almost preferred taking 4th, as I hated to see Spengler cracking so, so hard  Joining the winning move and finishing outside the Top 10 is ugly, feeling sorry for Bushwackers.
Thanks for the entertaining report to kb
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| whitejersey |
Posted on 06-11-2023 23:25
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Cobbles season pretty much in ruins for us now, not the greatest feeling ngl.
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| AbhishekLFC |
Posted on 07-11-2023 05:25
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Another very good result for Ringheim marks out a great February for us on the cobbles. Not much depth scoring here but it's fine despite Shiki trying his luck from distance and probably sacrificing a Top 20 result because of it. Can't complain too much though.
Congrats to cunego and thanks for the report kb
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| Nemolito |
Posted on 07-11-2023 07:08
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First of all, thank you for the great preview and report, kb!
This race simply wasn't selective enough for Zepuntke, at least not with the rather low amount of cobbles. Still getting a top-10 is decent, although a tenth place without any depth of course doesn't look great when you look at the points per raceday. Glad to see Stallaert win his first one of the year!
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| roturn |
Posted on 07-11-2023 07:35
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Van Hooydonck again with a nice race!
Initiated the selection nicely and was in a great group of Spengler and Stallaert. Obviously the later was hard to beat then but at least being away from all the other similar riders.
To beat Spengler than with another acceleration was a nice bonus. 2nd is pretty perfect here.
Right now he is one of the best bets of high scoring for me seeing he is very strong post training in this division and a potential regular podium rider despite his weak sprint.
Thanks for the report and congrats cunego. |
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| Laurens147 |
Posted on 07-11-2023 10:41
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Happy for cunego to get away with the victory Great to see Chatarunga in group 2, finishing last was the only downside.
Thanks for the great report KB!
MG - Lotto - Caloi
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| Croatia14 |
Posted on 07-11-2023 11:43
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Ohhhhhh Joeri Stallllllllllllllllllllllllaert! 
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