After Le Samyn it's time for Kuurne-Bruxelles-Kuurne. We have some more traditional northern classics weather today with some rain and wind at the start of the day.
The breakaway is established fairly easily in the opening kilometres. We have 7 riders here:
A second group of breakaway riders makes it to the front race. There are now 12 riders in total with an early 3 minute lead on the peloton. The new additions are:
Yzeiraj Garofoli Gregoire Seigle Fjellheim
Almost 40 km into the race is when we hit the cobbles for the very first time. We're with the peloton at the moment who are 5 minutes down on the breakaway.
The teams setting the pace at the front are Ekoi, Specialized, Bralirwa and Assa Abloy.
With less than 100 km to go this is perhaps the hardest cobbled climb the riders are facing today. Wallinder and Madan are just getting caught as the peloton is now less than 3 minutes behind the breakaway.
Hayashibara is the next rider who is about to be caught.
Following those hard cobbled sections we see an attack from Pithie with Giulietti and Van Keirsbulck trying to follow.
Giulietti and Van Keirsbulck pickup Seigle who was dropped from the breakaway, while Pithie continues his solo effort to the front of the race. These riders are about a minute ahead of the peloton.
We are on a few asphalt climbs before we reach the cobbles again. The trio of attackers have yet to make it to the front of the race. The peloton is around 2 minutes behind and we have 60 km left. This final third of the race should prove decisive.
The peloton with still a 100+ riders catches up with the trio. The original breakaway that now consists of 8 riders is a further 1'28'' ahead.
Kasperkiewicz is signalling for a tyre change. Not the best time for this, but the change is done quickly and the Pole remains in the back part of the peloton.
Meanwhile De Witte decides now is the time to attack, with 50 km remaining.
De Witte is now driving the rest of this breakaway effort, but the riders here cannot offer him much help.
The day is the breakaway ends now for Garofoli, Gregoire, Dressler and Simmons. 40 km to the finish.
At the front De Witte forges ahead on his own.
This a worse puncture timing as Hvideberg loses the main group waiting for a tyre change.
As De Witte is caught we have a split of the peloton. Peng and Pithie are the biggest names behind in the 2nd group.
The two groups are coming back together as Teggart attacks before we reach the longest cobbled section of the day.
Here we go, 3.5 km of cobbles.
Louvel leads the group of favourites out of the cobbled section. The group just behind features the likes of Nareklishvili, De Witte and Summerhill.
Schreurs accelerates and this move creates some daylight. He has Stallaert, Gaday, Girmay, Wisniowski and Zepuntke on his wheel.
Sulimov brings the favourites back together, but now we see a counter by Zepuntke, Wisniowski and Polanc.
Moulingui makes the effort over the short cobbled section and we're back together again. Louvel is dropped.
Wisniowski goes again and he has Girmay for company.
The two leaders start the final cobbled section 10 km from the finish line. Wisniowski has to shake his companion if he wants the best chance of winning.
Zepuntke is trying to eat into this gap as he forces the pace on the cobbles.
And he's done it! Out of the cobbles and we're all back together yet again!
6 km to go and things have calmed down. This looks like it's going to be a sprint finish. Kolev of all riders is here riding on the front. Kuroeda is behind trying to come back into this group.
Zepuntke doesn't want a sprint, he has the energy to attack again!
Talking about energy it's Wisniowski on the chase. These two look like the strongest riders in the race.
3 km to go it doesn't look like Wisniowski can close this gap.
Girmay powers past him for has to be the longest sprint anyone has ever attempted!
Zepuntke holds his gap under the flamme rouge. Behind us we see Stallaert launching his sprint.
It's all business for Ruben Zepuntke as he wins the 2025 Kuurne-Bruxelles-Kuurne!
Girmay holds on for 2nd place ahead of Stallaert. Orue is the surprise name as he finishes in 4th place.
Schreurs wins the sprint for 5th followed by Kasperkiewicz, Gaday, Polanc and Wisniowski. Another surprise is Kolev who completes the top 10 followed by teammate Moulingui.
Zepuntke was the strongest rider today and he was also well supported by his Ekoi - Le Creuset team. This is a big win for the often maligned cobbled specialist.
Kuurne-Bruxelles-Kuurne 
