2019 world champion Mads Pederson wins Kuurne-Bruxelles-Kuurne

Former world champion Mads Pederson made up for Trek-Segafredo’s disappointment in Saturday’s Spring Classics opener Omloop Het Nieuwsblad by winning the weekend’s concluding race, Kuurne-Bruxelles-Kuurne in a sprint. Guillaume Boivin was top Canadian in 63rd.

K-B-K featured 12 hills, three of which were cobbled, over 197 km. The penultimate climb was the formidable Oude de Kwaremont, but it was 60 km from the finish in Kuurne.

It took a while for the day’s breakaway to gel, but eventually six riders got clear early in the race and rolled over the Tiegemberg, Volkegemberg and Boembeek almost 6:00 in the lead. UAE-Emirates drove the peloton.

There was a worrisome moment when Mathieu van der Poel was hit by a team car, but there was no harm done.

With around 90 km remaining, and live pictures having just begun, van der Poel attacked with Ineos’s Jhonatan Narváez.

#KBK21 – MvdP ?pic.twitter.com/av5xQIEyPg

— La Flamme Rouge (@laflammerouge16) February 28, 2021

Van der Poel and Narváez caught the break on the Kwaremont. They were 1:45 ahead of the bunch, which Jasper Stuyven pulled. The famous climb split the peloton.

Kluisberg (1 km, 6.4 percent) was the last hill of the race. There, van der Poel momentarily fragmented the breakaway, but it re-formed as a quintet. The chase, which included Greg Van Avermaet, was 21 riders strong.

Wind began to lash the race, with the bunch behind the Van Avermaet chase chopped to pieces. Dylan Teuns (Belgium/Bahrain-Victorious), Matteo Trentin (Italy/UAE-Emirates), 2020 titlist Kasper Asgreen (Denmark/Deceuninck-QuickStep) and Van Avermaet tried to pull clear of the rest of the chase. Their main accomplishment was shrinking the gap to van der Poel.

With 21 km to go the van der Poel quintet was 31 seconds ahead of the Van Avermaet chase, which in turn was 16 seconds ahead of a similar-sized third group.

As the race entered Kuurne for the 15.7 km circuit, the gaps between the three groups were very slight.

?? #KBK21

As the leading group passes under the finish line with less than 16km left, they are in the sights of the chase group, which is then followed by a second group in pursuit. pic.twitter.com/80YqGEErip

— BORA – hansgrohe (@BORAhansgrohe) February 28, 2021

The two chase groups merged. Van der Poel’s aspirations seemed doomed, but the gap was stable. Inside 4 km remaining, Asgreen lowered the hammer and the junction was made with 1.6 km to go.

In the tailwind sprint finale, Mads Pederson followed teammate Stuyven’s lead out and proved the fastest on the day.

2021 Kuurne-Bruxelles-Kuurne
1) Mads Pederson (Denmark/Trek-Segafredo) 4:37:04
2) Anthony Turgis (France/Total Direct Energie) s.t.
3) Tom Pidcock (Great Britain/Ineos Grenadiers) s.t.
63) Guillaume Boivin (Canada/Israel Start-up Nation) +1:48
87) Ben Perry (Canada/Astana-Premier Tech) +4:52