Brennan dominates sprint finish at dramatic Kuurne-Brussels-Kuurne

Opening Weekend closed with Kuurne-Brussels-Kuurne on Sunday, typically a more sprinter-friendly affair than the previous day's Omloop Nieuwsblad, but still featuring a number of wearing cobbles and bergs, not to mention wind across the exposed Belgian countryside.

The race was action-packed from about the halfway point, with several teams eager to make statements at the start of the Spring Classics. The punishing aggression on many of the climbs put several of the pre-race favourites in serious difficulty, and the likes of Jonathan Milan, Paul Magnier, Arnaud De Lie, Dylan Groenewegen and Biniam Girmay were all ruled out of the action long before the finale.

24 hours after crashing out of Omloop, Matthew Brennan was more than holding his own up front with a very active Jasper Philipsen, and it was Visma-Lease a Bike that weathered the day best, alongside a very polished Decathlon-CMA CGM lineup in support of Tobias Lund Andresen. Despite numerous attacks and splits in the wind, it all came down to a reduced bunch sprint after a particularly frantic run-in.

Brennan won with ease ahead of Tudor pair Luca Mozzato and Matteo Trentin. Caught out of position, reigning champ Philipsen came home a disappointing 18th.

[race_result id=84 stage_id=0 count=5 gc=0 year=2026]