Kuurne-Brussels-Kuurne 2026 | The Opening Weekend “dessert” almost always tastes good — especially with Van der Poel

Why is Kuurne–Brussels–Kuurne usually so much fun? Because if you want to win it without a sprint, you have to start very early — and quite a few of those missions have succeeded in recent seasons. Think of the Visma-dominated years of 2023 and 2024, when Tiesj Benoot and Wout van Aert took victory.

Of course, there have also been bunch sprints — Kuurne does end that way fairly often. Pure power sprinters like Fabio Jakobsen and Dylan Groenewegen are on the palmarès, and last year Jasper Philipsen struck again, ahead of Olav Kooij.

The race dynamics, the weather and the strength of the start list ensure a different story every year. What will happen on Sunday? Let’s dive in.

2025 Jasper Philipsen
2024 Wout van Aert
2023 Tiesj Benoot
2022 Fabio Jakobsen
2021 Mads Pedersen
2020 Kasper Asgreen
2019 Bob Jungels
2018 Dylan Groenewegen
2017 Peter Sagan
2016 Jasper Stuyven

Kuurne–Brussels–Kuurne starts on Sunday from the Grote Markt in Kortrijk, Kuurne’s southern neighbour. From there, the riders head towards Harelbeke before turning right for obstacle number one of the day: the Tiegemberg. Don’t expect fireworks here — it comes after just over 16 kilometres of racing. The real battle is for later.

After the Volkegemberg and Lepelstraat, the legs will be properly warmed up. After 66 kilometres (of 194.9 in total), the climbs come thick and fast. Via Bossenaarsstraat, Berg ten Houte and La Houppe, the peloton hurtles towards the halfway point.

The seventh climb of the day is often the trigger for the bigger names without sprint ambitions to start pushing on. Hameau des Papins (preceded by an uncategorised rise) sits 100 kilometres from the finish.

Via Le Bourliquet and Mont Saint-Laurent, we move on to hills that are more familiar to Flemish fans: the Kruisberg, Hotond, Côte du Trieu and the Kluisberg. The top of that final climb comes with 60 kilometres remaining. After that, only the unpaved Beerbosstraat still awaits.

From there, it’s time for the big chainring — and with a fairly stiff wind expected from the south-west, it’s worth noting that with 50 kilometres to go the riders turn right after Celles and ride back towards Kuurne with the wind on a diagonal tail.

One small note: after 180 kilometres, the peloton passes the finish line in Kuurne for the first time, before completing one extra local circuit of 14 kilometres before the final run-in. Kortrijk is also visited once more through the centre as part of that closing loop. What will the outcome be after that?

Weather
After a few pleasant days in the Netherlands and Belgium, the temperature drops again over the weekend to just above double figures on Friday and Saturday. On Sunday it turns a touch colder still, with “feels like” temperatures around 7–9°C. In the afternoon, the chance of rain also rises to around 35%. Add a wind that will fluctuate between force 2, 3 and 4 from the south-southwest, and you’ve got classic early-spring weather.

Times
Start: 12:10 PM
Finish: approximately 5 PM

To Van der Poel or not to Mathieu van der Poel? That is the big Sunday question. The Dutchman will decide after Saturday’s Omloop whether he will also start on Sunday — and if he does, Alpecin–Premier Tech immediately have the top favourite on board.

The Belgian squad also have Jasper Philipsen as Plan B, should Van der Poel fail to go solo (or escape with a small group) in the hardest phase and stay away. Philipsen could, of course, also be part of the move and still sprint. So that’s Plan B and Plan C.

The challengers we first look for are “classic” types: riders who want to anticipate a bunch sprint, or those who can sprint with climbing legs. That brings us to the familiar names: Matej Mohorič (Bahrain Victorious), Kasper Asgreen (EF Education–EasyPost) and the Lidl–Trek duo Toms Skujiņš and Jakob Söderqvist.

Continue down that line and you can’t ignore riders like Iván García Cortina (Movistar), Laurence Pithie, brothers Tim and Mick van Dijke (Red Bull), Dylan van Baarle (Soudal Quick-Step), Christophe Laporte, Axel Zingle (Visma | Lease a Bike) and the UAE block of Tim Wellens, Nils Politt and Florian Vermeersch.

Jonathan Milan (Lidl–Trek), Biniam Girmay (NSN), Paul Magnier (Soudal Quick-Step), Dylan Groenewegen (Unibet Rose Rockets) and Milan Fretin (Cofidis) have all already won one or more sprints this season and will be hungry for sprint success in Kuurne.

Plenty of other fast men are still waiting for their first win, but have the quality to change that quickly. Think Jordi Meeus (Red Bull), Arnaud De Lie (Lotto–Intermarché), Phil Bauhaus (Bahrain Victorious) and Aaron Gate (Astana).

Among the younger riders — and there is always one who can break through, as in previous years — we are definitely noting Pavel Bittner (Picnic PostNL), Noah Hobbs (EF) and newly minted sprinter Maikel Zijlaard (Tudor). If the winner isn’t among all these names? Then we can safely say Sunday will deliver a surprise!

Top favorites: Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Premier Tech) and Paul Magnier (Soudal Quick-Step)
Outsiders: Jonathan Milan (Lidl-Trek), Jasper Philipsen (Alpecin-Premier Tech), Biniam Girmay (NSN), Tobias Lund Andresen (Decathlon CMA CGM) and Arnaud De Lie (Lotto-Intermarché).
Long shots:Dylan Groenewegen (Unibet Rose Rockets), Milan Fretin (Cofidis), Jordi Meeus (Red Bull), Phil Bauhaus, Matej Mohoric (Bahrain Victorious), Pavel Bittner (Picnic PostNL), Kasper Asgreen (EF Education-EasyPost), Toms Skujins, Jakob Söderqvist (Lidl-Trek),Laurence Pithie, Tim and Mick van Dijke (Red Bull), Dylan van Baarle (Soudal Quick-Step), Christophe Laporte, Axel Zingle (Visma | Lease a Bike), Tim Wellens, Nils Politt and Florian Vermeersch (UAE), Stefan Küng, Rick Pluimers (Tudor) and Jonas Abrahamsen (Uno-X).

Eurosport: 14.30
Sporza: 14:30
HBO Max: 14.30

Bram van der Ploeg ( X: @BvdPloegg | email : [email protected])