OPENINGFrom Kortrijk it took about half an hour of full-gas racing for the break to form: Matis Louvel, Dries De Bondt and Cole Kessler went first, with Johan Jacobs and Frits Biesterbos bridging quickly. Roger Adrià and Storm Ingebrigtsen needed roughly 60 km to make it across, completing a group of seven that built a maximum lead of around four minutes.
UNFOLDSAround halfway, Belgian champion Tim Wellens crashed and was unable to continue. The break's lead dropped below two minutes as Paul Magnier punctured on the cobbles of Mont Saint-Laurent; up front Jasper Philipsen, Matej Mohorič and Laurence Pithie lifted the tempo, distancing pure sprinters Jonathan Milan, Dylan Groenewegen and Arnaud De Lie, whose deficit grew past a minute.
DECIDEDDylan van Baarle attacked on the Côte du Trieu with Timo Kielich, Mohorič, Daan Hoole, Mikkel Honoré and Riley Sheehan, but the move was reeled in with 62 km left. Van Baarle and Kielich tried again — this time with Matthew Brennan, Nils Politt, Jonas Abrahamsen, Matteo Trentin and others aboard — yet the peloton closed it down with 52 km to go. After the last of the seven climbs (the Kluisberg) there are 60 km of flat roads to Kuurne, and despite constant movement no attack could survive that run-in.
FINALEIt came down to a clash of fast finishers from a thinned-out front group. In Kuurne, Christophe Laporte delivered a perfect lead-out and Brennan sealed it convincingly, Mozzato and Trentin a bike length back for the Tudor 2-3. Matevž Govekar and Mike Teunissen rounded out the top five at the same time.