The 2021 Classics season is almost upon us with Kuurne-Brussels-Kuurne being the second semi-Classic of the weekend on the February 28 after Omloop Het Nieuwsblad on the Saturday.
Kuurne-Brussels-Kuurne is usually a race for the sprinters, with riders like Dylan Groenewegen (Team Jumbo-Visma) and Mark Cavendish (Deceuninck - Quick-Step) being past winners. But, the race can be very open and solo riders or small breakaways can stay away.
Last year's winner, Kasper Asgreen (Deceuninck-Quick-Step), won with a solo attack ahead of a bunch sprint led by Giacomo Nizzolo (Qhubeka-Assos) and Alexander Kristoff (UAE Team Emirates).
Perhaps the biggest favourite set to ride is Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Fenix) who returns to racing after having to leave the UAE Tour due to a positive Covid-19 test within the team, he won stage one of that race.
The 2021 start list is now complete, however, there are some notable absentees, including Peter Sagan (Bora-Hansgrohe), Bob Jungels (Ag2r-Cotroën) and Philippe Gilbert (Lotto-Soudal). Other notable absentees are that of Team Jumbo-Visma, who aren't on the start list at all.
Kuurne-Brussels-Kuurne 2021 start list
Deceuninck-Quick-Step - Confirmed
ASGREEN Kasper
STEELS Stijn
HODEG Alvaro
VAN LERBERGHE Bert
STEIMLE Jannik
LAMPAERT Yves
STYBAR Zdenek
Astana-Premier Tech
ZAKHAROV Arytom
PERRY Ben
ARANBURU Alex
BOARO Manuele
FELLINE Fabio
IZAGIRRE Gorka
MARTINELLI Davide
AG2R La Mondiale-Cirtoën
VAN AVERMAET Greg
DUVAL Julian
VAN HOCKE Gijs
NAESEN Lawrence
NAESEN Oliver
JULIEN Anthony
SARREAU Marc
Alpecin-Fenix
VAN DER POEL Mathieu
DILLIER Silvan
MERLIER Tim
PLANCKAERT Edward
RIESEBEEK Oscar
DE VREESE Laurens
TAMINIAUX Lionel
Bahrain Victorious/strong>
HALLER Marco
PADUN Mark
COLBRELLI Sonny
HAUSSLER Heinrich
TEUNS Dylan
SIEBERG Marcel
WILLIAMS Steve
B&B Hotels - Vital Concept p/b KTM
DEBUSSCHERE Jens
VAN GENECHTEN Jonas
COQUARD Bryan
DE BACKER Bert
LECROQ Jeremy
MORICE Julien
LEMOINE Cyril
Bingoal - Wallonie Bruxelles
DUPONT Timothy
ANIOŁKOWSKI Stanisław
LIVYNS Arjen
VALLÉE Boris
PEYSKENS Dimitir
REX Laurenz
PAQUOT Tom
Bora - Hansgrohe
POLITT Nils
BURGHARDT Marcus
GAMPER Patrick
OSS Daniel
PÖSTLBERGER Lukas
MEEUS Jordi
SCHELLING Ide
Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert Matériaux
VAN POPPEL Boy
PASQUALON Andrea
KOCH Jonas
DEVRIENDT Tom
VAN POPPEL Danny
VANSPEYBROUCK Pieter
DE WINTER Ludwig
Cofidis, Solutions Credits
DRUCKER Jempy
WALLAYS Jelle
BOHLI Tom
MORIN Emmanuel
ALLEGAERT Piet
LAPORTE Christophe
CARVALHO Andre
EF Education-Nippo
KEUKELEIRE Jens
LANGEVELD Sebastian
HOFLAND Moreno
RUTSCH Jonas
VAN DEN BERG Julius
SCULLY Tom
DOCKER Mitchell
Groupama - FDJ
DÉMARE Arnaud
GENIETS Kevin
LUDVIGSSON Tobias
SCOTSON Miles
SINKELDAM Ramon
KÜNG Stefan
LIENHARD Fabian
Israel Start-Up Nation
BARBIER Rudy
HOFSTETTER Hugo
VAHTRA Norman
VAN ASBROECK Tom
BIERMANS Jenthe
WÜRTZ SCHMIDT Mads
EINHORN Itamar
Lotto - Soudal
DEGENKOLB John
KRON Andreas
OLDANI Stafano
VERMEERSCH Florian
THIJSSEN Gerben
FRISON Frederik
VAN MOER Brent
Team BikeExchange
JANSEN Amund Grøndahl
JUUL-JENSEN Chris
DURBRIDGE Luke
EDMONDSON Alex
SCOTSON Callum
SMITH Dion
STANNARD Robert
Team Qhubeka-Assos
CAMPENAERTS Victor
CLAEYS Dimitri
GOGL Michael
BENNETT Sean
BARBERO Carlos
WIŚNIOWSKI Łukasz
VINJEBO Emil
Sport Vlaanderen - Baloise
DE VYLDER Lindsay
DE WILDE Gilles
VAN DEN BOSSCHE Fabio
VANHOOF Ward
MARIT Arne
WEEMAES Sasha
REYNDERS Jens
Ineos Grenadiers
BASSO Leonardo
PIDCOCK Tom
NARVÁEZ Jhonatan
HAYTER Ethan
DOULL Owain
MOSCON Gianni
WURF Cameron
Team DSM
EEKHOFF Nils
KRAGH ANDERSEN Soren
BRENNER Marco
BENOOT Tiejs
PEDERSEN Casper
LEKNESSUND Andreas
KANTER Max
Team Total Direct Energie
BOASSON HAGEN Edvald
BONIFAZIO Leonardo
MANZIN Lorenzo
SOUPE Geoffrey
TERPSTRA Niki
TURGIS Anthony
VAN GESTEL Dries
Trek-Segafredo
PEDERSEN Mads
STUYVAN Jasper
KIRSCH Alex
MULLEN Ryan
EGHOLM Jakob
THEUNS Edward
QUARTERMAN Charlie
Uno-X Norwegian Development Team
RESELL Erik Nordsaeter
TILLER Rasmus
SKAARSETH Anders
HOELGAARD Markus
WÆRENSKJOLD Søren
HALVORSEN Kristoffer
HVIDEBERG Jonas Iversby
UAE Team Emirates
LAENGEN Vegard Stake
BYSTRØM Sven Erik
GIBBONS Ryan
KRISTOFF Alexander
TRENTIN Matteo
MARCATO Marco
TROIA Oliviero
Team Arkéa-Samsic
MCLAY Dan
SWIFT Connor
BOUDAT Thomas
CAPIOT Amaury
WELTEN Bram
PAJUR Markus
GRONDIN Donavan
Vini Zabù
MARECSKO Jakub
GRADEK Kamil
BEVILACQUA Mattia
SCHNEITER Joab
FRAPPORTI Marco
VAN EMPEL Etienne
ORRICO Davide
Hi, I'm one of Cycling Weekly's content writers for the web team responsible for writing stories on racing, tech, updating evergreen pages as well as the weekly email newsletter. Proud Yorkshireman from the UK's answer to Flanders, Calderdale, go check out the cobbled climbs!
I started watching cycling back in 2010, before all the hype around London 2012 and Bradley Wiggins at the Tour de France. In fact, it was Alberto Contador and Andy Schleck's battle in the fog up the Tourmalet on stage 17 of the Tour de France.
It took me a few more years to get into the journalism side of things, but I had a good idea I wanted to get into cycling journalism by the end of year nine at school and started doing voluntary work soon after. This got me a chance to go to the London Six Days, Tour de Yorkshire and the Tour of Britain to name a few before eventually joining Eurosport's online team while I was at uni, where I studied journalism. Eurosport gave me the opportunity to work at the world championships in Harrogate back in the awful weather.
After various bar jobs, I managed to get my way into Cycling Weekly in late February of 2020 where I mostly write about racing and everything around that as it's what I specialise in but don't be surprised to see my name on other news stories.
When not writing stories for the site, I don't really switch off my cycling side as I watch every race that is televised as well as being a rider myself and a regular user of the game Pro Cycling Manager. Maybe too regular.
My bike is a well used Specialized Tarmac SL4 when out on my local roads back in West Yorkshire as well as in northern Hampshire with the hills and mountains being my preferred terrain.
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