Dylan Groenewegen (LottoNL-Jumbo) sprints to Kuurne-Brussel-Kuurne classic event.

Dylan Groenewegen (LottoNL-Jumbo) wins Kuurne-Brussel-Kuurne. He led the reduced field sprint across the line ahead of Arnaud Démare (FDJ)) and Sonny Colbrelli (Bahrain-Merida).

            How it unfolded
Bright blue skies and big crowds welcomed the riders Kuurne on Sunday morning.
Roger De Vlaeminck - winner in 1970 and 1971 – was one of those there after receiving the honour of firing the start gun. Seven riders dared to challenge the headwind that marked the first half of the race towards Brussels.

 The seven were Truls Korsaeth (Astana), Gedaminas Bagdonas (AG2R), Matteo Bono (UAE Team Emirates), Piet Allegaert (Sport Vlaanderen-Baloise), Kenneth Van Bilsen (Cofidis), Romain Cardis (Direct Energie) and Ben Perry (Israel Cycling Academy).

It was the second day in a row that Van Bilsen featured in the long breakaway move, after going up the road at Omloop Het Nieuwsblad. Late-race breakaway riders Julien Duval (AG2R La Mondiale) and Julien Vermote (Dimension Data), joined by Loic Vliegen (BMC Racing) in the final kilometres, where pulled back into the fold by a charging reduced peloton led by Lotto Soudal and LottoNL-Jumbo.

 Despite spending much of his energy in the breakaway attempt, Vermote hung on for ninth on the day. There was a brief hiatus in hostilities as the peloton entered the final lap until two brief moves from Niki Terpstra and Guillaume van Keirsbulck.

As the latter was brought back to the fold, Duval went clear on his own, soon to be joined by Vermote. The pair worked together, but Duval appeared to be struggling compared to Vermote and they began slipping back to the peloton. Vliegen saw his chance and joined the two leaders and helped them build a bigger advantage. With some big sprinters behind, the three were not given much in the way of space out front. As they turned onto the final stretch, Duval was slipping back and Vermote made one last push. Once the fast men began sprinting, Vermote was quickly overhauled and Groenewegen had a clear run to the line.
               Top ten finishers

1, Dylan Groenewegen (Netherland) LottoNL-Jumbo,    
2, Arnaud Demare (France) FDJ,    
3, Sonny Colbrelli (Italy) Bahrain-Merida,   
4, Pim Ligthart (Netherland) Roompot-Nederlandse Loterij,  
5,Justin Jules (France) WB Aqua Protect Veranclassic,
6,Jean-Pierre Drucker (Luxemburg) BMC Racing Team,
7, Guillaume Boivin (Canada) Israel Cycling Academy,   8, Lukasz Wisniowski (Poland) Team Sky,
9,Julien Vermote (Belgium) Dimension Data,
10,Timothy Dupont (Belgium) Wanty-Groupe Gobert.