Pedersen puts Omloop disappointment behind with Kuurne win

Mads Pedersen (Trek-Segafredo) powered clear of his rivals in the sprint to claim victory at Kuurne-Brussels-Kuurne, to bring the traditional opening weekend of the Classics season to a close.

Mads Pedersen wins the sprint to take out Kuurne-Brussels-Kuurne. Source: Velo

Pedersen was part of the peloton that caught a five-man group containing Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Fenix), Jhonatan Narvaez (Ineos Grenadiers), Iversby Hvideberg (Uno-X), Artyom Zakharov (Astana Premier-Tech) and Patrick Gamper (Bora-Hansgrohe). 

The catch came late, with just 1.6 kilometres remaining after an 80-kilometre attack by Van der Poel with Narvaez had lit up the race.

With the sprint a messy group of individuals coming to the line, Pedersen came off the wheel of teammate Jasper Stuyven to surge to the front from 200 metres out and extend his gap into the finish to claim the win.

“It was super nice to finish it off today and make a result after yesterday (Omloop he Nieuwsblad)," said Pedersen. "What can we say? We f****d up pretty hard and it was pretty bad, so it’s nice to show that we are there."

“Always let the legs speak and not make silly excuses. I think we did it in the right way with the win today.”

Pedersen was 112th the previous day at Omloop het Nieuwsblad, finishing in a group over four minutes down on the front of the race with Alex Kirsch in 63rd the highest placed finisher for the American squad.

“We don’t want to see that team of yesterday, that’s for sure,” said Pedersen. “So of course we were motivated to do better today after a shit result like yesterday. In a case like this, it’s always better to speak from the bike.”

“I was actually sitting in Mathieu’s wheel when he went, but it was quite early, so I didn’t even want to follow. Then when the group went on the Kwaremont, my position was okay, but I was not quite good enough to follow.”

Anthony Turgis (Direct Energie) finished second while WorldTour rookie Thomas Pidcock (INEOS Grenadiers) rounded out the podium for third. 

Heinrich Haussler (Bahrain-Victorious) was Australia's highest-placed finisher in 32nd, with the Classics rider backing up from his fourth at Omloop het Nieuwsblad by supporting team sprinter Sonny Colbrelli in the finish.