Mathieu van der Poel a favorite at Kuurne-Brussels-Kuurne with Sagan, Jungels and Gilbert out of the race

The 2021 Classics season is almost upon us with Omloop Het Nieuwsblad on Saturday and Kuurne-Brussels-Kuurne being the second semi-Classic of the weekend on the February 28

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.

2021 Kuurne-Brussels-Kuurne Start List

Deceuninck-Quick-Step

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
ANIOLKOWSKI Stanislaw
LIVYNS Arjen
VALLÉE Boris
CASTRIQUE Jonas
REX Laurenz
PAQUOT Tom

Bora – Hansgrohe

POLITT Nils
BURGHARDT Marcus
GAMPER Patrick
OSS Daniel
PÖSTLBERGER Lukas
MEEUS Jordi

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
SAJNOK Szymon

EF Education-Nippo

KEUKELEIRE Jens
LANGEVELD Sebastian
HOFLAND Moreno
OWEN Logan
VAN DEN BERG Julius
SCULLY Tom
VALGREN Michael

Groupama – FDJ

DÉMARE Arnaud
GENIETS Kevin
LUDVIGSSON Tobias
SCOTSON Miles
SINKELDAM Ramon
KÜNG Stefan
LIENHARD Fabian

Israel Start-Up Nation

BARBIER Rudy
HOFSTETTER Hugo
RENARD Alexis
VAN ASBROECK Tom
BIERMANS Jenthe
BOIVIN Guillaume
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
WISNIOWSKI Lukasz
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
DENZ Nico
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
EHOLM Jakob
STUYVAN Jasper
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
VAN ELZAKKER Wout