Visma sees win in KBK as a 'logical step' for Brennan: "Now he can move on to the next round"

Happy faces at Visma | Lease a Bike after Kuurne-Brussels-Kuurne. The Dutch team won the second part of the Opening Weekend with Matthew Brennan and made an impression on the road as a collective. However, the performance didn’t come as a big surprise. “We had a lot of confidence after how things went yesterday,” said team manager Maarten Wynants after the race in front of our camera.

“We hoped that today would go a bit more in our favor,” said the Belgian. “I think we seized the race well and then never let go. At some point, you’re always at the front when something happens. It’s just great that we were able to finish it off that way.”

The squad from Visma | Lease a Bike really took control of the race. A contrast to Saturday, when they were more reactive. “Today was mainly a different course. The wind was better, and after a while, the roads got a bit narrower. Yesterday, we also wanted to do something similar to today, but the scenario has to work out. That was less the case yesterday than today.”

Kielich: “Today things went our way”
Timo Kielich acknowledged that Visma | Lease a Bike had some bad luck in the Omloop Het Nieuwsblad. “On the Molenberg, we had four guys up front, but then there was that crash. That was mostly just bad luck. Today, everything went more in our favor. However, there were many teams with a sprinter, so it wasn’t easy to open up the race.”

In the hill zone, Brennan still had to chase back. Did that cause a lot of stress for Wynants in the team car? “Well yes. At that moment, there’s not much you can do,” he said. “We had confidence that he was strong, but the positioning heading into the Trieux went a bit wrong. The rest was well positioned, so they could shut it down. Then Pietro Mattio was able to bring him back.”

Calm and mature
Brennan was already one of the leaders at Visma | Lease a Bike before the Opening Weekend, but with Van Aert out, more attention was focused on him. However, according to Wynants, the young Brit doesn’t struggle with that pressure. “He’s naturally very calm and mature. I also don’t think he necessarily felt like he had to follow in Wout’s footsteps. Today, he just wanted to win for himself.”

“Does this raise higher expectations for him for the rest of the spring? I see this as the first logical step. He has to prove himself at this level. He succeeded there, so now he can move on to the next round.”

In conclusion, Wynants added that his riders are “on level” and have made progress in positioning compared to 2025. “That is certainly promising. And then Wout still has to come back.”