Matthew Brennan eyes 'super iconic' Flanders and Paris-Roubaix after Brit emulates Sir Mark Cavendish with Kuurne-Brussels-Kuurne win

Matthew Brennan is the Kuurne-Brussels-Kuurne champion, and he is now eying further titles. The 20-year-old beat Luca Mozzato to the finish line in Belgium, and was quick to pay tribute to his Visma-Lease A Bike team-mates for helping him to victory. It makes him the first Brit to win the race since Sir Mark Cavendish, who picked up the second of his two crowns back in 2015.

Matthew Brennan is eying future titles after his superb success at Kuurne-Brussels-Kuurne.

Victory made the 20-year-old the first Brit since Sir Mark Cavendish to win the race.

The Manx Missile won the second of his two titles in 2015, so GB cycling fans have been waiting 11 years for his achievements to be replicated.

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And Brennan did so in wonderful fashion, as he surged into first place in the home straight, ahead of Luca Mozzato, in a time of 4:26:05.

"I've ridden this race twice as a junior, and we've always stood at the finish line and watched all the pros come through and do their race," he said.

"To be in that situation now, where I can finally say I can put my hands up in the air, and I've actually won the pro race, is fantastic."

Britain's Brennan eyeing 'super iconic' Flanders and Paris-Roubaix after emulating Cavendish

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Victory comes as a huge boost to Visma-Lease A Bike. A fantastic team effort helped put Brennan in an excellent position ahead of the sprint finish.

Eventually, the 121.1 mile route came down to the final 100m, and it was the Brit who showed a great turn of pace as he won by a couple of metres.

Italian Mozzato followed him across the line, with his compatriot Matteo Trentin in third.

Brennan was quick to pay tribute to his team-mates for helping him to victory, which came despite a heavy fall in Omloop Nieuwsblad on Saturday.

"All day, I was just a little bit nervous after yesterday's crash," he confessed.

"I hit the floor pretty hard. Unfortunately, I was caught out, but I had a great guy, Pietro Mattio, who really burnt all his bullets to bring me back.

"From there on, I think it was at Kruisberg, I was able to kind of move forward, and get in the move with all the guys.

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"We just went full gas. We really wanted to make it hard. We knew we were in the best situation possible there. We took the initiative, and I'm so happy that it paid off.

"All the guys - we had basically the whole team until the last 2km - they were all just one after another doing their turns.

"In the end, Christophe [Laporte] did an amazing pull towards the finish. I did the easy part, just 100m. I can't thank them enough."

This is Brennan's second victory in a one-day race, following his success at the Grand Prix de Denain in April 2025.

He has also landed a handful of stage wins during his young career, one of which came at last year's Tour of Britain.

On top of that, he picked up an Individual Pursuit gold medal in the velodrome at the 2023 World Junior Championships.

Still only 20, much more is expected in the years to come - not least from the man himself.

"First one [Flemish Classic]," he smiled. "Hopefully more to come. That's the ambition, anyway.

"Flanders, Roubaix... all these races, they're all super iconic. One day I'd love to put my hands up in the air in one of them.

"It might take a while, but we'll give it our best shot."

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