Lotte Kopecky claims historic third title at Tour of Flanders ahead of Pauline Ferrand-Prevot

Lotte Kopecky (SD Worx–Protime) delivered on pre-race expectation to claim a record third title at the Tour of Flanders, following a thrilling battle in Oudenaarde.

Despite admitting she did not have her best legs earlier in the week at Dwars Door Vlaanderen, the world champion delivered a measured performance, rounded off with a consummate display of sprinting prowess, to further etch her name into Flandrian history, overcoming the challenge of three strong adversaries to become the first woman to win three times at ‘De Ronde’.

The race began with a dramatic exit for defending champion Elisa Longo Borghini (UAE ADQ), as a series of crashes saw the Italian champion one of a number of riders to withdraw from the race.

A breakaway group comprising seven riders was able to accrue an advantage of almost six minutes over the peloton for a while, but as the parcours increased in difficulty, the famous cobbled bergs of the region began to take their toll, and the group was reduced first to four, then two, and finally, a lone leader, Nicole Steigenga of AG Insurance-Soudal, who dug in to stay out in the solo lead of the race for another 15 kilometres before she was reeled in.

With the breakaway accounted for and the climbs increasing in frequency and difficulty, aggressive racing from Lidl-Trek and Movistar helped to slim down the peloton, with casualties of the brisk pace-setting including Marianne Vos (Visma-Lease A Bike) and Lorena Wiebes (SD Worx).

Kopecky rode further back in the group, later admitting that she rode herself into the race, though the strategy clearly paid off. Her team-mates worked hard for her, Mischa Bredewold in particular, as she was able to follow a late move instigated by Lidl-Trek’s Lauretta Hanson, allowing Kopecky to sit in the group and conserve energy for the final.

Following an attack from Liane Lippert (Movistar), the duo of Bredewold and Hanson was brought back, and attacks continued to launch from the bunch after that, many of them from Lidl-Trek who continued to exert their presence on the group.

Another pre-race favourite, Puck Pieterse (Fenix-Deceuninck), was prominent throughout the late stages of the race, but showed her inexperience, working too hard on the front of the bunch to bring back a number of attacks, despite visible signs of an early crash.

With a select group of 17 riders remaining, the race reached the longest climb of the day, and were greeted by the crowds on the Oude Kwaremont as those who had the legs launched their attacks. Kopecky led up the climb, the cheers of the home crowd driving her on, and there were only three riders who were able to stay with her – Lippert, Kasia Niewiadoma (Canyon//SRAM-zondacrypto), and Pauline Ferrand-Prevot (Visma-Lease A Bike) setting up a mouth-watering finale, which began with the final climb of the race, the short, steep Paterberg.

Though Niewiadoma and Lippert both tried to use the climb to their advantage, they were not able to drop Kopecky or Ferrand-Prevot, and with the chasing group unable to impact upon the gap to the leading quartet, the four riders began to prepare for a sprint showdown in Oudenaarde.

Kopecky profited from her energy conservation in the early part of the race, as she found her best legs on the climbs and from there, she was able to put herself in a commanding position from which to sprint for victory.

Heading into the final kilometre, Niewiadoma launched early, forcing Kopecky to chase, but despite leading the sprint out, the Belgian was too strong for the others, cruising to an historic third victory in front of a jubilant partisan crowd.

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