A year after her first victory, Lotte Kopecky (Team SD Worx) won a second Tour of Flanders in a row, attacking on the Oude Kwaremont and soloing to the finish.
Behind Kopecky, a group of seven riders fought for the remaining podium places, with Marlen Reusser (Team SD Worx) leading the sprint. Elisa Longo Borghini (Trek-Segafredo) was the first to launch, but Demi Vollering came around her to take a 1-2 for SD Worx, and Longo Borghini took third.
The Belgian superstar was part of a group of four that had formed after the Koppenberg and also included her teammates Lorena Wiebes and Reusser as well as Silvia Persico (UAE Team ADQ).
Wiebes had to let go on the Taaienberg, and Reusser couldn't follow Kopecky's acceleration on the Kruisberg. On the Oude Kwaremont, her pace was too high for Persico as well, leaving the 27-year-old to continue alone towards the finish where she became only the second rider after Mirjam Melchers to win two consecutive editions of the race.
“Everybody on Social Media was giving me five stars for this race, then there is pressure. But it’s amazing how we did the race with the whole team,” Kopecky said after the finish.
“Persico is a very good rider, if you go to the finish line with her, you are never sure, even after such a hard race, so I wanted to go solo as fast as possible,” she did not underestimate her companion and dropped her on the Oude Kwaremont, riding through a wall of sound from the Belgian fans.
“I think I was deaf when I got up the Kwaremont. It was a lot of people cheering, that was very nice,” Kopecky thanked the spectators for the extra motivation.
How it unfolded
The first part of the 156.6km race was relatively calm. Only with 90 km to go did a break form, as New Zealand champion Ally Wollaston (AG Insurance-Soudal Quick Step) got away. Her advantage oscillated between 10 and 50 seconds as the gap got smaller on the climbs but went out again afterwards.
Wollaston was joined by Elinor Barker (Uno-X Pro Cycling Team) and Élise Chabbey (Canyon-SRAM) after the Valkenberg. They briefly enjoyed a 45-second advantage but were caught at the start of the Koppenberg, 46 km from the line.
A few kilometres earlier, World Champion Annemiek van Vleuten (Movistar) had her rear wheel slip into the gutter and crashed, leaving her to chase up the Koppenberg and effectively ending any chances of winning her final Tour of Flanders.
On the steep climb itself, only Reusser and Persico could pedal all the way to the top. Kopecky, in second position at the time, had to step off, causing a chain reaction all the way down the peloton.
She and Wiebes got back on the bike quickest and bridged to Reusser and Persico, with Lucinda Brand (Trek-Segafredo) just missing the move and waiting for the next group that contained her teammates Longo Borghini and Shirin van Anrooij plus Vollering, Chabbey, Juliette Labous (Team DSM), Katarzyna Niewiadoma (Canyon-SRAM), Anna Henderson (Team Jumbo-Visma), and Arlenis Sierra (Movistar Team).
The three Team SD Worx riders cooperated to extend their advantage while Persico sat on. Wiebes had to let the others go on the Taaienberg, dropping back to the chase group that was 28 seconds behind at the top of the climb.
Only Kopecky and Persico were left after the Kruisberg and worked together on the ten-kilometre stretch to the Oude Kwaremont where Kopecky left Persico behind and went solo towards Oudenaarde, steadily increasing her gap.
Van Anrooij attacked the chase group on the Paterberg. At the top, a group of four with her, Persico, Niewiadoma and Vollering was 38 seconds behind Kopecky, but they realised they were racing for second place and did not push all-out.
This allowed Reusser, Labous and Longo Borghini to return on the run-in to Oudenaarde where Kopecky won the race while Vollering took the runner-up spot ahead of Longo Borghini who narrowly beat Persico to third place.
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