World champion Lotte Kopecky (SD Worx-Protime) won the Tour of Flanders Women, beating Pauline Ferrand-Prévot (Visma-Lease a Bike), Liane Lippert (Movistar), and Kasia Niewiadoma (Canyon-SRAM zondacrypto) in a sprint of four riders in the elite lead group.
The quartet had attacked from a group of 17 riders on the Oude Kwaremont, kept the pace up on the Paterberg and then worked together on the run-in to Oudenaarde to hold off the chasers.
In the final kilometre, Niewiadoma tried to anticipate the sprint with an attack but sat up again when Kopecky closed the gap.
Kopecky then controlled the group from the front, launching her sprint with just over 200 metres to go when Lippert got out of the saddle to sprint and keeping everybody behind her to win her third Tour of Flanders title.
"It was a crazy race with lots of crashes in the beginning," said Kopecky after her victory. "It was pretty nervous, and I didn’t have the best legs in the beginning, but I tried to stay calm.
"After a few climbs, my legs felt better and better, then I knew that in the end, I have a pretty good chance. Once we were with the four of us, I was pretty confident, actually.
"After an hour or two, I felt good, so from that moment on, I knew that it was much better than Wednesday, so I just had to be confident. Once we got further into the race, Mischa [Bredewold] was out before the Oude Kruisberg, that was a really good move for us, so I think, again, with our team SD Worx-Protime, we did a really nice race."
How it unfolded
The early breakaway formed soon after the start of the 168.9-kilometre race when Nicole Steigenga (AG Insurance-Soudal), Franziska Brauße (Ceratizit), Romy Kasper (Human Powered Health), Alison Avoine (St Michel-Preference Home-Auber93), Britt de Grave (DD Group), April Tacey (Coop-Repsol), and Aoife O'Brien (DAS-Hutchinson) got away. Their advantage maxed out at over seven minutes before coming down again.
There were numerous crashes in the peloton, and 2024 race winner Elisa Longo Borghini (UAE Team ADQ) was the most prominent victim, having to abandon the race. Lorena Wiebes (SD Worx-Protime) and Puck Pieterse (Fenix-Deceuninck) also hit the ground but were able to continue.
After the Berendries, only Steigenga, Brauße, De Grave, and Tacey were left in front, with the peloton just over four minutes behind. Jade Wiel (FDJ-Suez) attacked from the bunch on the Valkenberg, initiating a flurry of moves that led to a chase group of ten riders, but this group was short-lived.
Steigenga went solo on the Eikenberg with 52km to go, leaving her companions behind and starting the Koppenberg with a 30-second lead on Tacey while the peloton followed at 1:46 minutes. Unlike last year, the cobbles were dry, and there was no mass dismount as most riders could ride up the steep climb – a notable exception was Marianne Vos (Visma-Lease a Bike).
17 riders were still together after the Koppenberg, with another 24 riders returning before the next climb, the Steenbeekdries, where Steigenga was caught. On the cobbled descent of the Stationsberg, Elise Chabbey, Amber Kraak (both FDJ-Suez), and Ferrand-Prévot crashed in a corner, but were soon back on their bikes.
Lidl-Trek lit up the race after the Taaienberg as Ellen van Dijk, Anna Henderson, and Lauretta Hanson took turns attacking. The Australian succeeded in getting away with Bredewold, and they held a 20-second gap going into the Oude Kruisberg.
Lippert attacked on this cobbled climb, bridging to Hanson and Bredewold. Pieterse then used the Hotond to close the gap to the trio, putting 17 riders at the front of the race. They included Van Dijk, Henderson, Hanson (all Lidl-Trek), Anna van der Breggen, Kopecky, Bredewold (all SD Worx-Protime), Ferrand-Prévot, Lippert, Marlen Reusser (both Movistar), Noemi Rüegg, Letizia Borghesi (both EF Education-Oatly), Letizia Paternoster (Liv-AlUla-Jayco), Niewiadoma, Chloé Dygert (both Canyon-SRAM zondacrypto), Pieterse, Chabbey, and Kim Le Court (AG Insurance-Soudal).
Dygert, Van Dijk, and Henderson all attacked on the run-in to the Oude Kwaremont but could not get away. Instead, Reusser led the group onto the key climb of the race, and when the cobbles began and the gradients hit, Ferrand-Prévot, Lippert, and Kopecky pulled away from the rest of the group.
Henderson and Chabbey unsuccessfully tried to get back on. Paternoster had almost made it to Kopecky’s rear when Niewiadoma passed her and closed the last gap, but when Kopecky pushed the pace on the flatter second half of the climb, Paternoster blew apart and dropped back, leaving four riders at the front, 12 seconds ahead of the next group.
The gap had increased slightly to 15 seconds at the foot of the Paterberg where Ferrand-Prévot and Niewiadoma hit hard from the bottom, wanting to keep the chase group away and maybe drop some of the other frontrunners. Lippert replied and came to the front on the last part of the climb while Kopecky was content to follow the others’ wheels.
The headwind on the run-in to the finish Oudenaarde discouraged attacks, and the four riders seemed happy to work together until the flamme rouge, extending their advantage to over a minute. After Niewiadoma’s attack, Kopecky led out the sprint to take a record third Tour of Flanders victory, and 1:13 minutes later, Le Court won the sprint for fifth place.
Results
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