Clara Copponi finished off the work of a dominating Lidl-Trek squad in style at the Ronde de Mouscron on Monday, blasting up the final straightaway to easily clinch her fifth victory of the season in a bunch sprint.
Faultlessly led out at distance by teammate Margo Vanpachtenbeke, the 27-year-old finished clearly ahead of last year’s winner Susanne Andersen (Uno X-Mobility) and Spain’s Alicia Gonzalez (St Michel-Preference Home-Auber93).
Run on relentlessly flat terrain in sunny weather, the one-day race saw some early attackers but Lidl-Trek were determined this was going to come down to a bunch sprint, and Copponi responded perfectly with the fifth victory of her career and first of 2026.
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For the opening segment of the 125km event, with five laps around Mouscron, the bunch remained together until Uneken Lonneke (VolkerWessels) opened a gap after around an hour of racing. The winner of the MidWest Cycling Classic from a small group sprint a few weeks back, her effort to go solo was crushed after just seven kilometres
The race pounded on, Lidl-Trek taking command of the peloton, then a collective acceleration by UAE Team ADQ saw Febe Jooris head away some 30 kilometres from the line in pursuit of a solo win. Ten kilometres later, though, it was all over for the Belgian racer, as the peloton gathered pace.
Attack after attack rained down, with Manon de Boer (Citymesh-Customm) the next to try her luck on the flat course in Belgium’s Far West. But Mouscron has always been won in sprints in its five previous editions and this was going to be no exception.
Lidl-Trek were present yet again in numbers in the closing kilometres, only for Uno X-Mobility, riding for last year’s winner Andersen, to take over along with Lotto-Intermarché. The three teams bossed the front of the peloton as it headed out of the countryside and back into Mouscron for the last time.
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On the slightly rising gradient to the finish, however, Copponi clinched the victory, blasting out early and keeping the pace high. There was literally no reaction possible to successfully counter-attack such a strong charge, with the Frenchwoman crossing the line several bike lengths ahead of the opposition.