World champion Lotte Kopecky made no secret of her ambitions for the spring, targeting both the Tour of Flanders and Liège-Bastogne-Liège. She delivered on the first, making history with a third Tour of Flanders victory three weeks ago, but at La Doyenne the Côte de Roche-aux-Faucons proved too much and she had to settle for fifth.
Kopecky arrived for her second start at the Walloon Monument after finishing 34th at Amstel Gold Race and crashing en route to 12th at La Flèche Wallonne. Lining up alongside her was teammate Anna van der Breggen, the 2017 and 2018 winner, making her return after illness forced her to miss Flèche midweek.
Everything was going to plan for SD Worx-Protime, as they stayed in the peloton while the rival Demi Vollering’s FDJ-Suez squad controlled the gap to the breakaway, which was eventually caught with around 74 kilometres to go.
Attacks and counter-attacks flew off the front until Van der Breggen joined a small group of three riders, managing to stay clear of the chasing peloton until the Côte de la Roche-aux-Faucons. There, Puck Pieterse (Fenix-Deceuninck) launched a fierce attack with Vollering and Kopecky in tow, reeling them back. The climb proved too much for Van der Breggen, while Cedrine Kerbaol (EF Education-Oatly) was the only rider from the break able to stay with them.
But Kopecky could not follow the acceleration on the final steep part of the 1.3km climb as eventual winner Kim Le Court (AG Insurance Soudal) made her way to the front group.
The Belgian took the field sprint for fifth place.
“In general, it wasn’t bad. Our team was really good at the front and tried to help as much as possible. Having Anna in the break before Roche-aux-Faucons was really good for us. It’s just sad she got caught before the top,” Kopecky said.
“I think I had a pretty good start on the final climb. The last kilometre was just a little too much. It is what it is.”
“We set goals and we try to challenge ourselves so I think we just need to keep doing that and I think it is a race that I can win in the future but just not this year,” Kopecky said in a post-race interview.
After her success on the short, punchy climbs of the Tour of Flanders and the pavés of Paris-Roubaix in 2024, she still has not been able to achieve the same results on the longer climbs of Liège-Bastogne-Liège.
“Looking at how my spring went, I have to be very happy with my win in the Tour of Flanders,” said Kopecky. “I feel better and better every week, and that’s something I’m drawing strength from. I think after today, I just need to let everything sink in for a week and then start preparing for the Tour de France with full focus.”