Lotte Kopecky destroys field to defend Tour of Flanders crown, Demi Vollering second in SD Worx one-two

Lotte Kopecky (SD Worx) delivered a brilliant solo win to defend her Tour of Flanders title in style.

The Belgian, who has been in scintillating form in 2023 including victory at Omloop Het Nieuwsblad, pulled away with two team-mates and Silvia Persico (UAE Team ADQ) at the top of the Koppenberg, before going clear with Persico and then putting the hammer to the Italian on the penultimate cobbled climb with 18km remaining.

From that moment on, Kopecky never looked like losing as she became the fourth woman to win on the Flemish cobbles for a second time.

Kopecky came into the race a five-star favourite to become only the second woman in Flanders history to take two titles in a row. And if not her then one of her team-mates was likely to do it. Of all the races SD Worx riders have pinned a number on this season, they have failed to win only once - at the UAE Tour.

From the start, the team left nothing to chance. They set such a high pace that it proved impossible for any wannabe breakers to escape the clutches of the peloton as a shade under 40km was covered in the first hour of racing.

It was not until 65km had been completed than any move at all was able to find clear air, and then it was not a large group, or even a small one, but a lone rider who took off through the hills of West Belgium. Ally Wollaston (AG Insurance-Soudal Quick-Step) would, surely, have hoped for an ally and although her break was never likely to succeed it achieved for her more than the vast majority of the riders would manage.

Across the cobbles and the climbs (and both at once) Wollaston's lead yo-yoed. She made it to more than a kilometre ahead of the peloton, before being pulled back to just a dozen seconds and within sight, before pulling it out again. For more than 30km the 22 year-old kept it up, before Elinor Barker (Uno-X Pro Cycling) and Elise Chabbey (Canyon//SRAM Racing) also escaped the peloton's magnetic pull and quickly bridged across and began working with her.

50km from the finish, as the peloton negotiated a wide stretch of road, Annemiek van Vleuten (Movistar), one of the few riders who might have threatened the SD Worx supremacy got caught in a crash at the back in the gutter. Although she was soon riding again, she needed a bike change and left with a chase that would always prove too much, even with team-mate assistance.

Especially as the race was shortly to explode. On the slippery paved upper slopes of the Koppenberg only Marlen Reusser (SD Worx) and Persico failed to lose traction. Everyone else was forced to dismount and push their bikes the rest of the way to the top. Fortunately that was only a short distance for Reusser's team-mates Lorena Wiebes and Kopecky who quickly remounted and formed a formidable force at the front of the race.

Trek-Segafredo was the team best placed to lead the fightback, with three strong riders in the group of 11, some 25 seconds back. Unfortunately for them, they had Strade Bianche winner Demi Vollering playing hitchhiker, and then Reusser and Wiebes as the pair fell back on the Taaienberg.

Briefly it seemed as if the race would come back together. The clock showed just 11 seconds for Persico and Kopecky and the helicopter shot, when it pulled back, made it clear how small the lead was.

The famous Oude Kwaremont, at 18km to go, was where Kopecky decided Persico was more hindrance than help. Rather than making any obviously massive attack, the Belgian just rode the UAE rider off her wheel. And like that, she was gone.

On the final cobbles of the day, the long straight Paterberg, there became no doubt that it would be Kopecky's day. A shot all the way down the climb showed she was more comfortable than the riders chasing, labouring behind her.

With just the on-road run-in remaining, Kopecky opened up the throttle and time-trialled away. She was abetted by a failure of the others - those that were not in her same colours, at least - to cooperate in the chase. At 10km to the line in Oudenaarde, they were racing for podium places.

Kopecky crossed the line 36 seconds to the good.

Interviewed afterwards she said she knew she only allowed herself to relax when her sports director, Anna van der Breggen, told her with 5k to go that she was 50 seconds ahead. "I knew I could not lose it," she said.

She said she was worried about Persico's sprint, which was why she dispensed with her when she did.

“Go to the finish with her and you never know what will happen. I wanted to go solo as far as possible.”

Demi Vollering made it a fourth one-two of the season for SD Worx by winning the sprint behind, with Elisa Longo Borghini (Trek-Segafredo) third.

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