While it was not a surprise that SD Worx won Gent-Wevelgem, many would have expected the victory to come from either Lotte Kopecky or Lorena Wiebes. Instead, Marlen Reusser went on a solo move with 40km to go and was never seen again, winning with an advantage of 2:42 minutes.
“Sometimes I don’t understand [the] other teams. It’s good for us, but if I were a sports director, I would tell my riders to ride or attack immediately. But nobody was doing that, so they gave Marlen some free minutes,” Kopecky pointed out after the race.
While the situation was a bit chaotic after a mass crash, Reusser – a three-time time trial World Championship medallist and winner of the TT silver medal at the Tokyo Olympics – is one of a select group of riders that is extremely dangerous if she is given any sort of gap.
Christine Majerus was on Reusser’s wheel when she started the Baneberg and cleverly backed off a bit, forcing other riders to go around her to get back to Reusser. And when the Swiss allrounder put in another dig, she was away.
“Marlen is super strong. I saw her going on the climb and thought, ‘yeah, she’s gone’. And we didn’t see her back. I’m not at all surprised she won solo. We all know that she is capable of doing this. It is very nice for her to win a Classic like Gent-Wevelgem,” Kopecky was happy for her teammate.
The 27-year-old Belgian is no stranger to solo victories herself: After the arrival of top sprinter Wiebes to the team, Kopecky changed her focus and went on to win the Omloop Het Nieuwsblad and Nokere Koerse alone in the last weeks.
And a solo victory is still a team effort: When the other teams finally got around to organising a chase, Kopecky and Majerus did their best to run interference and disrupt the cohesion in order to help Reusser. This strength in numbers is something that has paid off for SD Worx throughout the Spring Classics.
“It’s a luxury for us. It is the strength of our team, and we are very happy we can do this,” Kopecky said.
The Belgian eventually finished in 69th place, having stopped to make sure her teammates Wiebes and Cecchini were alright after a late-race crash.
"Lorena went in the gutter, then she crashed and also Elena Cecchini. I was just behind, so I stopped to see because Lorena was actually screaming. I think, in the end, she was just a bit shocked. We will see how she is; I hope she does not have too many injuries,” Kopecky thought of her teammates.
