'We tried to have a hard race, but we missed the most important attack' – SD Worx-ProTime salvage a podium at Paris-Roubaix Femmes

With last year's Paris-Roubaix Femmes winner and defending World Champion Lotte Kopecky on their roster for this year's edition, SD Worx-Protime were the big favourites to retain the cobblestone trophy at the fifth edition of the Queen of the Classics.

However, come Saturday afternoon in Roubaix and after sweeping up victories at Milan-San Remo, Gent-Wevelgem, and the Tour of Flanders this spring, the team was left walking away with a third place, courtesy of Lorena Wiebes.

On the face of it, the sprint for the final spot on the podium wasn't a bad result, though it came thanks to something of a salvage operation by the Dutch powerhouse team, given that pre-race, they had set their sights much higher.

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The European Champion sprinted home in the Vélodrome André-Pétrieux just over a minute down on solo winner Pauline Ferrand-Prévot, while a few seconds ahead, Letizia Borghesi had stolen away with a late attack to grab second.

SD Worx had been among the most active teams during the 148.5km race, with World Champion Kopecky mounting numerous attacks. Amongst them was a major move which shattered the remains of the lead group, following a crash by several riders at the Auchy à Bersée sector, some 54km from home.

Kopecky and Wiebes then worked together to chase and mark the moves of others, but they couldn't stop every attack. And that included Ferrand-Prévot's race-winning challenge, 25km out.

"If only we had a [crystal] ball to see the future..." Wiebes mused in the post-race press conference. "It's also part of racing. We know Pauline is super strong, but you cannot react to every attack, so that's gambling a bit. If I had known beforehand, then it would be different, and I would be on her wheel.

"Pauline came with much speed from behind, and there were many attacks before. There were only two of us in the group, so it was hard to react to everything, and sometimes you have to gamble. It wasn't like we were looking to each other to react.

"It's also hard in a race like this. In the end, I think we did everything we could and also there was the early attack from Ellen van Dijk (Lidl-Trek), which was really dangerous because we know she can finish from long distance. 

"So maybe we burned our team a bit already there. If we had more girls in this group, then we could keep the gap a bit closer."

As the strongest grouping among the leaders when the race headed towards its endgame, others looked to the SD Worx pairing to make the race and do the chasing – something which former winner, fifth-placed Alison Jackson (EF Education-Oatly), admitted was the case after the finish.

They led the chasing behind Ferrand-Prévot, but the Frenchwoman's advantage only kept growing, first to 30 seconds once she dropped Emma Norsgaard on the Camphin-en-Pévèle, and then  to over 50 over the race's final tough sector at Carrefour de l'Arbre.

Kopecky's efforts in the chase behind the eventual winner saw her drop from the group in the final kilometres, leaving her in twelfth place as Wiebes closed out with a podium-saving sprint. Their efforts on the day, though, weren't always fully in sync with Wiebes admitting as much about a Kopecky attack earlier in the day.

"I struggled at one moment because I was leading into the sector, and Lotte attacked, so it was really hard to accelerate and follow," she said. "So, I said to her, 'Please don't do that when I'm at the front. '

"But for the rest, I think I had a pretty good day. At the end of the race, I cramped a bit out of nowhere when they attacked in the last 4km. But with what the team did today, I couldn't afford to get fourth."

Kopecky, speaking to CyclingPro in the race's immediate aftermath, seemed to struggle through frustration to talk about the race. She did, however, acknowledge that her team had missed the most important attack of the race.

"We tried to have a hard race, but we missed the most important attack," she said. "From that moment on, we knew it would be pretty hard, but I can only say congrats to Pauline because she had the perfect move, and she was really strong.

"It was just a really smart move. For us, it would've been nice if Visma was not out because they still had three riders in our group. When she was out, we knew that all the work was up to us."

While Kopecky already has the race on her palmarès and a cobblestone trophy in her living room, for Wiebes, third place was the best result in five starts so far. Her record now reads: DNF, 45th, 49th, seventh, and third.

Her progression suggests a yearly improvement on the cobbles, indicating her growth in a real contender for the win. She said later that her engine is getting "bigger and bigger" with each participation, even if racing over the cobbles doesn't get any more comfortable.

"It's still not a nice feeling to get over the cobbles, but it's still hanging on and fighting for position every sector. But I wouldn't say it'll ever feel nice. I hope I can keep on improving ," Wiebes added.

For her and the team, taking third place is a "mixed feeling" given their big wins so far this spring. She said she "sleeps a bit less" when she's not winning, but suggested she'd look back with pride "in a couple of days".

Kopecky, meanwhile, called it a "very nice" result that the team can be happy with while quickly turning their focus to upcoming goals, including the fast-approaching Ardennes Classics.

"In the end, we were still third, which is still very nice, but we want to win," she said.

"Sometimes you're disappointed with third, but I think we should be happy and focus on the next race."

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