From top riders' real form to the teams not quite thriving – Five key questions ahead of Milan-San Remo and the next Classics

The women's Spring Classics are well underway, but the racing is about to really ramp up a notch, with Saturday's Milan-San Remo opening a busy period of races that won't let up until Liège-Bastogne-Liège.

The first Classics already completed – Omloop Het Nieuwsblad, Strade Bianche and Trofeo Alfredo Binda – have been exciting and interesting, but they've also raised a lot of questions.

Unlike the men's calendar, the women's peloton doesn't have a Paris-Nice and Tirreno-Adriatico mega week where we get to see most of the bunch in action every day, revealing the truth about everyone's form and the dynamics within the teams.

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Instead, we only have a handful of races to go off, which means that at this point in the calendar, there is still a lot to learn about who is going well, who isn't, who the top teams are, and what the narratives will be.

Neither women's nor men's Classics are predictable, but there are even more unanswered questions about the women's races coming thick and fast over the next few weeks.

Here are a few we hope will be answered in the next big races.

What form is Lotte Kopecky actually in?

This was one of the biggest questions on everyone's mind before Lotte Kopecky made her season debut at Omloop Het Nieuwsblad, and even though she's raced three more times since then, I'm not sure we quite have the answer yet. Coming back from a back injury that wrecked much of her 2025 season, Kopecky is returning with a renewed focus on her lifeblood of one-day racing – no more GC experiments – so everyone wants to know what kind of level she is at this spring.

And so far? It's not quite clear. At Omloop, a hold-up before the Muur van Geraardsbergen saw her out of contention at the key moment, and in Strade Bianche, she missed the winning move, and then a wrong turn quashed the chances of her chasing group coming back.

Seventh in the Trofeo Alfredo Binda was a positive sign, and she won at Nokere Koerse but not in particularly impressive fashion – she couldn't really get away with an attack and just ground out the sprint against a not-quite-top-tier field. A win is a win, but it doesn't tell us whether she's on par with Elisa Longo Borghini and Kasia Niewiadoma-Phinney.

The next few weeks will mainly be about the Tour of Flanders and Paris-Roubaix, the first of which she will start as favourite, almost regardless, given her previous success there, but she's made some hints about Milan-San Remo, too.

In theory, defending champion Lorena Wiebes would be SD Worx's leader, but Kopecky commented about hoping her Nokere Koerse win would "give her more freedom in the next races", and you can certainly see a scenario where she wins the race – but it would almost definitely mean going against Wiebes. If she's feeling on top form, that might feel worth it. Whatever happens on Saturday will tell us about Kopecky's level and how things are working at SD Worx.

Are UAE Team ADQ the real biggest threat this spring?

The short answer to this question is probably 'yes', and that seems to be the consensus among their rivals, but the next big races will be a real test of this hypothesis. Winning Binda and locking out the podium of Trofeo Oro is one thing, but going up against SD Worx and FDJ on the cobbles will be another.

The team is absolutely in its strongest form yet, with Elisa Longo Borghini, Karlijn Swinkels, Lara Gillespie, Silvia Persico, and more looking really strong, and, crucially, they seem to work very well together tactically and strategically. Where teams tend to slip up in the Classics is by being inflexible with their plan or having spats over leadership, but this isn't an issue we've seen UAE Team ADQ really struggle with yet.

From what we've heard, other teams are absolutely looking at UAE Team ADQ as the biggest threat in races like San Remo, but the question will only really be answered in races like Gent-Wevelgem and Flanders, which are, in a way, less suited to the team. But if they can conquer those races and match the Dutch and Belgian squads in Northern Europe, they'll have really cemented themselves as one of the peloton's top dogs.

Will Kasia Niewiadoma-Phinney manage to win?

This is an age-old question. Kasia Niewiadoma-Phinney long had a reputation of always being there but so rarely winning, which she seemed to dispel for a while with her triumphs at the Tour de France Femmes, Flèche Wallonne and her gravel world title, but the runner-up curse is sneaking back in a bit this spring. Second place yet again in Strade Bianche must have stung, beaten by Elise Chabbey thanks to a split second in the final run-in, especially coming straight after the same result in Omloop Het Nieuwsblad.

We know that she absolutely has the strength to win one of these big races, whether it's San Remo or Flanders or one of the Ardennes, but the answer is how.

She's so often foiled by her sprint, but maybe holds back from going away solo, so I think that's what she needs to try and do: focus on one big move to go solo at the right moment. A million times easier said than done, of course, but her whole team targeting that seems to be the only clear path to victory in one of the flatter races. In the Ardennes, her climbing may serve her better, but in the Belgian classics and Milan-San Remo, she can't risk going to the finish with any other rider.

Are Lidl-Trek missing something?

Look back just a couple of seasons, and Lidl-Trek were easily one of the top two teams in the peloton, threatening SD Worx's hegemony on their own and driving the action in the Classics. Fast forward to now, though, and the team isn't quite sparkling in 2026. The retirements of Lizzie Deignan and Ellen van Dijk dented their horsepower, and in theory, they made some good replacement signings, but so far, they've missed the key action in the Classics.

This recent downturn is evident in their results: Elisa Balsamo only managed 18th in Omloop Het Nieuwsblad, and Shirin van Anrooij was ninth in Strade Bianche, not in the winning group. Their run of wins in Trofeo Alfredo Binda was broken with Anrooij their best finisher in 10th. Fleur Moors has been super impressive and aggressive in the semi-Classics, but Emma Norsgaard, for example, hasn't quite shown her Classics potential since joining the team. Because of these performances, they're at risk of being counted out of the top Classics contenders if they don't bag a solid result in the next couple of weeks – starting with Milan-San Remo, where Balsamo can podium.

Is something missing? Can something be fixed? I think it's more just a matter of getting in the groove of things, because on paper, their team is strong. Elisa Balsamo has been a little unlucky recently, but is still a top rider on her day. Shirin van Anrooij, now post-iliac artery surgery, will hopefully return to her very impressive heights in Classics. Fleur Moors is clearly already ready to challenge the big names, and Margot Vanpachtenbeke shows a lot of promise. They just need to get organised, back one strong rider, and remember their place in the peloton, which should be among the very best squads.

Who will be the breakout Classics star in 2026?

I'm a little obsessed with combing through the results and watching even the smallest races to work out who's up and coming right now, whether that's seeing a strong move in a race or spotting a rider consistently cropping up in the top 20. There's always someone I've got my eye on in the Classics and stage races, but so far in 2026, I'm not quite sure who I'm backing.

Last year, all eyes were already on Cat Ferguson, who had a fantastic spring for a neo-pro, even if she didn't score a major win in the Classics. Could she do that this year?

So far, I've been really impressed by Fleur Moors, as I mentioned above, who's been following the wheels of Kopecky and Wiebes with strength and poise. She is undoubtedly a future star. Lara Gillespie has arguably already broken through, but could take an even bigger win in the next couple of weeks. Monica Trinca Colonel should be a name you already know, and she should be interesting in Milan-San Remo, though she will likely swerve the Belgian races. Mie Bjørndal Ottestad could also end up bagging a top Classics result to add to her previous stage race successes.

The next few races will only tell us more, though, and someone I haven't even thought of is bound to have a great day somewhere in the next few weeks. With all these questions, I can't wait to find out the answer.

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