Nokere Koerse Women: Lotte Kopecky powers to third career victory

Lotte Kopecky (SD Worx-Protime) powered to her first win of 2026 and her third career victory at Nokere Koerse Women, biding her time in the final uphill sprint before surging away in the final 150 metres to win with apparent ease.

Charlotte Kool (Fenix-Premier Tech) came fast from behind but couldn't quite overcome Kopecky, settling for second, whilst Lara Gillespie (UAE Team ADQ) claimed yet another podium this spring in third.

It had been an attacking finale in the hilly, cobbled race, but the efforts of SD Worx and Fenix meant a large group came into the uphill finish on Waregemstraat together.

Ilse Pluimers (AG Insurance-Soudal) tried to go on a solo raid with 9km to go. She held a gap for several kilometres, but was reeled back in 1.5km to go.

"It feels really good and it's also a very big relief that finally the first victory of the season is there," Kopecky said at the finish.

"The plan was to try something, or at least force a move. But when you have Charlotte Kool with you, you know it’s going to be difficult. At one point I was also lacking a bit of power.

"It’s quite a long sprint and there was a headwind, so I definitely didn’t want to hit the front too early. I got a good lead-out, although it faded just a little. Maybe it wasn’t the most economical sprint, but I timed it well.

"I hope it gives me some freedom for myself in the next races," she added, likely hinting towards Milan-San Remo, where SD Worx start with defending champion Lorena Wiebes, but Kopecky is capable of winning too.

This marks the sixth time in a row that SD Worx have won this semi-Classic, with Kopecky succeeding Lach's victory in 2025, and her own two in 2024 and 2023. The only non-SD Worx winner on the race's roll of honour is Wiebes, who took the first of her two wins whilst still riding for Parkhotel-Valkenburg.

How it unfolded

22 cobbled sectors, 10 climbs and 133km were on the menu as the peloton rolled out of Deinze for Nokere Koerse and headed towards the punchy finish on Waregemstraat.

It took only a few kilometres for the day's early break to go, made up of Aidi Tuisk (Hitec Products-Fluid Control), Mieke Docx (Das-Hutchinson), Julie Stockman (Citymesh-ustomm), Lauren Bates (Minimax) and Franziska Brauße (Rembe rad-net). They quite quickly built up a gap of almost three minutes, which they held for the first half of the race.

In the peloton, a few small crashes punctuated the first part of the day as they tackled the cobbles, but there were no major issues and no particular impetus to chase down the relatively weak break.

With 70km to go, Docx and Stockman dropped away from the leaders, leaving three out front. They led into the final 50km, but the gap was coming down rapidly, and with 41km to go, the remaining trio were swept up by the speeding peloton.

On the final lap, several riders tried to attack off the front, but the pace set by SD Worx-Protime prevented anyone from getting away. With 20km still to go, SD Worx hammered the pace into the Lange Ast cobbled climb, with Kopecky then accelerating on the front to split off the peloton with Charlotte Kool, Shari Bossuyt (AG Insurance-Soudal) and Fleur Moors (Lidl-Trek).

The cooperation in this quartet was not quite harmonious, and as a result, they were soon reeled back in by a reduced peloton – the bunch had split up on the climb. The next round of attacks began immediately, but again it was impossible for anyone to get away.

The pace was ferocious over the next cobbled sections, which stretched out the peloton. With 9km to go, Ilse Pluimers (AG Insurance-Soudal) took advantage of a brief lull to go on the attack on her own.

She carried a 12-second gap into the final 5km, whilst behind her teammate – and the team's sprint option – Bossuyt suffered a mechanical, though she managed to get back in contention for the sprint.

A crash with 4km to go knocked several riders off course, but didn't dent the peloton's charge as they gradually closed in on Pluimers, largely led by Fenix-Premier Tech's effort with SD Worx trying to sit back. Pluimers was swallowed up with 1.5km to go as the sprint ramped into action.

Kopecky found herself isolated as the long uphill drag to the finish began. However, she just sat calmly in the wheel, waiting and waiting as other teams did their lead-outs, and then launched within sight of the line to take victory two bike lengths ahead of Kool, whilst Gillespie judged edged out Bossuyt for third.

Results

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