Lotte Kopecky and Lorena Wiebes go 1-2 for SD Worx at Omloop Het Nieuwsblad Women

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Lotte Kopecky (Team SD Worx) won the Omloop Het Nieuwsblad Women, holding off a charging reduced field to take a thrilling solo victory into Ninove. 

The powerful Belgian all-rounder attacked from the peloton on the Muur van Geraardsbergen, bridging across to Arlenis Sierra (Movistar Team). The two riders worked together until just before the Bosberg where Kopecky left Sierra behind and continued solo.

In the headwind towards the finish, the peloton was chasing hard, but Kopecky stayed away to win the first Belgian classic of the new season. 

Kopecky's new teammate Lorena Wiebes beat Marta Bastianelli (UAE Team ADQ) in the sprint for second place, completing a Team SD Worx 1-2.

“I had a really good feeling during the race, also on the climbs, I really felt strong. It wasn’t really the intention to go on the Muur, but I started with my pace, and nobody could follow, and then I could not hesitate anymore and just tried to go,” Kopecky described her attack after the race.

Until now, Kopecky had been her team’s protected sprinter in the classics, but the addition of Wiebes changed the team dynamics.

“I actually never did a solo myself, so it was hard for me to know how it feels and to pace it. But I think I did well. Of course, this year, we have Lorena Wiebes on the team, she’s the fastest sprinter in the peloton," Kopecky said.

"I am fast at the finish, but I’m not a top sprinter. For me, it was a sign to try to become a different rider. I think it’s a good development,” Kopecky described her first solo victory.

How it unfolded

Extended to 132km in its first edition as a Women’s WorldTour race, the women’s Omloop Het Nieuwsblad was a slow burn. 

There were attempts to establish an early breakaway, but nobody could make their move stick on the first 90 kilometres, which included four cobblestone sections and two asphalted climbs. Instead, riders dropped from the back in a race of attrition.

Team Jumbo-Visma pushed the pace on the Molenberg, the first cobbled climb of the day, and after the climb, a group of 29 riders had a 10-second gap on the peloton. 

The two kilometres of cobbles on the Haaghoek reduced this group further to 17 riders: Movistar with Annemiek van Vleuten, Aude Biannic, Emma Norsgaard, Liane Lippert, and Floortje Mackaij, Kopecky, Wiebes and Demi Vollering for Team SD Worx, Elisa Balsamo and Elisa Longo Borghini from Trek-Segafredo, Anna Henderson and Karlijn Swinkels for Team Jumbo-Visma, as well as Katarzyna Niewiadoma (Canyon-SRAM), Letizia Borghesi (EF Education-TIBCO-SVB), Cecilie Uttrup Ludwig (FDJ-SUEZ), Pfeiffer Georgi (Team DSM), and Anouska Koster (Uno-X Pro Cycling Team).

Biannic and Swinkels attacked into the Leberg and held a small gap onto the chasing group on the Berendries, but after the climb, the peloton caught first the chase group and then the front duo. 

When the live broadcast began with 28km to go, Arlenis Sierra (Movistar Team) had attacked solo and was building a gap of up to a minute on the run-in to Geraardsbergen.

This gap quickly went down again as the peloton raised the speed, and Kopecky accelerated into De Vesten, the lowest part of the climb through Geraardsbergen, with Georgi on her wheel.

Kopecky left Georgi behind on the steepest part of the Muur and caught up with Sierra at the chapel on top of the climb. Longo Borghini and Lippert led a group of ten over the top seven seconds later, but this gap grew to 43 seconds at the foot of the Bosberg as Kopecky and Sierra traded turns, and the group behind wouldn’t cooperate, allowing dropped riders to come back.

Kopecky attacked into the Bosberg, dropping Sierra and continuing solo. She had a 42-second advantage on the chasing peloton at the top, and despite a concerted chase by Movistar Team and UAE Team ADQ in particular, Kopecky took the victory in Ninove, 11 seconds before Wiebes won the sprint for second.

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