Kopecky wins Strade Bianche Women

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Lotte Kopecky (SD Worx) won Strade Bianche Donne in a thrilling finale, beating Annemiek van Vleuten (Movistar) in the final sprint for the line. 

It was an unusually large group that approached the final climb, with most of the favourites still in contention. Van Vleuten was the first to attack, 800m from the line, immediately shadowed by Kopecky, and her teammate, Ashleigh Moolman-Pasio. 

On the steepest section of the Via Santa Caterina climb, Moolman-Pasio’s challenge began to fade as Kopecky fought to stay on Van Vleuten's wheel.

Side-by-side in the narrow streets of Siena, Kopecky and Van Vleuten unleashed their sprints, and Kopecky managed to just edge the Movistar rider in the last hundred metres, before collapsing with the effort as she crossed the finish line.

Moolman-Pasio completed the podium, punching the air as she finished to celebrate her teammate's victory.

"I mean, I cannot believe this but this was actually the plan for the team," Kopecky said in her post-race interview. "Racing like this, with SD Worx is really super nice to do because I can attack myself, I have teammates behind me who have my back and I think today was perfect. I cannot believe this.

"You’re never confident [of beating van Vleuten] - we saw that last week - but I had a good feeling today and I knew the person to follow was Annemiek and first I had to let her go a bit. I don’t know what happened in my head but I just kept going and when we turned to the right I passed her but then the other corner she passed me again and it was really just one sprint to the last corner. It is amazing to win this race."

How it unfolded

The eighth edition of Strade Bianche Donne unfurled in the Tuscan hills surrounding Siena. Beginning and ending in the town, the peloton tackled five steep climbs and 31.4 kilometres of gravel roads, before arriving back in Siena along the Via Santa Caterina - a 16 per cent climb to the Piazza del Campo and the finish line. 

Soon after the flag dropped, Rebecca Koerner (Uno-X ProCycling) was the first rider to attack, and she was later joined by Emily Newsom. (EF Education-TIBCO-SVB) Together, they quickly amassed an advantage of 1:30, as the race hit the first gravel sector of the day.

On the second gravel sector, Newsom began to display her extensive gravel-racing experience, dropping her breakaway companion and, by the third sector with 94 kilometres still to race, Newsom led Koerner by 38 seconds, and the peloton by 3:00.

Meanwhile, back in the peloton, the favourites’ teams sent a rider each to control the pace until a blur of pinks and yellows and blues were all that could be seen behind the dust kicked up on the gravel roads.

They began to reduce Newsom’s lead so that on the San Martino, the longest gravel sector of the race, it fell from 2:15 to just a few metres, and she was caught as the race re-joined the tarmac roads, 55 kilometres from the finish. 

A series of attacks followed in an attempt to break up the peloton, and though initially unsuccessful, the main field repeatedly fractured and reformed over the next 25km. 

Briefly, a trio comprising Jeanne Korevaar (Liv Racing-Xstra), Grace Brown (FDJ Nouvelle-Aquitaine Futuroscope) and Mavi Garcia (UAE Team ADQ) escaped but a group containing such strength was deemed too dangerous by the peloton. 

Then, 29km from the finish, last year’s winner, Chantal van den Broeck-Blaak (SD Worx) attacked but she was immediately marked by Elisa Longo Borghini (Trek-Segafredo) and Liane Lippert (Team DSM). In the chaos that followed as the peloton scrambled to chase, Marta Bastianelli (UAE Team ADQ) countered with Alena Amialiusik (Canyon-SRAM).

Although their attack was short-lived, it pulled away a strong group containing many of the days’ favourites. Behind, Movistar chased hard to bring van Vleuten back into contention, and the race regrouped with 24km still to race.

Three kilometres later, Kopecky showed her strength, launched her own attack, and opened up a 20 second gap ahead of the penultimate gravel sector. On the steep chalk roads, the peloton, formed of about 15 riders, reeled her back in.

With 14.3km to go, Van den Broek-Blaak attacked once again, but as soon as the race hit the last gravel sector van Vleuten accelerated, neutralising van den Broek-Blaak’s offensive, and distancing everyone in the race except Kopecky. 

For five kilometres, this pair remained out front, separated from the peloton by a small ten-second gap but they were caught seven kilometres from the finish. Repeated attacks by Ashleigh Moolman-Pasio and Demi Vollering from SD Worx stressed the race, but still the group remained together.

It was an unusually large group, then, that approached the final climb with most of the favourites still in contention. Van Vleuten’s attack once again dropped everyone except Kopecky, and initially Moolman Pasio. As the gradient reached its steepest point, it seemed that Van Vleuten would drop the two SD Worx riders, but, somehow, Kopecky was able to hang on for the climb.

Positioning was crucial ahead of the final drop down into Siena's Piazza del Campo and the pair exchanged places as they fought for the front on the narrow streets. In the end, Kopecky took the lead into the crucial final right-hand bend and finished it off.