"After the climb of the Poggio, I decided to put everything on Lorena Wiebes" - Lotte Kopecky buries herself to secure teammates Milano-Sanremo win
Cycling
Lotte Kopecky was arguably the big pre-race favourite for Milano-Sanremo Women 2025. In a thrilling finale however, the world champion turned into a super-domestique, helping to fire teammate Lorena Wiebes to a stunning and dramatic Monument win.
In the finale, a late attack by Elisa Longo Borghini on the descent from the Poggio to the line threatened to scupper any Team SD Worx - Protime hopes of victory. As mentioned though, Kopecky turned domestique to great effect, absolutely burying herself to bring back the Italian national champion and in the process lead out Wiebes for the final sprint. "I'm really happy," the world champion reflected afterwards in a post-race interview with VTM Nieuws. "We rode the perfect race and finished it off fantastically."
"We might have expected another team to make the race harder, but for us, at a certain point, it didn’t make sense to try because we knew we had the fastest woman in the peloton," explained Kopecky. "After the climb of the Poggio, I decided to put everything on Lorena. I didn’t want to close the gap (to Longo Borghini ed.) too quickly at first because I was worried about a counterattack, but after those last two corners, I really had to give it my all."
And in the end, it proved a telling role by Kopecky because as mentioned, Wiebes was able to power to the win in the sprint. "Very happy, and now I'm really looking forward to securing my first victory," concluded Kopecky, who had been racing her first race day of 2025 at Milano-Sanremo Women.
Lorena Wiebes wins the first Milan Sanremo Women in 20 years!
— Mathew Mitchell (@MatMitchell30) March 22, 2025
A fast tailwind race saw the sprinters take charge, especially those with some climbing legs - a late attack from ELB neutralised by Lotte Kopecky for her star sprinter#SanremoWomen #MilanSanremo pic.twitter.com/5lG68LAMCl
Kieran WoodDeputy Editor-in-Chief
Kieran Wood is a sports journalist based in Wales and has been active in journalism since 2022. He regularly contributes to DartsNews.com and CyclingUpToDate.com, where he covers professional cycling and darts. In cycling, his work includes liveblogs from major races, including the Tour de France, the Giro d’Italia, and La Vuelta a España, alongside race reports and analysis. He has also conducted interviews with professional riders.
His reporting spans the full racing calendar, from one-day classics to stage races, with a focus on accurate, real-time coverage and clear contextual analysis. For statistics, results, and historical context, he regularly uses resources such as ProCyclingStats. To support reporting on rider activity and training context where relevant, he also references Strava.
In his work, Kieran places strong emphasis on careful sourcing, editorial accuracy, and updating articles as new, verified information becomes available.
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- seems like we are advertising the website with pointless comments…Ketterechts08-11-2026
- So?Jumpyjohn08-11-2026
- The UCI do have their favorites.
Front24208-11-2026 - On a positive note, you maybe notice turning this topic into a discussion has the benefit of eliminating certain participants who do not see how they can turn it back to their sole interest ;-)Jumpyjohn08-11-2026
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