“At first I didn’t realise… Then I thought: ‘We’re not going the right way’” – Lotte Kopecky explains wrong-turn chaos in Strade Bianche Donne finale

The dramatic finale of Strade Bianche Donne produced several unexpected twists behind the race-winning move, including a wrong turn that derailed the chase group containing Lotte Kopecky.

Speaking afterwards in comments reported by Sporza, the two-time winner of the race described the confusion that unfolded during the closing kilometres as riders attempted to organise a pursuit behind the leaders on the gravel roads around Siena.

“At first I didn’t realise it,” Kopecky said. “But the gravel was really bad, and I had never seen that sector before."

"Then I thought: ‘We’re not going the right way.’ But the motorbike in front of us had gone that way,” added the Belgian Team SD Worx - Protime leader.

Kopecky had initially appeared well placed as the race approached its decisive phase. The SD Worx - Protime rider survived the first major selection of the day on the demanding gravel sector of San Martino in Grania, holding her position in a reduced peloton of around thirty riders.

At that moment, she remained the team’s only rider in the front group. “I was actually still in a good position there, and my legs felt good,” she explained after the race.

However, the situation changed dramatically when the pace increased on the Colle Pinzuto sector with less than 50 kilometres remaining. As attacks began to splinter the leading riders, Kopecky found herself unable to respond to the acceleration. “It was simply too fast,” she said. “I had one pace, but that was it. Do I have an explanation? It’s difficult to say anything about that right now. It’s a pity.”

After losing contact with the leading group, Kopecky briefly regained hope as the race dynamics shifted again further down the road. On the Le Tolfe sector she even moved to the front of the chasing group in an attempt to re-establish contact.

The effort ultimately proved unsuccessful. “That I didn’t have a top day? Not really, no,” she reflected. “I had the feeling that more blood was going to my stomach than to my legs. It just wasn’t good enough today.”

The Belgian eventually drifted back into a chasing group that included riders delayed by earlier problems, among them Demi Vollering, who had suffered mechanical issues, as well as other dropped contenders.

Any remaining hopes of closing the gap disappeared when the group took a wrong turn, a moment Kopecky said was difficult to recognise immediately during the chaos of the race. “I didn’t realise it immediately,” she explained. “But the gravel was really bad and I had never seen that sector before.”

By the time the mistake became clear, the damage was already done. “I couldn’t do anything anymore to bring Anna into position,” she said, referring to team-mate Anna van der Breggen. “I have no idea what our gap was at that moment.”

According to the race regulations, riders are expected to know the course themselves, something Kopecky acknowledged after the finish. “Yes,” she said. “But you follow the group, and if the whole group confidently turns right, you’re not going to go left on your own.”

While the incident ultimately had little impact on the outcome of the race at the front, it added another layer of unpredictability to a chaotic finale on the Tuscan gravel roads.