"It’s a brutal climb. It doesn’t lie" - Lotte Kopecky fails to make impact on the Mur de Huy at La Fleche Wallonne 2025
Cycling
For the second successive year, Lotte Kopecky has left La Fleche Wallonne Femmes disappointed. Although her 12th placed finish in 2025 was an improvement on last year's performance, the world champion was still some way off the fight for victory between Puck Pieterse and Demi Vollering.
"Yeah, it was tough, but honestly, it wasn’t too bad overall," reflects a not too disappointed Kopecky in her post-race interview with Sporza afterwards, citing a lack of positioning ahead of the final climb as her leading mistake. "The Mur de Huy — it’s a brutal climb. It doesn’t lie. My teammates did a great job getting me into position, but even that wasn’t enough for me. I didn’t start in the best spot — and that’s on me."
"There’s not much you can make up for after that. Starting in the top five would have been ideal, but that didn’t happen — and then it becomes really hard," concludes the Team SD Worx - Protime leader, not getting too downhearted ahead of this weekend's battle at Liege-Bastogne-Liege. “Of course you want to do well here, so I am a bit disappointed. Can I win here one day? That’s a tough question… I don’t really have an answer right now.”
Read also
PUCK PIETERSE wins the 2025 Fleche Wallonne Femmes!
— Mathew Mitchell (@MatMitchell30) April 23, 2025
Her first major spring classics win, and Demi is right there to congratulate her as Puck lies absolutely empty on the floor#FlecheWallonne #FWwomen pic.twitter.com/LapRaJzG5T
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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