Lotte Kopecky follows in Tadej Pogacar's footsteps and wins 2025 Tour of Flanders WE in the Rainbow Jersey!
Cycling
Team SD Worx - Protime's world champion Lotte Kopecky has taken the win at the 2025 Tour of Flanders WE ahead of Pauline Ferrand-Prevot, Liane Lippert and Katarzyna Niewiadome, after a dramatic finale saw a four-woman sprint for the line in Oudenaarde. In the process, the Belgian makes history as the first woman ever to win in Flanders on three separate occasions.
Seven riders got themselves into the early break of the day including British talent April Tacey and Irish youngster Aoife O'Brien. At 100km to go, the group held a sizeable advantage of more than six minutes. In an early blow to the race, Elisa Longo Borghini was forced to abandon after a crash with 96km left. Also hitting the deck early were notable names Lorena Wiebes and Noemi Ruegg. By 50km to go however, only Nicole Steigenga held the front of the race, around 1:47 clear of the peloton.
Once Steigenga was caught, the tension levels really began to rise, with Pauline Ferrand-Prevot and Elise Chabbey both falling victim to this with a crash. Both though, managed to get back up and onto their bike, following the moves that split the peloton into an elite 17-woman lead group heading to the final climb of the day at the Oude Kwaremont.
On the cobbled climb, world champion Lotte Kopecky came to the fore, but unlike her male counterpart Tadej Pogacar in the men's race, the Rainbow Jersey couldn't fully separate herself from the rest of the field, bringing Katarzyna Niewiadoma, Liane Lippert and Ferrand-Prevot clear with her. With them rolling through well together, the quartet entered the final 10km around 20 seconds clear of the chase group. By 5km to go, that gap had extended to 40 seconds, meaning victory was all but secured for one of the leading foursome. In the fight for the win, it was Niewiadoma that blinked first, but the Pole couldn't make a telling difference. Then in the sprint Kopecky led from the front and powered clear to a famous win.
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- Let us not go off the deep end for a start it us not attempted murder. At most common assault. Country dependent. Yes horrible to see and ob not a real fan of the sport or just a VDP hater. This has been going on for years look at Froome in the TDF and other sports such as football. That is soccer to the North Americans. Let the police do there job and hope the offender gets what is coming to him or even her.paultryan200214-04-2025
- Sure but talk about predictable comments, do we really need those (although this time it was more rambling)? Don’t love the media running after him to hear about it each time though. Adrie isn’t even that well informed about his son’s work, can’t they go interview people who have more interesting comments to provide like maybe his mechanic or masseur or nutritionist or driver,oh yes, they’re probably bound by nda’s, which is why no-one tells Adrie anything of importance, didn’t even know his son was sick before Flanders so some of his comments there turned out pointless.Mistermaumau14-04-2025
- I think with Tadej it’s often a case of his mind’s will being stronger than his racing intelligence, he’s lucky to be strong enough to recover from potential mistakes so knows he never has to worry too much about going past his natural limit but under pressure he makes more misjudgment than the average elite pro. I think Mohorič knows that about him too and possibly saved him from himself.Mistermaumau14-04-2025
- Thanks, strange, I would have thought with digital resolution and light performance these days, you’d see crystal clear high res images like you may have seen if you saw the close up of WVA knee wounds pic taken in-race as he zoomed by. Do you by any chance know what’s special about photo finish tech that leads to this?Mistermaumau14-04-2025
- Not to forget how their star rider is willing to play domestique for sprint stages, a few ladies could learn a lot from this. I was thinking, if either of Tadej or MVDP didn’t exist, the other could have reached Merckx monument level but then again, would they have the same motivation? Is it a coincidence they both have so many already and that the only other two who had more also rode concurrently? The one guy who pays the price of it is WVA who may come away empty handed, the best rider to never win a monument is surely worth an article.Mistermaumau14-04-2025
- So good it never happened, this team with MVDP is one of the reasons cycling hasn’t gone to shyt too much yet, I respect Tadej but I don’t think he’s even given much thought to the who and why of financing in sport and how naïve athletes just get used as little pawns in a bigger game.Mistermaumau14-04-2025
- It was still an incredible debute and winning this race is very much possible for Pogi if gives it a few more years experience. I was wondering if he didn't get good intel from the car and seemed to be trying to attack round the corner or at least apply pressure which it was just not the right place. Maybe the bikes played a part in why he didn't realise himself but I do feel given his stature and being the first ever Paris Roubaix for Poggi, if he needed more support from those around him in knowing the corners that you simply can't take like normal. I remember a gravel lane I took too hard once and it was a gentle turn but if you try to take hard it will throw you. Seems it was pretty common knowledge now for the others in the event but I didn't know and it ended up bloody and bruised all because I wasn't aware of this corner where the normal rules don't apply. I'd suspect similar myself.HoopoeChai14-04-2025
- That's how the finish line camera works
KerisVroom14-04-2025 - What a great Paris Roubaix! Having the best competition always elevates the race.awp14-04-2025
- I love Andrie’s fierce loyalty and dedication to his sonmij14-04-2025