Lotte Kopecky on the two sides of Paris-Roubaix: "I don't enjoy riding cobbles, but I still always look forward to Roubaix"

Lotte Kopecky may have not had as dominant entrance into 2025 as she hoped for, but things are already moving in the right direction for the world champion after her victory at the Tour of Flanders. As a defending champion at Paris-Roubaix Femmes, she aims to complete a double at the biggest cobbled classics.

"It’s really special to go to every cobble sector, and you really feel the adrenaline, because you know if you’re in a bad position your race can be over. You need to have a lot of luck that your bike holds it the whole day," Kopecky tells TNT Sports as she previews the upcoming Monument.

And even when you're lucky, you still need to back that up with your own legs. "You need to have power on the cobbles. You need to ride as economically as possible. You need to have a nice shot at the end. You need to be smart. It’s not only being strong, but more than that."

She said: "Le Carrefour de l'Arbre - the beginning is quite OK, but just before the corner to the left, this part is really bad, and I’m just hoping I don’t get a flat tyre or something. Everything is shaking, also a lot of fans on the side of the road. They’re cheering, there’s so much noise, but also you're suffering and there are cobbles and everything is shaking. I have no idea how to describe these moments, but it's something special."

Clearly, the magic of Paris-Roubaix are not the cobbles - it's in the race itself. "When I'm training, I don't enjoy riding cobbles. But when I do Paris-Roubaix, I really like it, and I'm really looking forward to it as well," she explained.

In 2024, Kopecky was the victor in a dramatic sprint in the velodrome finale, now she's back for another cobble to put on her shelf.

"Last year, everything went perfectly," she began. "I still have the Allen key from last year for my handlebar. I said to the mechanic, I'm keeping this one, it's a memory, so it’s next to the stone [winner’s trophy]... It was, for me, really special, because it was really the goal that I was chasing for a long time already. I could really feel it meant a lot... I was so happy that we did it."