“Never reached my full potential” – Lotte Kopecky sounds off on spring despite Tour of Flanders victory

With the Spring Classics season now behind us, World Champion Lotte Kopecky has offered a candid reflection on her campaign in a heartfelt Instagram post.

Kopecky, who has battled a persistent knee injury throughout the winter, admitted that her disrupted preparation and the pressure of public scrutiny took a toll on her confidence in recent months. Despite those challenges, she still claimed a major victory at the Tour of Flanders and played a key role in helping Lorena Wiebes win Milano-Sanremo and Gent–Wevelgem.

Opening up about her mindset and physical struggles, Kopecky wrote, “I wasn’t looking looking for excuses and being straight forward is what I stand for. So when I said ‘I should be happy with this spring after the winter I had’ in the interview after LBL I should’ve thought twice before staying it.

“But I was really done with the opinions, high expectations and really had the feeling I am just not good enough anymore. We need media. But sometimes it is hard to hear everything people are saying about you without having any clue what’s happening in our lives. We set goals, but that doesn’t mean we’ll succeed them all. In the end we lose more than we win.”

The Belgian explained how her knee injury meant a stop-start winter, both physically and mentally exhausting for someone as driven as Kopecky.

“I’ve been struggling with my knee this winter, being on and off the bike the whole time. Mentally pretty challenging for someone who’s kind of addicted to sports. But again, I learned a lot about my body.”

She had always planned a late start to her season, targeting Milan–Sanremo as her return to racing. While she didn’t contest the victory herself, she took pride in helping Wiebes cross the line first.

“I already planned last year to start the season only in Milan San Remo, I am happy I made it just in time & was able to help Lorena Wiebes to the win. I wasn’t able to make differences myself, so it made me really happy to help the team to win.”

Kopecky gradually built form through the Classics campaign, though she acknowledges she never quite reached her top level.

“I could feel my body needed a lot of race rhythm because I didn’t do any intensity training this winter. But race by race I had some improvements, sometimes big, sometimes little. Trying to trust the proces, relying on my base I built over the past years.

"But never reached my full potential. Just like many of you, I wanted more victories myself and honour this amazing jersey. In general I am happy the way things went, coming out of the classics with good form, kind of fresh feeling and very hungry for wins.”

Kopecky concluded her message with a note of optimism and determination, “Sometimes things happen for a reason. I’ll keep up the hard work, aiming & dreaming of big things this summer!”