Lotte Kopecky, winner of the Vélo d’Or for Greatest Feminine Rider and the Eddy Merckx Trophy for Greatest Classics Feminine Rider, has delivered spectacular leads to each the Spring Classics and Grand Excursions.
In 2024, the SD Worx-ProTime rider kicked off her season with victories at Nokere Koerse, Paris-Roubaix, Strade Bianche, and the UAE Tour. She additional expanded her spectacular record of achievements with an general win on the Tour de Romandie and the Simac Girls Tour, along with ending second general on the Giro d’Italia. Kopecky capped off her profitable season with a consecutive highway world championship title.
The earlier yr, Kopecky received the Tour of Flanders for the second time in a row, completed second general on the Tour de France, received the ultimate inexperienced jersey, and secured the highway world championship in Glasgow.
She believes that she doesn’t have to abandon her Common Classification ambitions to concentrate on the Classics.
“The Classics are nonetheless the races I like essentially the most. That is the rationale why I experience my bike. So I do not assume I’ll ever drop them, however you possibly can actually mix them for my part, Classics and summer time [Grand Tours] are more often than not actually two totally different intervals within the calendar,” the Belgian rider instructed L’équipe.
“And naturally, I’ll implement extra climbing coaching within the spring, however nonetheless, I do not assume that we are going to be at a drawback in case you go to races like Liège. So I’ll by no means actually drop the spring Classics for a GC.”
Kopecky loves “the character of the [Classics] races, the change of the climate each week,” and enjoys the truth that a followers line up on the highway facet and that most of the races happen in Belgium.
“To start with, I can deal with the rain and the chilly. I like quick, explosive climbs, we now have a whole lot of them. A whole lot of races finish in a small bunch dash, which I additionally like, I am simply all the time actually motivated for these form of races.”
Although her favorite race is Tour of Flanders, she considers the Ardennes Classics to be essentially the most tough races. “Fléche Wallonne is fairly arduous, however Liège as properly. The ultimate is fairly heavy, so I feel they’re more durable than the Flemish ones.”
The brand new Girls’s WorldTour race in 2025, Milan-San Remo Donne, scheduled for March 22, is an occasion that she is “wanting ahead to.”
“It’s one thing we have to discuss nonetheless with the workforce. It is gonna be a very nice race,” Kopecky mentioned. “You simply need to see the way it matches within the calendar.”
The 2025 Spring Classics kick off with Omloop Nieuwsblad Girls on March 1st.
