Lotte Kopecky saw her chances of further Paris-Roubaix Femmes success drift down the cobbles of northern France after a momentary loss of position on one of the race's key pavé sectors.
The SD Worx-Protime rider ultimately crossed the line fourth, bettering Megan Jastrab (UAE Team ADQ) in a sprint for the minor places, but it'll be little consolation to the two-time road world champion and 2024 winner of the Hell of the North.
Kopecky took several minutes to compose herself after the race before facing the media's questions, clearly disappointed by how the afternoon's events panned out for her and her teammates.
"I was too far [back] on Mons-en-Pévèle," Kopecky began, before adding that at first, all hope wasn't lost when a group of four went away. "We had Blanka [Vas] in it, so actually it was good."
She had attempted to keep the time gap to the lead group in check but when Vas was dropped – leaving just Franziska Koch (FDJ United-Suez), Pauline Ferrand-Prévot (Visma-Lease a Bike) and Marianne Vos (Visma-Lease a Bike) out front – the team's race hopes hung by a thread.
"We tried to keep the pressure on so the gap wouldn't be too big and Visma-Lease a Bike couldn't play any games, but the moment Blanka got dropped, we were not in a good situation anymore," Kopecky confessed.
Femke Markus and Lorena Wiebes attempted to bring Kopecky back into the fray, but the Belgian star soon had to close the one-minute split alongside Jastrab, and the pendulum only swung further in favour of the trio out in front.
Kopecky didn't make any excuses for the missed opportunity of adding another Paris-Roubaix title to her palmarès, though.
"My legs were good," she confirmed. "It's my own fault. I need to not be in 15th or 20th position. I need to be in the first five.
"The group stayed really big, and nothing really happened, so I was quite relaxed. Then I saw those four, and I knew immediately that we probably wouldn't see them back."
Knowing all too well what it takes to win this race, Kopecky ended with a blunt assessment of her performance, stating: "I made a lot of sectors where I had to be, just this one I was not, and it was an expensive mistake."
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