World Champion Lotte Kopecky (SD Worx-Protime) has expressed disappointment at finishing second at the 2024 Omloop Het Nieuwsblad on Saturday.
Kopecky, who just won the overall title at the UAE Tour, lined up as one of the overwhelming favourites but was outsprinted by a faster Marianne Vos (Visma-Lease a Bike) from a four-rider breakaway that raced into the finish line in Ninove.
"I have reached a point where I am no longer satisfied with second place. I did everything I could to make the difference," Kopecky said at the finish line.
The big question ahead of Omloop Het Nieuwsblad was whether anyone could beat the dominant SD Worx-Protime team that lined up with a team of tough-to-beat champions, including Kopecky and Tour de France winner Demi Vollering.
As the peloton raced into the closing kilometres, Elisa Longo Borghini (Lidl-Trek) surged ahead with roughly 25km to go, and Vos, Kopecky, and Shirin van Anrooij (also Lidl-Trek) managed to bridge across to the Italian Champion on the Muur van Geraardsbergen.
From there, it was an all-out battle to the finish line, with each rider taking turns attacking and forcing their rivals to chase.
"Lidl-Trek played it well by attacking in turns. I continuously had to pull the chestnuts out of the fire. If I don't do that, I'm riding for second place anyway. I rode quite a good race, but I had hoped for more, of course," Kopecky said of her performance.
The quartet were still together into the finishing straightaway, where Longo Borghini launched a long sprint, but Vos accelerated off of Kopecky's slipstream to take the win.
In the end, there was no surprise to see Vos outsprint a four-rider breakaway for victory, given her sparkling career that has earned her the G.O.A.T. status.
However, the former multi-discipline world champion ended her season early last year, underwent iliac artery surgery, and then adhered to a rehabilitation program of 10 weeks. She began her racing season his spring at Setmana Valenciana where she finished sixth overall. This was her first time competing at Omloop Het Nieuwsblad.
"Marianne was just faster in the sprint. She was strong, and then you know it's going to be tough to drop her," Kopecky said. "As a rider, I am happy for her that she is racing at this level again. I have a lot of respect for her."
Omloop Het Nieuwsblad marks the beginning of the one-day racing season in Belgium and of the Spring Classics. Looking ahead, Kopecky is confident that she and SD Worx-Protime will enjoy many successes along the way.
"This was the first classic of the season. We rode a good race. There will normally be some more percentages extra in the coming time. I will give my best in the Strade Bianche and hope to do one more place better," she said.
Van der Breggen says Vollering will grow stronger as the season progresses
SD Worx Protime director and retired professional racer Anna van der Breggen also said that second place was less than the team had hoped for at the start of the day, but she gave credit to Vos' early-season strength.
"I think Marianne was really strong again. For a long time, we didn’t see that. In the end, you hope that Lotte can do it on the Muur or on the Bosberg like she did last year, but I think the girls did a really good race with three in front," Van der Breggen said.
She also gauged from her own experience how important the combination of Muur van Geraardsbergen and Bosberg is in affecting the tactics and the outcome of the race.
"It’s really honest in front on the Muur and the Bosberg. It’s how the groups go, and we need to make the most out of it. I think Lotte didn’t make mistakes. In the sprint, Marianne was better," she said.
Van der Breggen noted that Omloop Het Nieuwsblad was Vollering's first race of the season. In the end, she finished sixth place in a chase group behind the four-rider breakaway.
"In the winter, for Demi, the shape is there, but maybe not like it was last year already at this moment. She had quite some things in the winter that the shape is not like this, and I think that’s absolutely with this season not a bad thing," she said.
"To know that you can still be better and grow and the season will be really long, so actually that’s OK for now. The big races are a month later, so I think it’s a good thing when you know that you’re good but that you can still grow a lot. Overall, we are happy, but of course, we’d like to have won the race."
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