‘The win was not in our reach today’ – Loss of Lorena Wiebes on Koppenberg costly for Lotte Kopecky in Tour of Flanders

For Kopecky, who only spoke briefly at the finish, there was a level of deference to the better rider on the day.

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“She was the strongest today, and you have to be able to admit that,” she said to Sporza. “Demi and her team rode the perfect race. You have to give them credit for that.”

She also added that she was “basically where I needed to be” on the Kwaremont, but her teammate and final helper, Mischa Bredewold, pointed to some incidents and potential mistakes before the climb which could have been costly.

“I don’t know what happened with Lorena on the Koppenberg, it was not clear for me if she had a mechanical or she just couldn’t follow. I think that’s an important card for us to miss in the final like this,” Bredewold explained to Cyclingnews.

“But Lotte and me were feeling quite good. We quite quickly made a call to not attack and save myself so I could fix whatever would happen. I tried to put Lotte in a good position for the Kwaremont, and actually I just came short of following in that group, so I’m not sure if that was the right call, because maybe if I would have saved myself I would have been with her group and that would have made a big difference to fight for second place.”

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Even without that mistake, though, Bredewold was clear that any chase or fight back would have been only to reel back in Pauline Ferrand-Prévot (Visma-Lease a Bike) and Puck Pieterse (Fenix-Premier Tech), not to go for the victory.

“I think Lotte felt good and I also felt good, and as I said I think I’m making a mistake before the Kwaremont with wasting energy, and if I would have been there helping pulling then we would have had one big engine extra to chase and then Lotte can perhaps be second, but the win was not in our reach today I think,” she said.