Why a tough day in Strade Bianche is no cause for concern for Lotte Kopecky

It was a striking image during Strade Bianche. Despite feeling good during training and her track record in the Italian classic, Lotte Kopecky had to drop out early. Is this a bad sign for the upcoming major spring classics? Belgian national coach Ludwig Willems is not worried for now.

In an interview with Het Nieuwsblad, Willems delves deeper into Kopecky's situation, who after a tough 2025 wants to bounce back with a very strong spring season. The first two major spring races – Omloop Het Nieuwsblad and Strade Bianche – didn’t go as planned due to bad luck and an off day. According to Willems, we shouldn’t draw too many conclusions from this.

"I wasn’t really super surprised that she fell a bit short on the Strade course. You have to understand: it’s been since early September that she last raced a finale in a road race. She first needs efforts in such races and at that level to regain race sharpness," the national coach believes.

Willems also highlights the further professionalization within women’s cycling. "The finales get harder every year. In every race, there are riders who have specifically peaked for that day. That means it’s harder to compete for wins if you’re not at a hundred percent yet. But I have confidence that Lotte will be at her best in the Tour of Flanders and Roubaix."

The situation is by no means comparable to last year, Willems believes. "Although she had a good spring, she was basically behind the curve all year. She tried to approach some things differently, like climbing training and weight, with an eye on a general classification in the Tour, but the gap she fell into during the winter was never closed."

"It’s absolutely not guesswork"
"Lotte knows exactly what she’s doing. She no longer has a personal coach, which may make people think it’s guesswork, but that’s absolutely not the case. She continues to work very data-driven and knows perfectly well which power zones to hit at what moment."