The 29-year-old SD Worx–Protime leader came into the final kilometer of the 168.8km race as the favorite, having won in 2022 and 2023 and finishing a disappointing fifth last year behind Elisa Longo Borghini. But the Italian UAE Team ADQ rider was involved in a mass crash at the tight entrance to the first cobbled section of the race and soon abandoned.
After that, it was Kopecky’s race to lose, and she made no mistake. She came into the final kilometer accompanied by last year’s Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift winner Katarzyna Niewiadoma (CANYON//SRAM zondacrypto), the 2014 road race world champion and five-time MTB world champion Pauline Ferrand-Prévot (Visma–Lease a Bike) and Germany’s Liane Lippert (Movistar).
After the usual feints and gamesmanship, it was Kopecky who kicked off the sprint with about 300 meters to ride, always a tricky maneuver because it allowed her rivals to ride in her slipstream and then launch a counter-sprint. Which is precisely what happened, but she was never headed and raised her arms in triumph as she crossed the line ahead of the surprising Ferrand-Prévot, with Lippert completing the podium.
“This is a victory I’ll remember for a long time,” Kopecky said after the race. “The closer we got to the Tour of Flanders, the more I dreamed of winning it as world champion. I’m already cherishing that photo in the white shorts.”
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It was clear from her riding tactics and even her body language on the bike that she always backed herself for the win, even in the sprint. “I had confidence in my finish,” she said. “I knew Liane Lippert was fast, but I couldn’t really judge Pauline Ferrand-Prévot. I did expect a late attack from Kasia Niewiadoma, but that never came. So I believed in my sprint and went all in.”
She said that an attack by teammate Mischa Bredewold after the ascent of the Taaienberg “came at the perfect moment. It put [teammate] Anna van der Breggen and me in the perfect position. That was also when I realized I had good legs. Anna told me, ‘You’re the strongest in this group,’ and that gave me confidence.” Van der Breggen is a former two-time world champion and the 2018 winner of the race, so she should know.
An eight-rider group had broken away right after the start of the race and at one point had a lead of 7:30 over the peloton. But SD Worx–Protime and other teams gradually reduced the gap, as the attacks from the front came in waves. With about 60km left in the race, Jade Wiel (FDJ-Suez), Eleonora Gasparrini (UAE Team ADQ), Franziska Koch (Picnic-PostNL) and Eva van Agt (Visma–Lease a Bike) broke away from the bunch. Eventually, one of the original breakaway riders, Nicole Steigenga (AG Insurance–Soudal), went solo as the peloton came within 2 minutes of the leaders. She was finally caught with 38km left to ride, as the favorites began to prepare for the endgame.
That took the form at first of a series of short-lived attacks involving strong riders, such as Lippert and Puck Pieterse (Fenix-Deceuninck), with Kopecky taking part in each move. Then Bredewold attacked with Lauretta Hanson (Lidl-Trek), setting up the finale. That was initiated by Lippert, on the slopes of the double climb of the Oude Kruisberg (157m) and Hotond (2.5km @ 4.3%), with Kopecky and Ferrand-Prévot temporarily dropped.
More attacks followed, resulting in a 17-rider lead group with 20km left to ride. Then, as in the men’s race, it was the Oude Kwaremont (2.2km @ 4.1%) that made the difference as Kopecky, Lippert, Ferrand-Prévot, and Niewiadoma raced away to a 10-second lead after the climb and were never again threatened and Kopecky could realize a dream. “To win as a world champion in your own country, that’s what dreams are made of,” she said.
Final Standings in 2025 Women’s Tour of Flanders
Lotte Kopecky, SD Worx–Protime 4:24:34
2. Pauline Ferrand-Prévot, Visma –Lease a Bike “
3. Liane Lippert, Movistar “
4. Kasia Niewiadoma, CANYON//SRAM zondacrypto + 0:01
5. Kim Le Court, AG Insurance–Soudal +1:13
6. Letizia Borghesi, EF Education–Oatly “
7. Elise Chabbey, FDJ-Suez “
8. Ellen van Dijk, Lidl-Trek “
9. Puck Pieterse, Fenix-Deceuninck “
10. Marlen Reusser, Movistar “
