Within the aftermath of her Paris-Roubaix Femmes victory, Lotte Kopecky praised her SD Worx teammates and stated that they had helped guarantee she saved a relaxed and stage head going into the cobbled Monument.
The Belgian narrowly missed out on one other Tour of Flanders victory final weekend which she defined solely added additional dedication to succeed this outing.
Kopecky advised the media post-race that the construct as much as Roubaix had been combined with each nerves and pleasure. She stated that after the race began, that modified to confidence in her personal capability as she may really feel the religion that her teammates had in her and credited them for his or her half within the win.
“I attempted to remain as calm as doable right now,” she stated. “After Sunday, the sensation was not what I needed it to be however fortunately I’ve actually good pals, and a very good staff behind me who actually tried to maintain me calm and gave me confidence.
“They helped me attempt to spend these previous few days with not too many worries…This morning after all, I used to be nervous however I used to be relaxed. I may actually really feel the boldness that they had in me and I attempted to take that good feeling with me into the race.”
Kopecky was stuffed with vitality all through the Monument and was often on the assault as every cobbled sector of the course arrived. Ultimately it got here all the way down to a dramatic dash on the velodrome during which she obtained the higher of Lidl-Trek’s Elisa Balsamo and Pfeiffer Georgi (dsm–firmenich PostNL).
When requested whether or not her preliminary pre-race plan had labored, Kopecky stated that all the pieces had gone precisely as she anticipated, each on a private stage and for her staff as a bunch.
The newest race content material, interviews, options, evaluations and professional shopping for guides, direct to your inbox!
“It was precisely as we deliberate,” she stated. “We needed to attempt to keep out of bother within the first 60 kilometres and be proper in entrance within the first three sectors… Earlier than the primary sector that I attacked on, I had Elena Cecchini who tried to place me and I knew I needed to go there and see what occurred.”
(Picture credit score: Getty Photos)
The Dutch staff, she defined, had the added bonus of getting their star sprinter, Lorena Wiebes, within the chasing pack for if the race had come again collectively on the run in to the end.
“After all going forward with Marianne was not perfect for me,” Kopecky stated. “After I was with Marianne, I used to be simply pondering that we nonetheless had the cardboard to play with Lorena [Wiebes]. As we speak I actually needed to win myself however I used to be additionally actually motivated that if there was a scenario the place we would have liked to go for it for Lorena, I used to be 110% dedicated to that.”
Because the lead group tore into the velodrome, the group erupted with delight on the sight of the world champion firmly in rivalry for the win. In addition to her highway world title, Kopecky holds a number of world titles on the observe which led to some assuming she held the higher hand.
Kopecky stated that her observe background hadn’t crossed her thoughts as she obtained able to launch her dash for the road.
“Pfeiffer and Marianne even have observe backgrounds,” she stated. “All of us knew what we have been doing. It is a bonus however I did not give it some thought as that they had this benefit too. It did not actually change something for me, no.”
“Earlier than we got here on the observe it was already a giant battle to attempt to get in place,” she added. “After all I knew that Marianne [Vos] and Elisa [Balsamo] would attempt to battle towards one another and on the opposite aspect of the observe there was a headwind.
“They needed to begin the dash fairly early so I attempted to remain calm and begin sprinting on the proper second. That was a protracted dash however that is to my benefit and I did what I wanted to do.”
