After missing out at the Tour of Flanders, SD Worx-Protime go full steam ahead into Paris-Roubaix Femmes, where Lotte Kopecky stands to become the first repeat winner of the women’s race.
Winner in 2024 and already the winner of Milan-San Remo this season, Kopecky tops the favourites list for Sunday, but SD Worx will also hope to play on their strength in numbers in a race where luck and strength count for more than strategy.
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“This race does not lie. Those who win here usually belong to the very strongest riders. That’s what makes Paris-Roubaix one of the most beautiful Classics,” SD Worx team manager Danny Stam said on Friday.
“The bad roads and heavy cobbled sectors make it extra special. Of course, luck plays a role – for example, not puncturing at the wrong moment – but when you look at the list of winners, you can see that you only win here if you truly belong to the best.”
Matilda Price
Personally, I think it’s Lotte Kopecky’s race to lose on Sunday, given how few other top contenders are there. SD Worx always talk about playing the numbers game, and for sure having strong riders will help, but when push comes to shove, Kopecky is the big dog leader, and she’ll be fired up to add another Monument to her palmarès.
Only two other former winners will line up on Sunday – Alison Jackson (-St Michel-Preference Home-Auber93) and Pauline Ferrand-Prévot (Visma-Lease a Bike) – and as yet, no one has won Roubaix twice in the first five editions of the women’s race.
Despite Kopecky missing out on the podium at the Tour of Flanders, where she admitted she didn’t have the ability to follow Demi Vollering (FDJ United-Suez), her team believe the flat cobbles of Roubaix will be better for her.
“Paris–Roubaix is tailor-made for her — perhaps even more so than the Tour of Flanders at the moment. She has shown that she is in good form. With Lotte, we have a serious contender for victory, and possibly even more than one.”
In the chaos of Roubaix, almost any rider could contend for the…
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