Saturday April 6, 2024 at 5:33 PM
Lotte Kopecky has won Paris-Roubaix for women. The world champion was the fastest in a sprint with six on the Roubaix velodrome. She referred Elisa Balsamo and Pfeiffer Georgio to places two and three. Marianne Vos came fourth, Amber Kraak fifth and Ellen van Dijk sixth.
This year’s Paris-Roubaix Femmes avec Zwift was 148.5 kilometers long. Nearly a fifth (29.2 kilometers) of this consisted of cobblestone roads. The riders had to cross the bumpy roads of Mons-en-Pévèle and Carrefour de l’Arbre, among other things, before arriving at the legendary Vélodrome André Pétrieux in Roubaix. Marianne Vos and Lotte Kopecky were the top favorites to cross the line as a triumphant.
Defending defender Jackson falls twice
The opening phase was nervous. There were many attack attempts and some falls. Alison Jackson, last year’s winner, even lost twice. Both times the Canadian came off relatively well and was able to get back on. In the meantime, a rider had pulled away at the front: Victoire Joncheray (Komugi-Grand Est). The Frenchwoman rode alone for two minutes away from the pack. As quickly as her lead had grown, it shrank just as quickly. At 112 kilometers from the finish we had a complete peloton again.
In the run-up to the first of seventeen cobblestone sections, Hornaing à Wandignies, the pack stayed together. The pace was high – due to the work of DSM-firmenich PostNL – on this strip and the following sectors. No one drove away for the time being, but the door was open at the back of the peloton. However, the peloton only really broke up when Lotte Kopecky took the lead. This happened 75 kilometers from the finish, on the Warlaing à Brillon stretch. A group of about ten riders, including Vos, broke away.
dsm-firmenich PostNL took the initiative – photo: Cor Vos
Kopecky slaps it
After the stretch it was a bit quiet and riders came back from behind. Jackson, among others, joined up again and… immediately went on the attack. This attack was neutralized by Ellen van Dijk, who forced herself on the next, fourth cobblestone section. It creaked behind her, but once on the asphalt, many riders were able to return. It continued like this for a while. In this phase we also saw that Kopecky briefly lowered himself to the team leader’s car. A problem with her steering wheel. Fortunately, the SD Worx-Protime rider was able to quickly resolve the problem and take her place back in the peloton.
On the four-star strip of Auchy-lez-Orchies à Bersée, Kopecky was again at the forefront. In fact, she started the moped and put serious pressure on her opponents. Only four riders could follow her: Marianne Vos (Visma | Lease a Bike), Christina Schweinberger (Fenix-Deceuninck), Pfeiffer Georgi (Fenix-Deceuninck) and Lorena Wiebes (SD Worx-Protime). It went so fast that the latter quickly had to pass. The Dutch dropped back into the second group.
Kopecky was very active – photo: Cor Vos
The front four did not continue at full speed, allowing the group with Wiebes to return to the five-star strip of Mons-en-Pévèle. This happened under the leadership of Van Dijk, who corrected an imbalance for Lidl-Trek. Immediately after the strip, Kopecky tried again. It was a strong acceleration, but after the peloton briefly broke into two pieces, the two parts quickly came back together.
Four women drive away
In the kilometers that followed, we saw several attacks. Van Dijk, among others, tried again. The Dutch did not get away, unlike Jade Wiel. The Frenchwoman from FDJ-SUEZ attacked 33 kilometers from the finish and gained a lead of half a minute. Ten kilometers later, however, she was caught up again. That was the signal for her teammate Amber Kraak to take flight. She got Van Dijk – who else – with her. The two Dutch speedsters worked well together.
At Camphin-en-Pévèle Kopecky accelerated once again. Initially, Vos, Balsamo and Pfeiffer were able to follow, but the British rider (who had had bad luck just before) got into trouble and ultimately just missed out. The other three drove towards Van Dijk and Kraak. Things were also going too fast for Balsamo at Carrefour de l’Abre, just as Van Dijk was moving on. Further down the stretch it was Vos who accelerated. Kraak closed the gap, after which Kopecky countered. However, Vos was alert and immediately jumped to the wheel of the world champion.
photo: Cor Vos
Sprinting with six
They left the line with four riders, but afterwards Balsamo and Pfeiffer – despite some disagreement – still joined up. Were we going to fight for victory with six? It looked like it, although the chasing group (including Wiebes) was still within half a minute. Moreover, cracks began to appear in the collaboration in the final kilometers. We saw several attacks, including from Kraak and Van Dijk.
Still, the six stayed together and there was a sprint on the Roubaix velodrome. Balsamo started that sprint from far away. Vos came next and passed, but came to a standstill in the final straight line. With Kopecky we saw the opposite. The world champion came out with speed in the end, held off her opponents and won Paris-Roubaix for the first time in her career. Balsamo came second, Georgi third. Marianne Vos had to settle for fourth place.
Great joy for Lotte Kopecky – photo: Cor Vos
