Women’s Paris-Roubaix, Elisa Balsamo second and in tears. Sprint victory for the world champion Kopecky

A sprint between great champions decided the issue Paris-Roubaix female. He won the Belgian world championship Lotte Kopecky before Elisa Balsamo (tears for her at the end) in a very tight sprint in the Petrieux velodrome. Kopecky (Sd-Worx) prevailed with a strong sprint at the last corner. It was the fourth edition of the Roubaix in the “femmes” version: the English Deignan (2021), the Piedmontese Longo Borghini (2022) and the Canadian Alison Jackson were already in the roll of honour. A world champion returns to win Roubaix after 6 years: the last one was Peter Sagan.

Dry running

A tough race, but practically dry, with rare wet sections and little mud. The good action came about twenty km from the finish, on the cobbled stretch of Camphin and Pévèle. Driven by the sprints of the time trialist Van Dijk, a small group of six athletes became isolated, with Balsamo fighting but falling behind in the Tree Crossroads, apparently due to a mechanical problem, then brought back in by an action by the British Georgi. From there until the end the six made regular changes to prevent the group, with the sprinter Wiebes, from returning. Sprint, in the end: Kopecky wins over Balsamo, third Georgi, fourth the Dutch Marianne Vos, fifth and sixth her compatriots Kraak and Van Dijk. The surprising Mauritian Le Court comes in tenth.

“I don’t like this race, but I will return to do even better”

So Elisa Balsamo immediately: “If they had told me at the start I wouldn’t have believed it. However, a second place is always disappointing in a race like this. I’ve always said it’s not a race I like, but I was fine, we’ll try again in the next few years. I struggled on the cobblestones of Camphin and lost my legs in the Carrefour. But then I managed to stay with those great champions and it was fantastic.”