Kopecky stammers after Paris-Roubaix, in which SD Worx-Protime is expertly floored: "They'd rather see others win"

SD Worx-Protime had much higher hopes for Paris-Roubaix. The Dutch team ended up with a third-place finish through Lorena Wiebes, but world champion Lotte Kopecky appeared to be significantly stronger than her teammate. After the race, speaking to Sporza, the Belgian pointed to the strength of her own team, ironically, as something that worked against them on the French cobblestones.

Kopecky launched multiple attacks on her beloved cobbles of Paris-Roubaix. She won the race in 2024, but this time faced too many rivals aggressively targeting the SD Worx-Protime bloc. “It’s hard to say anything about it right now. I think we were always fairly in control, until Emma Norsgaard (Lidl-Trek) rode away. After that, we lost control, it’s as simple as that. Chapeau to Pauline,” she said, congratulating race winner Pauline Ferrand-Prévot.

“I knew I had to take the initiative, but there’s not much more I can say. I tried, but it just wasn’t good enough,” Kopecky added, clearly frustrated. Marianne Vos, her natural rival, responded sharply to Kopecky’s every move, and at one point it looked like the two might break away together. “Of course, it would’ve been great if Vos and I had gotten away, but the gap was closed,” Kopecky noted. Vos likely allowed that to happen knowing that Visma | Lease a Bike still had other cards to play.

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Kopecky explains why she did not follow Ferrand-Prévot

Ferrand-Prévot was one of the key riders. The Frenchwoman attacked and wasn’t followed when she made her move to chase down the earlier soloist Emma Norsgaard. She dropped the Dane shortly afterward and went on to win solo. “When Pauline went, I had already jumped several times and I couldn’t keep doing that. I had to make choices, and maybe this was the wrong one,” Kopecky admitted. “Now I’ll focus on the Ardennes, although Paris-Roubaix would’ve been a beautiful race to win. Third with Lorena is a good result, but we’re used to more.”

It may have been that very expectation of always winning that hurt SD Worx-Protime. “The communication with Lorena was good, but when Pauline and Norsgaard were gone, I shouldn’t have hesitated anymore after Carrefour. I should’ve closed the gap, but Pauline was too strong. A bit more support would’ve been nice, but I understand why we didn’t get it. Other teams were willing to give up podium spots, but we’ve already won a lot—and clearly, they’d rather see another team win. That became clear today.”

And the final takeaway, as she told Cycling Pro: “We’re disappointed with third place, but I think we should be happy with it. We tried to make the race hard, but Pauline was just very strong.”

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According to Bäckstedt, it made sense for SD Worx-Protime to take responsibility

Other teams also weighed in on the lack of support for SD Worx-Protime. That Visma | Lease a Bike didn’t chase while Ferrand-Prévot was up the road made sense. Lidl-Trek indicated they had deliberately tried to put pressure on the Dutch squad with repeated attacks. Canyon//SRAM was the fourth strong team among the favorites, but aside from Zoe Bäckstedt, teammates Chloé Dygert and Chiara Consonni didn’t make many moves. “After Lotte won last year, it was her responsibility to chase. SD Worx had the two strongest riders in Lotte and Wiebes, so yes,” said the 20-year-old Brit.

Bäckstedt herself finished 15th, while her teammates Dygert (8th) and Consonni (10th) both made the top ten. “We had a really strong team and they did an amazing job. I helped with cooling and bottles to get them into the best possible shape for the finale. And they were really strong in that final part,” she said.

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