Cycling World Championships 2023: Lotte Kopecky takes brilliant win for Belgium in women's road race

Lotte Kopecky (Belgium) claimed an emotional victory in the women's road race at the UCI Cycling World Championships, in the same week she won two titles in the velodrome.

Kopecky proved the strongest rider in a bruising finish in Glasgow, finally snapping the elastic to Cecilie Uttrup Ludwig (Denmark) with 5.5km remaining as she went solo.

Recent Tour de France champion Demi Vollering (Netherlands) gave pursuit and managed to overhaul Uttrup Ludwig on the bike throw for silver, but the day was about Kopecky who wrote another victorious chapter in an incredible season.

Annemiek van Vleuten (Netherlands) came home in eighth in her farewell World Championships after a string of mechanicals, waving to the crowd as she crossed the finish line.

“It’s already been an amazing year and also a very hard year," Kopecky said through tears.

"It’s just what keeps me pushing. I don’t really know what I was thinking but it really means a lot to me and it’s a dream that’s come true. I really hope to enjoy and ride in those rainbows next year."

Despite the inspiring confidence she has in her own ability, the Belgian champion who became the first woman from the country to win the title in 50 years since Nicole Van Den Broeck in 1973 also paid tribute to the fellow countrywomen on her team who supported her throughout the 154.1km course.

"I was not nervous before the race but when [Elise] Chabbey had 1:30, we saw that before on this course that you don’t gain so much time. I think I really have to thank really hard Sanne Cant in the beginning of the local laps but then also Justine Ghekiere. I said to her to try and keep the pace and it doesn’t need to be a very hard one but just so she [Chabbey] doesn’t gain any more time. I think she did a really good job.

"The rest of my team-mates, I changed my bike and Julie Van de Velde was there to get me back to the bunch. All of them, we’re a big cycling nation but in the women’s part of cycling in Belgium, we always came a little bit behind. I am very proud that now we showed we are a team that can win the biggest races as a team."

After coming second at last year's World Championships behind Van Vleuten, Kopecky also described the differences that led to her success this year. She said:"I was not the strongest last year in the race. Due to the circumstances that I got into the position to race for the World Title then Annemiek went in the final kilometre it was just a very smart move and we just hesitated and it was just our own fault. Today I felt really quick and I also had the feeling that I was one of the strongest riders in the race. "

Van Vleuten suffered a puncture as her rainbow jersey defence ended in disappointment. The legendary Dutchwoman, 40, will bow out by competing in two final stage races, the Tour of Scandinavia and the Simac Ladies Tour.

"Goosebumps,” she told a small group of reporters, including Eurosport, in the mixed zone as she took a moment to let the feeling sink in.

"I love the UK people, they have a special place in my heart, and I could also feel that I have a special place in the UK audience. It was not nice to have a flat tyre in the last lap, but then I also need to accept it and yeah, it’s just a flat tyre.

"It got me out of the race and then I was able to not get angry or mad or disappointed, I thought I need to enjoy this. Thank you to all the people, I could feel they realised that this is my last World Championships so it was a nice ending.”

The first rider of the day to get away from the bunch was Eliska Kvasniskova (Czech Republic) who went clear with 142km to go, and she was chased by Awa Bamogo (Burkina Faso). Kvasnickova was eventually closed down by Alison Jackson (Canada) and Coryn Labecki (USA) after an attack from Marianne Vos (Netherlands) and Labecki upped the pace in the group.

Blanka Vas (Hungary) was the next to accelerate, closely followed by Paris-Roubaix winner Jackson and British rider Claire Steels. Steels’ British team-mate and former world champion Lizzie Deignan then increased the intensity on the front, soon to be joined in a front group by Ashleigh Moolman-Pasio (South Africa), Juliette Labous (France) and Mischa Bredewold (Netherlands). They were met by Sanne Cant (Belgium), Chabbey and Vas, and pushed forward as a leading group of seven.

As the Crow Road climb loomed, Soraya Paladin (Italy) went in search of the seven, who were soon to be six as Vas struggled to keep up. Chabbey was a key protagonist in the increase in pace on the climb and their lead continued to grow.

Paladin went clear from the chase group in an attempt to bridge the gap, but an attack from German youngsters Antonia Niedermaier and Ricarda Bauernfeind diffused her efforts.

Labecki was then involved in a crash in the group which also took down Sara Martin (Spain) and Daniela Campos (Portugal), and at the same time, Marlen Reusser (Switzerland) led the peloton to meet with Vas. Disaster then struck for Britain’s Lizzie Holden who abandoned the race to seek medical assistance after a crash.

The peloton caught the breakaway group with 110km to go before Teniel Campbell (Trinidad & Tobago) staged an attack and was joined by Ella Wyllie (New Zealand) and Aude Biannic (France). At the back of the group, Kopecky changed bikes, but it would by no means stymie her race, while Lorena Wiebes soon abandoned.

For the laps of the circuit that followed, the peloton was smashed into smithereens as the city took its toll on the riders. With 72km to go Chabbey went clear, a move that would see her go solo until the final kilometres.

She entered the five laps to go point with a lead of 14 seconds, but Kopecky was soon part of a group of four who went out in search of the Swiss leader. Joined by Femke Markus (Netherlands), Silvia Persico (Italy) and Agnieszka Skalniak-Sojka (Poland), Kopecky worked hard in the group to move within 10 seconds of the front of the race and break away from the main chase group.

They were joined by Liane Lippert (Germany) and Reusser, but in the meantime defending champion Van Vleuten suffered a mechanical that would force her to change wheel and then later bikes.

The chase group of six were caught by the larger group behind before they reached the line again but Chabbey powered ahead at the front of the race. Elena Cecchini (Italy) was the first to cross the line, and then powered ahead to put in a solo chase.

Showing true fight, Van Vleuten worked to not only move to join the back of the group but then to the front of it. She went in search of Cecchini as Chabbey sat 45 seconds ahead.

The group remained as one, including Kopecky, whose Belgian team-mate Justine Ghekiere led them to Cecchini after a strong effort on the front.

A series of attacks followed while Chabbey worked up a lead of over a minute. They were closed down by Reusser and Uttrup Ludwig before Van Vleuten attacked and went past them.

Kopecky attacked again, closely followed by Vollering, and Uttrup Ludwig was the one who managed to reach Van Vleuten. With Van Vleuten contained in the group, her attempted attacks were diffused by Deignan who wouldn’t let her get away.

Kopecky attacked again with 19km to go, this time followed by Schweinberger, before they were joined again by the group. With 15.8km to go Chabbey was in sight as they fought up the Montrose Street climb, and Vollering and Kopecky accelerated once more.

When Chabbey was caught with 14km reaming Van Vleuten then dropped back again with another puncture. Deignan and Schweinberger staged an attack to get away from their front group, but Kopecky and Reusser didn’t let them get away for long.

With just under 7km to go Kopecky made a move after chasing an attack from Uttrup-Ludwig, but she had the Dane on her wheel for a little while longer.

At 5.5km to go and the final lap ticking away, Kopecky went solo and dropped Uttrup-Ludwig. She conquered the Montrose climb for the final time, now alone, and behind Vollering was closed in on Uttrup-Ludwig.

Under the flamme rouge she powered on and when she had safely navigated the descent her victory was secured. She shook her head as she passed through the crowds lining the George Square finish and celebrated her first road race world title as the clear winner.

Vollering and Uttrup Ludwig continued to battle to the line with the Dutch rider coming off the better of the two and taking the silver medal.

Reusser took an impressive fourth place after a tough week before Schweinberger took fifth place after wowing in both the time trial, where she picked up bronze, and in the road race.

British rider Deignan took an admirable sixth place before Chabbey crossed seventh after her stunning solo breakaway efforts that were curtailed only 14km previously.

Van Vleuten took eighth place, showing her strength despite nearing the final few weeks of her professional career

Vas finished just outside the top ten in the elite category in 11th, but her mature ride earned her the U23 World Title. Second in the age category was Shirin van Anrooij, who secured a second silver medal in the race for the Dutch team and finished 13th in the elite race. Great Britain's Anna Shackley took home bronze, in what was a memorable day as the Scot stood on the podium close to her hometown.

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