Lotte Kopecky wins women's Tour of Flanders 2022

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Lotte Kopecky (Team SD Worx) has won the women's Tour of Flanders wearing the Belgian champion's jersey.

Playing their numbers well in the final, Team SD Worx had Chantal van den Broek-Blaak attack with 11 kilometres to go, forcing Annemiek van Vleuten (Movistar Team) to close the gap with Kopecky on her wheel. Van den Broek-Blaak did the lion's share of work on the run-in to the finish, and Kopecky beat Van Vleuten in the sprint.

"It's quite overwhelming," said Kopecky who was almost lost for words. "I am very thankful to my teammates, this victory is not only for me but for them. Chantal in particular was fantastic."

Going into the sprint, Kopecky was quietly confident that she could win: "I know that normally I am faster than Annemiek, but she is also fast after a hard race. You cannot be too confident. But when she couldn't drop me on the climbs, I knew that I could trust myself. Thanks to Chantal who kept riding, then I could win the sprint," the Belgian champion said.

How it unfolded

On the 159.8-kilometre course with 11 hills and six flat cobblestone sectors, a break of four got established early in the race: Clara Honsinger (EF-TIBCO-SVB), Sofie van Rooijen (Parkhotel Valkenburg), Olivia Baril (Valcar-Travel & Service), and Maria Martins (Le Col-Wahoo) established an advantage of up to four minutes before entering the hilly zone.

On the cobbles of the Kerkgate, Honsinger and Baril distanced their two companions and continued as a duo. As their advantage dwindled, Camilla Alessio (Ceratizit-WNT), Marit Raaijmakers (Human Powered Health), and Maike van der Duin (Le Col-Wahoo) bridged to the front, and the gap to this break of five went up to two minutes again as the peloton did not race hard until the foot of the Koppenberg, a new addition to the women's race.

Here, an acceleration by Van Vleuten cut the breakaway's advantage to under a minute while Van der Duin emerged as the strongest rider in the break and finally dropped her companions on the Taaienberg with 36 km to go before sitting up as the peloton was very close behind.

 Three kilometres later, an attack by Arlenis Sierra (Movistar Team) led to a front group with Sofia Bertizzolo (UAE Team ADQ), Christine Majerus (Team SD Worx), Anna Henderson (Team Jumbo-Visma), Maria Giulia Confalonieri (Ceratizit-WNT), Brodie Chapman (FDJ Nouvelle-Aquitaine Futuroscope), and Katarzyna Niewiadoma (Canyon-SRAM) that was soon joined by Raaijmakers, Van der Duin, Baril, and Alessio who hadn't had enough after their previous break.

Van Vleuten tried another attack on the Kruisberg/Hotond, taking Kopecky and Grace Brown (FDJ Nouvelle-Aquitaine Futuroscope) with her and Marlen Reusser (Team SD Worx) joining them soon afterwards. Reusser then bridged the 20-second gap to the front group on her own.

Reusser took charge on the Oude Kwaremont, blowing up the group coming out of the climb first with only Chapman on her wheel. Niewiadoma and Sierra were next, followed by Confalonieri and Bertizzolo. Then came Van Vleuten who had attacked from the peloton with Kopecky and Van den Broek-Blaak on her wheel and picked up Henderson.

These chasing groups all united before the Paterberg where Reusser dropped Chapman but was herself caught by Van Vleuten who came past the Swiss champion just before the top as well as Kopecky. Van den Broek-Blaak, Niewiadoma, and Chapman came back up after the climb, prompting an attack from Reusser that Van Vleuten quickly closed down.

Van den Broek-Blaak immediately counterattacked, catching Van Vleuten off-guard for a moment before she took up the chase with Kopecky on her wheel. Having been caught, Van den Broek-Blaak then led Van Vleuten and Kopecky to the line where Kopecky won the sprint.

Further behind, Sierra, Brown and Cecilie Uttrup Ludwig (FDJ Nouvelle-Aquitaine Futuroscope) bridged to the second group, and Sierra won the sprint for fourth place.