Let it be known, SD Worx-Protime are preaching that they are the underdogs going into the Tour of Flanders. It doesn’t matter, they claim, that they have the world champion Lotte Kopecky who’s won this race twice in three years, nor that they have the world’s most prolific sprinter in Lorena Wiebes, and neither is it significant that they’ve added the comeback queen Anna van der Breggen to their roster late on. Defending champion Elisa Longo Borghini is the outstanding, overwhelming favourite. A 3-1 advantage SD Worx? So what.
Attempting to pile all the pressure on Italian Longo Borghini who impressively won Dwars door Vlaanderen in midweek with an eye-catching 26km solo attack (spoiler: she won’t be weighed down by it) Danny Stam, SD Worx’s lead sports director, said on the eve of the race that “if Elisa has her day, it will be difficult,” but cautiously added: “There is currently a [forecasted] headwind in the last kilometres, that that is to her disadvantage for a solo move.” Kopecky, too, shared similar sentiments. “She always was [the favourite] for me,” she said of 33-year-old Longo Borghini. “I had already seen some strong things from her in Gent-Wevelgem. She was already at the top for me and I’m not putting myself there.”
Elisa Longo Borghin wins Dwars door Vlaanderen 2025 (Photo: Thomas Maheux/SWpix.com)
For her part, UAE Team ADQ’s Longo Borghini goes into the race as relaxed, calm and measured as ever. “I come with good morale after Dwars and it was a nice way to prepare for Sunday,” she said. “I needed some confirmation of my form and I think on Wednesday I also showed myself that I can ride pretty strong up front so I’m confident. But I also know that Sunday will be another race, a very tough one and very different to Wednesday.”
Longo Borghini has only missed one Tour of Flanders since 2011, and in 13 participations she’s won twice, finished third, and had a further top-five results. Though she wasn’t able to retain her title in 2016 the other time she was defending champion, she’s the peloton’s resident De Ronde expert. “You can only give 100%, ride smart and trust your instinct at some point, but there isn’t a schedule written of how to win this race. You need to be the strongest, luckiest, smartest,” she said. “Flanders is a race where you cannot dare to spend too much energy at the beginning – you need your team around you, you need to be very attentive at all times. It’s a long race for us women [169km] so durability is something you need to have.”
She possesses all those prerequisites, but she’s not riding for a team as stacked with options like SD Worx. They might be pleading the weaker party, but the Dutch team can never, ever be discounted. And don’t they know it. “We have several cards to play,” Kopecky admitted, “and that is very nice for me. There’ll be times in our team when I am trapped, but it also gives me the freedom to race a lot or to spar, because if Lorena is behind no one wants her to return. It’s more up to the opposition than me to get rid of her, and that can definitely become a factor that all teams have to take into account. That’s the strength of this team.”
Wiebes has been in scintillating form this season, taking her 100th career win at Gent-Wevelgem (Photo: Thomas Maheux/SWpix.com)
Kopecky only started her season at MIlan-Sanremo — due to later commitments this spring with the Flemish Ardennes — and freely acknowledges that after just three race days she does “feel the difference with last year”. She added: “In the past I often felt really good when I had raced a lot in the spring.” Nevertheless, the 29-year-old is backing herself – like she always does. “The fact that I’ve already won the Tour of Flanders twice makes me feel relaxed about it,” she said. “I just want to win in the rainbow jersey; I’d like to hang that photo at home.”
Another devastating, daring Longo Borghini detonation will put paid to that though. “That would be the fairytale but I’m not sure my opponents would really agree to that,” the Italian quipped. “I know I’ll have to fight hard because the field is going to be very strong. Different teams can really play the game and they won’t let me go alone.” That said, it’s what she tends to do, and what she does best. “When things get spiced up and there’s a lot of chaos around me, I really like it. This style of aggressive riding is something I love and it’s part of me.” Let the battle commence.
Cover image: Tornanti
