Speaking to the media before the start of the second edition of the women’s Milan-Sanremo, Team SD Worx-Protime’s Lotte Kopecky appeared brimming with confidence. Just three days earlier, she claimed her first 2026 victory at Nokere Koerse – a valuable boost ahead of the demands of the Cipressa and Poggio.
Amidst the familiar angst that surrounds Milan-Sanremo, to see the former world-champion smiling ahead of the race added an element of certainty. In essence, it was her team’s race to lose: the absence of Marianne Vos (Team Visma-Lease a Bike) and Elisa Longo Borghini (UAE Team ADQ) removed two of the race’s most tactically disruptive presences, and opened the door to a two-pronged attack built around Kopecky and 2025 winner and this year’s favourite, Lorena Wiebes.
“With so much less pressure, it makes it so much easier. The fact that Longo Borghini is out sick changes this race. I think everybody was expecting UAE to make it a really hard race,” said the 30-year-old Kopecky.
As Kopecky held off EF Education–Oatly’s Noemi Rüegg to take a sprint victory from a five-rider group that went clear on the Poggio nine kilometres before the finish, her emphatic celebration on Via Roma – fists clenched in the air – confirmed it: the Belgian is back.
Kopecky won the deciding sprint as Rügg crossed second, Eleonora Gasparrini (UAE Team ADQ ) third, and Puck Pieterse (Fenix-Premier Tech) fourth. Behind, Dominika Włodarczyk (UAE Team ADQ) took fifth, four seconds ahead of the chasing Wiebes group. The defending champion finished sixth. (Image: Getty)
But actually, to speak of yesterday as a ‘return’ seems a little unfair, given her already glittering palmarès. Two world titles, three Tour of Flanders victories, two Strade Bianche wins, and a Paris-Roubaix triumph sit among her 55 professional victories. But after a disrupted 2025, followed by a heartbreaking mechanical at Omloop and a wrong-turn at Strade Bianche this year, it does feel like a more complete version of her racing.
She said: “I had the full support today from the team. I think for me, the whole race fell into place. I knew I had to be patient. I started my sprint at the perfect moment. I was very attentive to a late attack from behind. I also know that I have fast legs.”
Sanremo was, of course, not the first time Kopecky has shown “fast legs” supremacy in a reduced sprint. Her major victory of 2025 occurred under similar circumstances, where she outpaced Pauline Ferrand-Prévot (Visma–Lease a Bike), Liane Lippert (Movistar), and Kasia Niewiadoma (Canyon–SRAM) to secure a record-breaking hat-trick at Ronde van Vlaanderen.
So, as the 2026 edition of that race now looms, what might yesterday’s victory mean – and for Roubaix after that? There is little doubt about Kopecky’s form, and her composure and positioning when Puck Pieterse began her attack 900m from the crest of the iconic final climb can only foreshadow success in the familiar disarray of those occasions.
However, without the notable absences that fractured her main competition, or the catastrophic crash that wiped out Niewiadoma, might we have seen a different outcome? If Niewiadoma, who attacked to catch Lieke Nooijen (Visma-Lease a Bike) with 1.7km to go at the top of the Cipressa, hadn't overshot that tight bend, perhaps we might’ve seen an even more active Poggio, which could have forced a reaction from Kopecky earlier.
Demi Vollering also forfeighted today's race in order to prioritise shaping up for Flanders, where she was absent last year. Kopecky's performance in Italy yesterday will surely only serve to amplify that endless duel.
Perhaps there is no point in speculating. Such occurrences are the nature of the sport, as Kim Le Court (AG Insurance–Soudal), who was also caught in that seemingly decisive fall, stated at the finish line: “It is what it is. It’s racing. Cipressa had good attacks, but it was quite easy to follow. I was waiting my turn on the Poggio.”
We’ll have to wait and see what the Koppenberg has in store.
