Add gravel as another discipline that Lotte Kopecky can handle, even when she's not in top form. The Belgian rose to the occasion in front of a home crowd at the UCI Gravel World Championships and came within one second of back-to-back world titles in a single week.
The elite women's race for the rainbow stripes came down to an explosive final 175 metres after 133km of punchy climbs and pothole-filled paths, with Marianne Vos (Netherlands) holding off Kopecky for the victory.
This finish was a bit of a flashback to the Paris Olympic Games road race, where Vos outkicked Kopecky for the silver medal, the gold already around the neck of US rider Kristen Faulkner. And this time in the centre of Leuven, it was on an unfamiliar surface which produced a similar outcome.
"I had fun, that's why I came here. So, yeah, it met those expectations," Kopecky told Cyclingnews in the mixed zone after receiving her silver medal.
Kopecky came into the gravel championships straight off her second road race world title a week ago. As one of the world's fastest riders on the track, she already has six gold medals in world championships. This attempt at another world title was very different, her first start ever in a gravel race, so her expectations were moderate.
"It's no shame to come second after Marianne. It was my first gravel race, something completely different," Kopecky told Sporza at the finish. "I should have approached the sprint differently."
On a rare flat section of the course on the approach to the closing circuit through Leuven, with under 50km to go, Lopecky and Vos accelerated away from what had been a quartet with Lorena Wiebes (Netherlands) and Soraya Paladin (Italy). The duo would next collaborate in a Dutch-Belgian armistice to distance any chasers and then settle the score on the second pass into Leuven for two medals, but just one championship jersey.
Kopecky and Vos stretched out their lead through more undulating small paths, this time through the Meerdaalwoud forest. Live coverage showed Kopecky putting pressure on Vos as they came out of the woods, and then stretching her back where open fields gave the riders a bit of a break.
The two motored along in and out of wooded sections that begged for attentiveness with the constant fluctuation of shadows and bright sunshine, making the uneven surfaces tricky. Kopecky was seen stretching again.
"Yeah, my legs are fine, but my lower back was exploding. I think it was getting all the hits from the holes, something that I'm not really used to. So I hope it's not too bad. I just tried to get the back as relaxed as possible towards the finish," she explained in the mixed zone.
The gap moved from three minutes to four minutes as the duo hit the final 5km of the race. Two kilometres later the treaty for cooperation expired and Vos attacked on the steep cobbled climb of the Ramberg headed to the city centre. But Vos came back on the pavement and the duo settled the score on the wide boulevard of the Bondgenotenlaan.
"Then in the end, Marianna started the sprint. I made some mistake, I think I waited too long," Kopecky said. "But yeah, Marianna was just faster."
Kopecky said she liked the course, with the constant undulations, turns and choppy surfaces, and a lack of long, sustained climbs was a plus for a Classics-style setup. However, she noted that the level of difficulty came with positioning in the race, which was a much different perspective than her solo reconnaissance.
"When I did the recon this week, it felt really hard. So it was actually less hard than I expected [Saturday], maybe because I did it alone. With a bit bigger group, it's mainly positioning," she told Cyclingnews about the deceptive difficulty on a narrow setup.
"If you're not in position on the right sectors, then you actually lose your race. So there are a few crucial points on this course that where you're in front, it can really make a big difference."
A victory would have given Kopecky a second world title in a week, but she was happy to have such a high performance in her first gravel outing.
"I think with Marianna, we have a very worthy champion."
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