'She is insane' – Lorena Wiebes ticks off 100th victory with Gent-Wevelgem win

Seven years ago, in May 2018, a 19-year-old Lorena Wiebes recorded her first professional victory, sprinting to the win in the 7-Dorpenomloop Aalburg, a talented junior showing she could do it in the elites, too.

Fast forward to this Sunday, and Wiebes has just taken win number 100, defending her Gent-Wevelgem title and sitting comfortably as the best sprinter in the peloton – perhaps ever – with sprint accolades like a Champs-Elysée Tour de France Femmes stage victory and a Milan-San Remo win to her name.

"She is insane," was the succinct way that Mischa Bredewold, now a long-term teammate of Wiebes, summed up the Dutchwoman's prowess to Cyclingnews.

"It's crazy. It's also really nice because you know if you give your 100% – you never know for sure that you're going to win because anything can happen, and also she has been beaten before, so it's not guaranteed that she wins – but she is incredible, an incredible sprinter, so it's nice to give 100% and often it's rewarded with a win."

On win number 100, Wiebes admitted post-race that it was not at the forefront of her thoughts as she battled for a repeat win in Gent-Wevelgem.

"In my mind, I was not really busy with this, it was more that the people around me were busy with this," Wiebes said after much was made of win number 99 in Brugge-De Panne.

"If I start a race, we want to win, also as a team, so I was thinking 'if it's not happening today, it will happen another moment in the season' but it's special at the end to win it. I also really know my first victory, in Aalburg, so it's something that came fast actually. I didn't expect now already to have 100 victories."

From the outside, viewers and indeed Wiebes' rivals have come to almost take her wins as a given, if she comes to the line in the bunch, but the 26-year-old is not arrogant enough to take that view.

Sunday was a perfect example of how, even for Wiebes, winning is a hard-fought thing, with a larger-than-expected group coming to the finish in Wevelgem, making for a tricky sprint where even SD Worx-Protime's train derailed.

"I totally [never think] that I have it already because every sprint is so different and if you're boxed in, you can lose it so easily," Wiebes said. "Also with a big peloton like today, you are never sure. I was a bit afraid also that they would come from the back in the last 300 metres, so that's why I started a little bit early, but it was enough.

Every win is an achievement, but there are some huge standouts in Lorena Wiebes' palmarès, and many that wouldn't have even been possible back on that first victorious day in Aalburg, such has been the growth of the sport since then.

"I need to say San Remo was really special last week, but also on the Champs-Elysées, the first Tour de France, having the yellow jersey for one day afterwards, that was also really special. I think these two are almost on the same level," Wiebes said of her most special wins.

"I think also the Dutch championships in 2019, with Parkhotel, because we were such a small team, and that we won from big riders. In the end, I was not able to wear the Dutch jersey for a full season because of the Covid year, but it was special to have it on."

Wiebes' biggest asset is of course her outstanding turn of speed, but her team also praised her abilities as a leader, and the harmony that the SD Worx-Protime sprint squad have built over the years.

"It's easy because she really knows what she wants," Bredewold said. "She's very good in clear communication, you know what she expects, and I think also as a team we don't need so many words now. We know each other pretty well, it goes pretty smoothly."

Even on a day like Sunday, where the lead-out didn't go perfectly smoothly – Bredewold felt she didn't quite give enough in the early stages, and Kopecky dropped Wiebes off early – Wiebes almost always has the speed to right any possible wrongs.

Win 101?

Cycling moves fast, and eyes may already be on where and when Wiebes can take her 101st win. She's set to skip Dwars door Vlaanderen on Wednesday, making the Tour of Flanders her next race.

Despite a good showing in 2024, where she started as co-leader, the Dutchwoman isn't thinking too seriously about a win in Oudenaarde.

"I hope I made a step again in Flanders, that I can survive longer compared to last year, and that I can also play my part in the team, but I'm happy to help Lotte in Flanders," she said.

"I remember one year Coryn Rivera won it," she said of the possibility of a sprinter winning the race. "So there is always a really, really small chance, but I don't focus on it so much."

Instead, Wiebes is looking a week further to the cobbles of the Hell of the North.

"For me, the focus will be more on Roubaix," she said. "With Flanders, I hope I made the chance so I can back up the team a bit, but not go for my own chances."

Even if it's not Flanders, Wiebes' success rate is such that win 101 is surely not far off, and then it will be onto the next milestone for the peloton's unstoppable sprinter.

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