Just two days after her triumphant victory at Tour of Flanders in Belgium, Lotte Koepcky was back in the saddle previewing the unruly pavé sectors ahead of Paris-Roubaix, France, on Saturday.
The World Champion is no stranger to these rougher cobbles over the border, having competed in all four previous editions, and she won the Monument last year, but this marks a special season where she has the chance to win the Flanders and Roubaix within the same season.
"We pushed hard on the cobblestones, but because the Tour of Flanders is still fresh in our legs, we took it easy on the intermediate sections,” SD Worx-Protime manager told HLN.
This edition will take place on the same 148.5-kilometre Paris-Roubaix Femmes route that was used last year, which includes 29.2km of cobbles and the same final 17 sectors of the men’s race, excluding the Trouée d'Arenberg. Five-star sectors at Mons-en-Pévèle with 49km to go and the Carrefour de l'Arbre with 17km to go remain the biggest challenges for the women along the route from Denain to the Roubaix Velodrome.
Kopecky is one of the key favourites for this edition of Paris-Roubaix, and she was joined by her teammates Lorena Wiebes, Elena Cecchini, Blanka Vas and Barbara Guarischi, where they previewed the Mons-en-Pévèle, Camphin-en-Pévèle and Carrefour de l'Arbre before returning to the velodrome in Roubaix.
While rain might be in the forecast for the men's race on Sunday, Stam said he expects a dry edition of the women's race on Saturday, although he anticipates wind to cause splits among the field.
“The fifth edition will be completely different from the previous years, but that doesn’t make it any less dangerous. There is a lot of dust in the bends of the cobblestone sections, and the edge between the cobblestones and the grass is often easy to ride on, which means there is a big chance of falls if someone wants to jump off the edge back onto the cobblestones," Stam said.
“According to the weather forecast, the wind will turn a bit during the weekend and on Saturday, it will blow more in the side or even slightly in the advantage, which also means there is a chance of echelons.”
Kopecky has had a truncated block of spring racing compared to previous seasons, only just starting at Milan-San Remo and aiming to select a few target one-day races before turning her attention to the Tour de France later this summer.
After her dominant display at the Tour of Flanders last weekend, we can anticipate that this is Kopecky's chosen week for peak performance as she aims to win both races in one season.
Following the Paris-Roubaix recon on Tuesday, Kopecky returned home and will rejoin her teammates ahead of the race on Saturday.
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