UCI Road World Championships: Lotte Kopecky claims second consecutive elite women's road race title

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Lotte Kopecky (Belgium) has successfully defended her 2023 rainbow jersey in the elite women's road race at the World Championships in Zurich.

Silver in a ferocious six-rider final bunch that decided the 154-kilometre race was Chloé Dygert (USA), with Italy's Elisa Longo Borghini clinching the bronze. Puck Pieterse (Netherlands) claimed the under-23 women's world title, finishing 13th from a chasing group at 3:00.

Raced in atrocious weather conditions, the rain-soaked and demanding Championship was dominated by the Netherlands, with Demi Vollering driving a lead group clear on the final two climbs.

But despite being in trouble earlier on, Kopecky maintained her calm and, having shadowed Vollering in the finale, remained firmly in contention.

Longo Borghini led out the six-strong sprint for gold, only for Kopecky to come through to become the first rider to claim back-to-back elite women's World Championships titles since Marianne Vos in 2012-2013.

"There's a kind of disbelief, but first of all I want to pay my condolences to the family of Muriel," Kopecky said afterwards, referring to Muriel Furrer, the Swiss junior who died as a result of her injuries incurred in Thursday's road race - and to whom she dedicated her win.

"I think the minute of silence at the start, seeing the Swiss riders crying, is something you just don't want to see. I think it's a very hard moment for them as well."

As for the race itself, the defending champion said "It's for sure a win [I took] with my head.

"It was a really annoying day because it was raining and it wasn't warm, but on the climbs it was warm and then in the downhill you got so cold and I was freezing at the end."

"But then I tried to stay as calm as possible, on the steeper climb I didn't have any troubles and then on the longer one in the final time when Demi went I had some difficulties."

"But I just tried to stay at my own pace and come back and in the end it was just a lot of mind games."

"Then it was just trying to stay as cool as possible and use my energy in the right moment. The Australian rider [Ruby Roseman-Gannon] came from the back, Demi reacted immediately and that was perfect for me."

How it unfolded

The tragic loss of Furrer has left - and will leave -  an indelible mark on these World Championships and as Kopecky said, before the race a minute's silence was held to honour the memory of the 18-year-old, with the Swiss team assembled at the front of the peloton underneath the starting gantry. 

Swiss rider Noemi Ruegg surely echoed the thoughts of many when she told Eurosport before the race, "We worked hard for this, we are trying to do our best and we will race with Muriel in our hearts and we will see how it goes."

After the flag dropped, a three-rider attack quickly formed in the incessant rain, containing Caroline Baur (Switzerland), Sara Martin (Spain) and Nina Berton (Luxembourg). Coming through the finish on the first of four 26.8-kilometre laps, the trio held an advantage of 30 seconds over a lead group already reduced to around half of the 198 starters. Baur and Martin both struggled on the toughest ramps of the painfully irregular Bergstrasse that almost immediately followed, though, leaving Berton ploughing a lone pathway ahead, and one which quickly fizzled out.

The race's next significant development came some 100 kilometres from the line thanks to a dangerous nine-strong move, sparked by Riejanne Markus (Netherlands) and Niamh Fisher-Black (New Zealand) with Sara Gigante (Australia), Soraya Paladin (Italy), Urska Zigart (Slovenia), Justine Ghekiere (Belgium), Elena Hartmann (Switzerland), Christine Majerus (Luxembourg) and Mie Bjorndal Ottestad (Norway) all following. Then when Franziska Koch (Germany) and Mischa Bredewold (Netherlands) bridged across, with so many top nations present, the move looked even more promising. But the grim reality was the absence of France, Spain and Poland meant it was hard for the 11 to gain any traction.

Finally, a concerted pursuit by the Netherlands both reabsorbed the break and saw 2021 World Champion Elisa Balsamo squeezed out the back. Another stand-out name, Pauline Ferrand-Prévot (France), was also already struggling. The key lesson from this early skirmishing, either way, was that the Dutch were planning to make the running, be it in creating breakaways or ruthlessly crushing them.

As the rain teemed down relentlessly, the all-powerful Dutch - still with all seven riders present on the front at the halfway point -  continued to use their strength in depth to play the numbers game in support of leader Vollering. Mischa Bredewold was merciless when it came to squeezing down the bunch in the brutal conditions to 50 riders, three-times road rainbow jersey Marianne Vos and Riejanne Markus then took over and next Pauliena Rooijakkers continued to pile on the pain.

It didn't seem to matter when top Dutch names like Vos were showing signs of being in trouble, Vollering herself upped the pace on the second last lap of the race, and her relentless rhythm fleetingly reduced the front group to around a dozen.  Even when Vollering was not closing down attacks in person, her teammates Markus and Pieterse seemed permanently poised to close down any other moves. Nobody, it seemed, could escape the orange team's clutches.

Change of tactics

The Dutch seemingly switched from their clampdown tactics, though, when Markus bolted away with only Tour de France mountains classification winner Justine Ghekiere (Belgium) in her wake. In theory, this would force the remaining contenders to chase. In practice, though, a ferocious and somewhat inexplicable acceleration by Vos, then Bredevold and Pieterse reduced their teammate Markus' and Gheikiere's advantage to 25 seconds. 

Elise Chabbey (Switzerland) then took over on a long, rain-soaked descent, allowing the seemingly indefatigable Vos to bridge across the much-reduced gap alongside Ruby Roseman-Gannon (Australia). Vos and Markus did take turns from thereon as they powered towards the finish line for a second last time, once again putting their rivals' ability to respond under severe scrutiny, as Vollering watched and waited. But would a gap of four riders of nearly a minute as the lap-to-go bell rang out prove to be enough?

The answer came quickly enough as Markus continued to drive for Vos on the steeper segments of the Bergstrasse, while Vollering controlled the chasers all the way through to the fast drop down to the second main climb of the Wetzikon. Finally, a powerful acceleration by Liane Lippert (Germany) singlehandedly reduced the gap to a bridgable 35 seconds and five riders moved ahead: Kopecky, Chloé Dygert (USA), Kopecky, Longo Borghini, Vollering and Lippert herself.

Having flown under the radar for so long, Longo Borghini then made a ferociously long acceleration, only for Vollering to reply. Kopecky, though could not answer and was left trailing to the point where it seemed like her options on a second World Championships title were completely lost.

As Kopecky found a second wind, Vollering opened up the throttle in earnest, but her determination was quickly matched by Longo Borghini, with Roseman-Gannon emphatically shaking her head as she was invited to come through.  Meanwhile, a colossal effort by Chloé Dygert allowed her to regain contact at 14 kilometres to go as the small lead group ploughed through a flooded segment of road. Then in a race with multiple plot changes, a revived Kopecky also recovered enough to regain contact alongside Vos and Markus, making the Dutch the majority once again in a nine-rider group, but with their key rival present, too.

On the second last climb of the day, a vicious little kicker 10 kilometres, anybody without a sprint in their legs simply had to make a move and Vollering ripped away at the highest speed possible. However, her move simply eliminated her teammates and Ghekiere and reduced the front group to six, while Kopecky's turn of speed on the descent ensured that it stayed that way. 

A final drag before the three-kilometre flat run-in alongside Lake Zurich briefly pushed Roseman-Gannon and Dygert out of the running and Longo Borghini did her utmost with a sustained late attack to ensure she kept the group at four. However, Vollering's driving response tilted the battle back in favour of the chasers again, and then the last-minute arrival of Dygert and Roseman-Gannon, almost in the final kilometre, made it six riders in search of three medals. 

Perhaps knowing she was the weakest in a sprint, Roseman-Gannon began the charge for the line, only for Vollering to storm past. After her uneven race, though, a veteran track expert like Kopecky was now in her element on the flat finale, and she blasted through the centre of the tiny pack of riders to reclaim her rainbow jersey once again.

While Kopecky made it clear that she had raced as much with her head as her legs on a difficult and uneven day, the USA also had considerable reason to celebrate, claiming their first silver medal in the event since Inga Thompson in 1991. After all their efforts, the Dutch, on the other hand, suffered a notable defeat with Vollering in fifth, even if gold for Puck Pieterse in the U23 category in the same event subsequently provided a significant consolation prize.

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