Kopecky: "The cobble will get a special place"

April 6 ^th 2024 - 19:09

Lotte Kopecky (SD Worx-Protime): "Of course, I was nervous, but also quite relaxed, feeling how much confidence the team had in me. The feeling was not so good after last Sunday but I’m lucky to have really good friends and a really good team behind me. We wanted to stay out of trouble in the first 60 kilometres, then be in front in the first two sectors and then we knew there would be crosswinds. I attacked a first time and from that moment on, I wanted to go, but being with Marianne [Vos] was not ideal. Whenever I was with Marianne, I was playing Lorena’s ward in the sprint. I wanted to win myself but I was also 110% committed if a race situation came that we’d sprint for Lorena [Wiebes]. On the track, I knew that Marianne and Elisa [Balsamo] would fight against each other. They had to start the sprint pretty early, with headwind, so I just tried to stay calm. It was a pretty long sprint but that’s also in my advantage. The cobble will get a special place. I still believe the world championship last year is the biggest win I achieved, but winning Paris-Roubaix in this special jersey comes pretty close."