Lotte Kopecky makes history by becoming the first female cyclist to win Tour of Flanders for a third time

While Van der Poel was denied a record-breaking fourth win in the men’s race, Team SDWorx’s Lotte Kopecky has successfully stamped her place in the history books, beating Team Visma-Lease a Bike’s Pauline Ferrand-Prévot and Movistar’s Liane Lippert to become the only female cyclist to win the Tour of Flanders three times.

With less than 20km to go, an attack from 33-year-old Ferrand-Prévot, who retired from mountain biking after winning the gold medal at the Paris Olympics last year, was key to separating the three riders, along with Canyon-SRAM zondacrypto’s Kasia Niewiadoma, from the rest of the peloton on the Oude Kwaremont.

The quartet of elite riders worked their way to gradually build a comfortable gap over the 13 per cent gradient cobbled climb of Paterberg, which was only extended by the time they approached the finish line at Oudenaarde.

As they edged to the one kilometre point before the finish line, a game of cat-and-mouse ensued between the four riders, and it was the 2024 Tour de France winner Niewiadoma who blinked first.

HISTORIC HAT-TRICK!

🇧🇪 Lotte Kopecky wins the Tour of Flanders for a third time! 🌈 pic.twitter.com/3Gljn5ZOCK

— Cycling on TNT Sports (@cyclingontnt) April 6, 2025

However, her move was swiftly reeled in by double world champion Kopecky, who then took the lead position to control the pace up to the finish line. With only 200 metres to go, she was out of her saddle and sprinting, and there was no looking back for the home hero, who took her record-breaking third Ronde van Vlaanderen title — her first while wearing the rainbow jersey.

Following her victory, Kopecky, who last won at Flanders two years ago, said: “It was a crazy race with lots of crashes in the beginning. It was pretty nervous, and I didn't have the best legs in the beginning, but I tried to stay calm.

“After a few climbs, my legs felt better and better, then I knew that in the end, I have a pretty good chance. Once we were with the four of us, I was pretty confident, actually.

“After an hour or two, I felt good, so from that moment on, I knew that it was much better than Wednesday, so I just had to be confident. Once we got further into the race, Mischa [Bredewold] was out before the Oude Kruisberg, that was a really good move for us, so I think, again, with our team SD Worx-Protime, we did a really nice race.”

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While former world champion Ferrand-Prévot, racing in Flanders in the yellow and black of Visma for the first time missed out on the victory, the heartbreak was perhaps even more tragic for defending champion Elisa Longo Borghini, who coming off the back of victory at Dwars door Vlaanderen earlier this week, missed out on her chance of making history as the first female cyclist to win Tour of Flanders three times after a crash forced her to quit.

With 109km to go, the UAE Team ADQ rider hit the deck hard and was lying on her right side for some time, with teammates and others rushing to help her. Although she did get back on her bike, she ended up abandoning the race after chasing the peloton for 14km.

 

 

 

 

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Kopecky’s win, alongside Tadej Pogačar’s earlier in the day, means that both men’s and women’s world champions have won the Tour of Flanders this year.

Her victory also sees her move past Mirjam Melchers-van Poppel, Judith Arndt, Annemiek van Vleuten, and Elisa Longo Borghini as the only female rider to take victory on the coveted Flemish cobbles for a third time.

And finally, Kopecky joins one-day race royalty, tying with the likes of Mathieu Van der Poel and Fabian Cancellara, as well as becoming the fifth Belgian rider, alongside Achiel Buysse, Eric Leman, Johan Museeuw, and Tom Boonen, to have won Flanders a record three times.

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