In the blink of an eye, she’s done it. By winning Gent-Wevelgem on Sunday, Lorena Wiebes (Team SD Worx-Protime) reached the 100 landmark, becoming only the seventh woman in history to reach a century of career victories.
Beginning the year on 93, we knew it was likely a matter of when, rather than if, she would reach the 100 total this season, but to have done so before even the start of April is truly astonishing. She’s been even more prolific than usual this spring, picking up three wins during her first appearance of the season at the UAE Tour, before going on to triumph in four classics, with Le Samyn, Classic Brugge-De Panne and of course Milan-Sanremo all preceding today’s triumph at Gent-Wevelgem. That is seven wins in just ten days of racing — not even Tadej Pogačar can boast that kind of ratio.
What’s really extraordinary about Wiebes’ achievement is not just the fact she’s reached 100, but how quickly she’s done so. Jeannie Longo, Ina-Yoko Teutenerg, Judith Arndt and Kirsten Wild were all well into their thirties by the time they managed it, while Annemiek van Vleuten had to wait until she was 40. Wiebes, by contrast, is just 26. Only the G.O.A.T Marianne Vos won her 100th younger, all the way back in 2011 when she was still just 24-years-old.
Wiebes registered her hundredth at Gent-Wevelgem in typical fashion, winning a large bunch sprint. In fact it was an abnormally large group finish of about 80 riders, at a race which, though usually decided by a sprint, has usually been reduced to about 30 or so in recent editions. Yet it’s not as though the size of the group made much of a difference to Wiebes’ chances. She’s the quickest sprinter in the world, and could afford to ease up and let the lead group she was in swell with others joining from behind, still confident in the knowledge that she had the beating of everyone in the final dash to the line.
Team SD Worx-Protime teammates at Gent-Wevelgem 2025 ( Photo by David Pintens / Getty Images)
In this sense, Wiebes is the successor to her compatriot Kirsten Wild, whose record of two career Gent Wevelgem titles she matches by winning today. Wild too was universally recognised as the quickest sprinter of her generation, the rider nobody wanted to have to sprint against in the finale of the race. Yet comparing Wiebes to Wild also helps illustrate just how special the former is. Wild was prolific, yet nowhere near to the extent that Wiebe is; as mentioned earlier, she was 35-years-old when she claimed her 100th, a whole nine years older than Wiebes is. And whereas Wild was a pure sprinter, often dropped out of contention in the classics when the gradients got too tough, there are many strings to Wiebes’ bow.
This is what really makes Wiebes unique. On one hand she’s the quickest pure sprinter in the world, while at the same time not even being a pure sprinter at all. For she can do so much more than just sprint very fast. Take her win at Milan-Sanremo last weekend — though it was her lethal finishing sprint that sealed the victory, to be in contention at all following the climbs of the Cipressa and the Poggio required her to be one of just twelve riders to remain in the front group.
As she matures and develops as a rider, Wiebes is becoming even more well-rounded, without losing any of her finishing speed. This was greatly illustrated today. Although given the number one jersey as SD Worx-Protime’s leader, she did not have outright leadership status, and Lotte Kopecky had the freedom to attack, as she did on the all important final ascent of the Kemmelberg. It was a typically powerful move from the Belgian, with only three riders able to stay on her wheel by the top: Elisa Longo Borghini (UAE Team ADQ), Elise Chabbey (FDJ Suez) and…none other than Wiebes herself.
With Wiebes able to match her on the climb, Kopecky was happy to play a support role for the rest of the race. She did much of the pace-setting, marked many of the attacks from rivals that were attempted during the final 30km, and at one point even dropping back to pick up a bidon — something it’s rare to see a rider wearing the rainbow jersey do. Then, come the final sprint, Kopecky provided the perfect lead out for Wiebes, leading for most of the final kilometre and ensuring that her teammate was able to unleash her sprint already ahead of the opposition. From the moment she sprang out from behind Kopecky’s wheel, victory for Wiebes never seemed in doubt.
Their riders today showed how there has been a shift in roles for both Wiebes and Kopecky this year. With Demi Vollering having left for FDJ Suez, and in light of her runner-up finishes at both the Giro d’Italia last year and the Tour de France the year before, Kopecky is now focussing more on stage races as the team’s GC leader, turning her attention away from some of the classics. In her place, Wiebes has stepped up for a more prominent role in the Classics, leading Omloop Het Nieuwsblad in the Belgian’s absence, and taking on leadership duties in Classics they both appear at, with Kopecky leading her out first at Milan-Sanremo and now Gent-Wevelgem. It’s a role the Dutchwoman is clearly flourishing in, and her hundredth win comes at a time when she looks even better than at any point previously in her illustrious career.
Which begs the question: what will Wiebes role be for the next major Classic, the Tour of Flanders, this time next weekend? During her post-victory interview at Gent-Wevelgem she was unequivocal, stating that Kopecky will be the team’s leader for that race. And this is after all a special race for Kopecky, what with her being a Belgian. Yet if Wiebes keeps riding as well as she has, and remains in contention over the bergs, the race may dictate that she ends up being SD Worx-Protime’s best chance for victory regardless. In the form she’s in right now, it won’t be long until Wiebes’ 101st victory — and who knows, maybe it will come at the Ronde?
