"We Can Do It.” Just an hour before the Tour of Flanders began, Anna van der Breggen uploaded a photo to Instagram which depicted her emulating a cartoon woman flexing her biceps alongside those aforementioned four simple words. It was a placard bought for €4 that has hung up inside the SD Worx for some time, staying in place partly for its humour as well as its meaning.
Those four little words are also four prophetic words. In the late afternoon, Van der Breggen’s teammate Lotte Kopecky would go on to also copy the bus’s sign, the world champion tensing her right arm as she crossed the line to win a record-breaking third Ronde van Vlaanderen, ensuring a victory photo that she can hang up in her house – just as she had spoken about in the days before. “That wasn’t a spur of the moment idea – I had thought about it,” the winner said of her celebration. “It’s because I have very strong biceps!”
She has very strong legs, too. When Elisa Longo Borghini, the joint-favourite alongside Kopecky ahead of the race, abandoned following a crash, it was going to take a monumental effort to deny SD Worx and Kopecky. Conservative riding by their rivals only played into their hands more, and when Kopecky found herself up ahead with three other riders towards the end of the race and after all the climbs, a third title in her home race was as good as a foregone conclusion.
After starting her road season later than usual in an attempt to peak for not only Flanders and next week’s Paris-Roubaix but the Ardennes Classics – races she’s still to win but is certainly capable of succeeding in – Kopecky had yet to win in her first three races of the 2025 season. For a rider as decorated as her, dressed head to toe in white as the world champion, that was noteworthy. And she admitted that after losing Dwars doors Vlaanderen earlier in the week, “I had doubts.” She added: “That wasn’t a nice feeling and that plays in your head." All change now, though. “I am super happy that I was able to win today in the white jersey and white shorts. That means more to me than that third time [winning Flanders],” she said.
Queen of the Classics, ruler of the cobbles, after disappointment at Gent-Wevelgem and Dwars door Vlaanderen, Kopecky is once again dominant on her home turf. “At first I didn’t have the best feeling, but I stayed calm. I felt myself getting better after two hours, certainly better than Wednesday,” she reflected. "What was the crucial moment? Mentally that was the Kruisberg [with 29km to go] where I felt that the group was thinning out more and more. And when we were with four after the Kwaremont I had to survive the Paterberg and then ride to the finish. Then I knew I had a good chance and once we were four, I was really confident about winning.”
As she should have been. She brought Pauline Ferrand-Prévot, Liane Lippert – one of a few to really go on the offensive – and Kasia Niewiadoma to the line, each of them with bulging palmarès, but none of them capable of besting Kopecky in a sprint. “I knew that Niewiadoma was the slowest, so when she tried I didn’t have to hesitate,” Kopecky said. “I had to immediately sit on Niewiadoma's wheel and not hesitate. I stayed tight against the barriers and couldn't let the speed drop too low. And then I had to accelerate before they started their sprint."
She’s got the photo she craved for, and now goes into Roubaix as defending champion and the overwhelming favourite. "Last year I also had a bad feeling in De Ronde and I won Paris-Roubaix the week after," she said, a warning to her competition. "I hope that there are more great races to come." Lotte Kopecky Can Do It. Just like that €4 sign says.
