We all know what happened at Opening Weekend. There was upset in the women’s peloton – plenty of it. It was the first race of the season 2025 which promised so much – there were new riders in new teams, a new dynamic in the peloton, big changes which was expected to lead to more aggressive and fiery racing than ever before. The reality, however, was a stalemate. Little-known rider Lotte Claes of Arkéa-B&B Hotels Women took a surprise breakaway victory at Omloop het Nieuwsblad after the peloton gave the early move an unprecedented 14-minute advantage midway through the race. Behind Claes, the likes of FDJ-Suez and SD Worx-Protime simply looked at each other. We’re not doing it, each team looked to be saying. The result? They both lost.
The question that remains after the antics at Omloop is whether we will see a repeat of this defensive racing as the season rolls on. Will FDJ-Suez have realised that with Demi Vollering in their ranks, the responsibility lies with them to chase? Will SD Worx-Protime back down, and take some of the workload themselves? Can other, smaller teams come to the fore and take advantage of this situation?
On the eve of Strade Bianche, the next Women’s WorldTour event on the calendar, the dust has still not quite settled on the whole ordeal. Mischa Bredewold of SD Worx-Protime – both a proven winner herself and a key domestique for the likes of Lotte Kopecky and Lorena Wiebes, says that her team have no regrets with the way they raced in Belgium.
Mischa Bredewold ahead of Strade Bianche
“We had all the information at Omloop, everyone did. We all knew the gap was 15-minutes and we knew the moment on the Muur we wouldn’t win anymore. It was a funny, strange race, there were some power dynamics between the teams but there’s no way it will happen tomorrow because Strade is so much harder. There’s no way to wait like this, you can’t give away the control,” the Dutch rider told Rouleur at the team presentation in Siena.
“We stand by our decision because it wasn’t up to us to start chasing, if the others started we would have put someone in for sure. In the end FDJ-Suez was there with the strongest team. It is also funny because on the Muur, the reason why we didn’t start chasing happened: me and Lorena got dropped by Demi. It was clear in our opinion. In the end we all lost but if you have the strongest team, you have to take initiative. It’s the same destiny that we had often over the past few years.”
Bredewold was adamant, however, that the same situation won’t occur on the white roads of Tuscany this weekend. The technical demands of the course and number of elevation metres means that the race will be attritional and selective. She also argued that at this eatly point in the season and with all the change that has happened in the women’s peloton over winter, everyone is still sussing out who will take the bait when it comes to animating the race.
“It happened at Omloop because it was the first race – the dynamics are different, it’s a power play. Everything started on zero, no one wanted to take initiative because then you have to do it all spring. Still nobody did so it’s still at zero a little bit now. I think the message is clear, if we don’t have Lotte [Kopecky] or Anna [Van der Breggen] on those climbs, it’s not up to us to start chasing,” she stated.
Conversely, Juliette Labous of FDJ-Suez shared a reflective view on her team’s choices at Omloop. With Vollering in their ranks as the stand-out favourite, the French rider admitted that FDJ, perhaps, should have sent someone to chase the breakaway down earlier on the roads of Belgium.
“At Nieuwsblad people are saying we had the responsibility. Yes and no. It’s a debate but it was a good lesson that won’t happen again. It won’t always be up to us like if it comes to a sprint then there are other teams like SD Worx or Picnic who need to ride. Other GC races as well there will be other teams. Maybe we should have started the chase first and other teams would have joined us, maybe that’s the thing to learn,” Labous said pragmatically.
“Demi was happy with her shape and what we did in the final with our lead out. She could see I was good in the last camps too, we’re confident and motivated now for Strade.”
Both Labous and Bredewold pointed out that there are a number of teams with strong riders this season, and it won't always be just between FDJ and SD Worx when it comes to taking victory. The likes of Lidl-Trek have options for Strade with Niamh Fisher-Black, Anna Henderson and Amanda Spratt, so there will also be eyes on them to ensure that the race is explosive on Saturday too.
Lauretta Hanson ahead of Strade Bianche
“We’ve got quite a strong team with depth across the board, there are riders who can really go deep into the final and we also have some great workers to support them,” Lauretta Hanson of Lidl-Trek told Rouleur ahead of the race. “We have an opportunistic team as well so we’re looking forward to Strade. Great weather, conditions and new sectors which change the dynamic of the race a bit."
“Opening Weekend is always an interesting one,” Hanson added. “From our point of view, the break went and the favourites were looking at each other and no one wanted to take responsibility, they wanted to gamble and no other team wanted to take it up. Good on the break, they earned it and took the opportunity. It’s given more motivation because we’ve seen some teams be really dominant in the past and it can make the race one-sided. This might give some riders hope and fire to try something. We’ll see how tomorrow goes and how everyone is feeling after Omloop. From our point of view the responsibility was on SD Worx and FDJ.”
With a testing day in Italy awaiting them, there was a renewed sense of motivation buzzing through the women’s peloton in Siena. Lessons have been learned from the first race in Belgium and the Strade Bianche course is expected to be extremely selective.
“It’s nice in a race like this where hundreds of scenarios can happen but we have a team that can handle a hundred different scenarios,” a confident Bredewold said of her SD Worx squad. “It’s a good feeling, we can wait, we can attack, we can be in breakaways, whatever. The conditions are easy tomorrow so the race will be decided by the riders, so we will see.”
Hanson was in agreement with her colleague – the situation at Omloop het Nieuwsblad was strange and unexpected, but Strade is a completely different ball game: “The course here is attritional and has different demands,” the Australian rider stated. “People will learn from last weekend and I don’t think we will see that situation again.”
