Lotte Kopecky (SD Worx-Protime) will start her 2026 road campaign at Omloop Het Nieuwsblad and Strade Bianche, confirming a renewed focus on the Spring Classics after a disrupted 2025 season.
"I start in the Omloop Nieuwsblad and will ride the Strade Bianche afterwards," Kopecky said after competing at the Belgian Track Championships in Heusden-Zolder on January 24–25 in comments made to Sporza.
The 30-year-old broke the Belgian record in the Individual Pursuit and reunited with Shari Bossuyt to win the Madison title, their first shared victory since Bossuyt's return from a two-year suspension.
Kopecky described her preparation as transformed from the previous year. "I had a super good winter. I could do everything I wanted to do," she said.
"Last year at this point, I was lying on the couch," she added. "So I'm very happy with how I feel right now."
In 2025, despite winning a third Tour of Flanders, Kopecky characterised the season as frustrating. A lingering knee injury in late 2024 forced her to spend much of the winter recovering rather than training, while a vertebral fracture in September 2025 prematurely ended her season. For 2026, she has shifted her focus back toward the Spring Classics.
"I want to be my old self again," she said in an early Sporza interview in December.
Kopecky has noted that her heart "lies with the spring, the classics like the Tour of Flanders," and that the 2026 Tour de France Femmes parcours may not suit her as well as the one-day races.
A fourth Tour of Flanders victory is a primary target. Kopecky is also a two-time Strade Bianche winner, having taken the Italian gravel classic in 2022 and 2024.
The Individual Pursuit time is one indicator of her current condition. Coaches often use the discipline as a proxy for sustained power output, and breaking the national record in January indicates she is ahead of where she was at the same point in 2025.
Kopecky has credited her relationship with Axel Merckx, the former professional rider and son of Eddy Merckx, with providing stability during her preparation. "He knows what our life entails," she said.
Cover image credit: Zac Williams/SWpix.com
