‘Tricky team atmosphere now’ – Laura Kenny and rest of Breakaway react to tense Strade Bianche finish

The Italian road race was won by Demi Vollering in a sprint finish ahead of team-mate Lotte Kopecky, who won the race in 2022.

There was a moment of tension on the final climb when Vollering was blocked off by American rider Kristen Faulkner, who had been leading for the majority of the race before being caught.

After that it looked as if Kopecky accelerated away briefly before Vollering caught up and then eventually triumphed in the sprint finish.

Speaking afterwards Vollering alluded to being surprised by Kopecky, but she didn’t make it clear as to what moment she was referring to.

Vollering said: “Lotte’s a killer and I was a bit surprised by her action but yeah it also made it very exciting I think.

“That last climb doesn’t lie and if you were already in front for so long on your own that last climb is really hard and Lotte and I were doing really good together so I knew we could save a little bit for the last climb and I also knew that Lotte and me are really great climbers so I knew that we could catch her but it was a bit exciting of course!”

Listening on The Breakaway on Eurosport and discovery+ afterwards Dani Rowe said she found it “interesting that she said that she was shocked by Lotte Kopecky’s action.”

Daniel Lloyd jumped in to say “We’re really trying to build this up aren’t we?

“I assume she was referring to Kopecky maybe accelerating slightly after Faulkner had pinned Vollering against the barriers. I don’t think it was so I’d like to know exactly what she meant about being surprised by Kopecky’s actions but we saw the hug at the finish line I’m sure all is well as much as we’d like to build up the drama between them.”

The third member of the panel, Adam Blythe, added he hoped that the pair were given the license to race.

Blythe said: “I think what’s interesting is how you talked about belief, she came in knowing today was a target for her because she said then that in past years she used to work for team-mates but she came in today knowing it was her day today and she was one of the leaders.

“I think that’s what we saw there today on the line, two leaders coming together within that team and the director just saying this is up to you, you two fight it out and do whatever you want to do, you race your bikes and you’re in a race which is fair enough and you can understand from both sides, even if there was an acceleration from Kopecky, you’d do that if it wasn’t your team-mate and if they are racing it’s game on.”

Rowe agreed, saying: “They’re both going in on the same team, as two riders that can win the race, and then they’re battling it out in that final and Demi Vollering has come out on top. She just feels looking at the strengths of Lotte Kopecky last week she was the rider to beat, she was the rider we were all talking about coming into this race and she’s been able to beat her on the line as being part of the team so it’s a very strange dynamic so I think it was a big sigh of relief from Demi Vollering and that will be really beneficial for her going into the rest of the season.”

Later on in the post-race show, the team heard from Kenny and Sander Kleikers, who were on the ground at the finish line.

“It seemed like mixed feelings after the finish today rather than the happy SD Worx that we usually see,” Kenny remarked. “It would be really interesting to know what team orders were when it was just the two of them and Demi did a lot of work.

“To be honest I thought Demi was chasing for Kopecky to obviously jump across but I think because they both caught [Faulkner] it’ll be interesting to know what the team then said over the radios whether they could just race it out.

“I think for Lotte she’s defending a race she won last year so I can see maybe how she’s been caught in emotion like I said, I’d just love to know whether they had any team orders or whether they just raced it out.

As coverage was cut back to studio, the panel were shown pictures of Kopecky and Vollering in the post-race area and Blythe remarked “looks awkward now.”

Lloyd added: “It’s not all hugs and kisses at this point is it? We did see the hug after the race but the television producers need to go to the third rider across the line and Faulkner was only a handful of seconds behind those first two in the end so we don’t get to see the immediate aftermath like Sander and Laura would have done. They’re waiting beyond the finish line to do interviews so they see the dynamics between the two riders immediately.”

At the moment of the story being published we have not yet had confirmation whether there were team orders or not.

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