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

Six-time Olympic medallist Laura Kenny thinks that the dynamics within Team SD Worx might be “tricky” now following a tense finish to the Strade Bianche Donne 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.

Ad 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. Strade Bianche'I knew today was my day!' — Pidcock basks in Strade Bianche gloryAN HOUR AGO 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