interview
Liane Lippert goes to a strong third place on the tour of the Flanders. She also made up a lot for the rest of the season.
On Sunday Liane Lippert (27) from Friedrichshafen was about a big coup. Together with three other outliers, she was hung up to the field on the old Kwaremont, 18 kilometers before the finish of the Flanders tour. The group remained together until the decision in Oudenaarde, but the sprint routine of world champion Lotte Kopecky from Belgium prevailed in the final.
She won in front of the French woman Pauline Ferrand-Prévot, Lippert was third, the Polish Tour-de France winner Katarzyna Niewiadoma took fourth place. In the interview, Liane Lippert describes her day in the Flemish Ardennes.
Liane Lippert (L) on the tour of the Flanders
Sportschau: Ms. Lipppert, how did you happen to you on the long home straight of Oudenaarde? Did you feel that you could beat Lotte Kopecky in the sprint?
I already knew that it would be really difficult. If the goal had been on an increase, i.e. on one of the Hellingen (Hill, note of the editorial team) that we passed, then I would definitely have had really good chances. I had really good legs on Sunday. But in the flat finale of Oudenaarde I already knew that everything had to go together. I am actually very final, but I hadn’t expected that I could conquer Lotte Kopecky. So it became third, so I am very satisfied.
The decisive group of four had formed in the old Kwaremont. How did you find each other there?
Lotte Kopecky had increased the pace at the foot of the mountain. And suddenly we were four, four very strong drivers. My teammate Marlen Reusser from Switzerland had previously delivered me perfectly in Kwaremont. I tried to get away in the Paterberg, which is up to 20 percent at the top shortly after Kwaremont. But in the end everyone stayed on my rear wheel.
How did you perceive the mood on the edge of the route?
It was really great, indescribable. The weather also fit, there were an incredible number of people on the track. Also with us women, it was nice to see.
How do your wrists feel about the many cobblestone passages after the Hatz?
Oh, they don’t have any problems. Next week at Paris-Roubaix, it will certainly be different for my colleagues.
Don’t you start with this classic cobblestones?
No, my next destinations are the classics of the Ardennen Gold Race, Flèche Wallonne and Liège-Bastogne-Liège.
The Amstel Gold Race and the Flèche Wallonne end after heavy climbs on a mountain, which is very accommodating. Are these two run their big season goalsE?
In any case, at least in spring. In 2023 I was second, the race and above all the final with the steep climb in Huy. This also applies to the Gold Race Amstel, which ends in Maastricht on the Cauberg.
And how does your season continue?
I drive the Spain tour in May, the Giro in July and the Tour de France in August. That sounds like a huge number of race days, but they are very limited compared to the men. It is possible for us women to contest these three tours in a row.
Will you also go to a top result in the overall ranking in one of the races?
I have qualities to win stages, on the tour and the Giro I have already succeeded. However, I would not receive the freedom to go into a group and to join the day’s victory if I were a candidate for the overall classification. That is why the team and I want to see how my climbing skills are up to date compared to the others on these tours. Then we decide.