'I know my qualities, I know my form' - Kopecky brimming with confidence ahead of Tour of Flanders

Lotte Kopecky (SD Worx–Protime) says she is riding with renewed freedom after a difficult start to the spring, insisting her form is 'much better' than last year as she prepares to target a fourth victory at Sunday's Tour of Flanders.

The Belgian, who claimed a landmark win at Milan–Sanremo earlier this season, admitted she had put enormous pressure on herself, but said that result had changed her outlook entirely.

"In the beginning I was struggling, I don't know what it was," said Kopecky to the media, including Domestique, on Thursday. "But winning Nokere Koerse and Sanremo really took away a lot of pressure that I put on myself, because I really just want to win races. In my head it gives a lot of freedom going into the Tour of Flanders."

Asked how her racing condition compares to twelve months ago, the Belgian stated her form is 'much better' than last year, and she believes she is exactly where she needs to be.

"I'm just at the level I want to be. Normally that should be enough to win classics," Kopecky said.

Kopecky was then quick to acknowledge that the women's peloton is deeper than ever, naming big teams such as FDJ United–Suez, UAE Team ADQ and Visma | Lease a Bike as teams who have raised the bar. She rattled off a list of contenders - Demi Vollering, Marianne Vos, Pauline Ferrand-Prévot, Katarzyna Niewiadoma and Lorena Wiebes - before playing down her favourite status ahead of Sunday's big occasion.

"I don't need to see myself as the top favourite. I know my qualities, I know my form, and that's enough. It's not going to influence my race."

Both Vollering and Vos have, of course, raced numerous times over the years against Kopecky, and she stated that the insights and knowledge of one another run both ways. "We know at certain moments how they think. But that's also the other way around, they know my strengths, they know how I think in racing."

On the cobbled roads she knows so well, Kopecky said she would trust her instincts above all else. "You can be very strong, but if you waste your energy at the wrong moments, it's gone. Sometimes you're really excited, you want to go already, but you have to keep yourself calm."

When pressed on whether she would be disappointed to come away from the spring without another Monument, Kopecky said: "Yes. I train to win races. I realise that winning two classics in one season is really hard, and I'm happy I won Sanremo already. But of course I would be disappointed."