Lorena Wiebes now has Pogačar-like status in the women’s peloton: “Things need to change”

Ronde van Brugge was held on Thursday, and the flat course automatically made Wiebes the overwhelming favourite. The last time she was beaten in a straight-up sprint on her own merits came at the 2024 Tour de France Femmes, when Charlotte Kool won stage two on home roads. But what had started to feel almost impossible suddenly happened in Bruges: Wiebes could do no better than ninth in the bunch sprint.

She had to sort things out for herself in the final kilometres and got boxed in. Victory surprisingly went to 19-year-old Brit Carys Lloyd of Movistar, who took the biggest win of her young career. Her teammate and compatriot Cat Ferguson could hardly believe what she was seeing. Speaking to Cyclingnews, Ferguson said she and Visma | Lease a Bike rider Imogen Wolff were painting pottery together when Lloyd won, and that they were left screaming because the moment felt unreal.

For Ferguson, the result meant more than just a breakthrough win for a friend and teammate. She said the first notifications did not even make clear that Lloyd had taken victory, so when she finally saw her teammate cross the line first, she could barely process it. In her view, what Lloyd had done was historic.

Lloyd’s victory matters on a deeper level than it may have seemed at first glance, because it has also given Ferguson belief. The British youngster said Wiebes is “an absolute animal,” but added that Bruges proved she can be beaten. In Ferguson’s view, Wiebes is still human, still capable of mistakes, and that makes racing more interesting for everyone else. Ferguson herself had already come up short against Wiebes earlier this season in Omloop Het Nieuwsblad when the minor placings were on the line.

But Lloyd’s win showed that even Wiebes is not invincible. According to Ferguson, riders and teams now have to act on that belief. She argued that if the peloton does not truly believe Wiebes can be beaten, then it never will happen. And if that belief grows, she hopes other teams will stop riding in ways that help SD Worx-Protime control races. In Ferguson’s eyes, something has to change if the peloton wants to create more unpredictable and open racing.