2022 Tour of Flanders, defending champion Annemiek van Fruten (Movistar) started the race wearing the number 1 bib. However, the 39-year-old was not able to match the teamwork of SD Works, but was pleased with his second-place effort.

"I can't blame myself," he said. But looking back on tonight's race, I can say that nothing was left to be desired."

"It's hard to fight for the line with Lotte Kopecky, who is a super fast sprinter. After Paterberg, I had already run out of options."

In the Tour of Flanders final, Movistar riders were in a group of three and six from SD Walks, and Chantal van den Broeck-Blaak counter-attacked after Marlen Reusser's attack was blocked. Van Vleuten followed her, but says she did not realize that Lotte Kopecky was on her wheel.

"I actually didn't look back. I saw Chantal in front of me and I thought, 'I can't let her go.' And I was surprised that there were three of us," Van Vleuten said.

The Dutch rider lost her chance for victory early in the race as things remained relatively quiet until the Koppenberg, 45 km from the finish.

"It was bad that the middle part of the race was not hard enough," van Vleuten said. "When we got to the Koppenberg the group was too big. The climbs here are short, so you need to race super hard to drop guys like Lotte Kopecky in the Paterberg."

"Then people will say, 'Why don't you do that,' but I can't do everything. I need other teams and they want to race hard too."

Van Vleuten himself attacked in Koppenberg, Kruisberg/Hotond, Oude Kwaremont, and Paterberg, but unlike in 2021, he did not drop all his rivals. The Dutch veteran is taking the positives and is already looking forward to a race that suits him better.

"I'm proud to be back in the mix, always in contention for the win in this race," Van Vleuten said. I'm proud to be back in the mix after always being in contention in this race. I'm proud of my team today. Last year I was in front by myself sometimes, but this year I have two cards to play, Arlenis Sierra and Emma Norsgaard." The team did a perfect job in the lead-out to Koppenberg. We proved that we are getting better and better. And as we get closer to Fresh and Liège, we are getting better and better."