Human Powered Health’s Maggie Coles-Lyster had another strong day at Copenhagen Sprint on Sunday. The Olympian took ninth in the 156-km Women’s WorldTour race in Denmark.
Facing one of the strongest sprint fields of the season, Coles-Lyster was definitely one of the favorites for the flat and fast race.
Coles-Lyster’s 2026 season so far
The Maple Ridge, B.C., rider already has her first pro win this year and came oh-so-close to another at the Giro d’Italia Women. She went early before a tricky corner on Stage 6 and was only caught by eventual winner Elisa Balsamo with 200 m to go. It was another demonstration of her powerful finishing kick.
From Roskilde to Copenhagen
The race, which started in Roskilde and gradually headed to Copenhagen, had some typical Danish summer weather – rain – which saw most of the riders don their regnjakker to stay dry. Thankfully, the sun came out and that meant they could ditch their rain gear on the finishing circuits in Denmark’s capital.
With the peloton largely keeping the race under control, HPH spent much of the afternoon near the front before helping position Coles-Lyster and teammate Kathrin Schweinberger for the decisive run-in. Despite a technical finale, both sprinters stayed in contention and made it into the bunch sprint. The race was won by Lorena Wiebes of Team SD Worx-Protime. It was the first race back for the Dutch ace since her controversial DQ at the Giro d’Italia Women. Not only did she lose the stage win, but also the pink jersey.
Other Canadian results include Alex Volstad of EF Education Oatly finishing 19th.
The men’s Copenhagen Sprint goes down today and is broadcast on Flobikes.com. There’s only one Canuck in the Danish stop on the WorldTour. And that is former national champ Pier-André Côté of NSN Cycling Team. Check back here on Canadian Cycling Magazine to see how the men’s race went down later.