Lotte Kopecky missed the Nokele Koase a few days after her brother Seppe died suddenly over the weekend. Instead, she ran as planned, winning the Pro Series with a solo 7 km run.

Her brother, Seppe Kopecký, raced as a junior and inspired Lotte Kopecký to a highly successful career. He died on March 11 at the age of 29

. She said racing was the distraction she needed to get away from her grief and she wanted to make the most of it.

"I didn't think about winning beforehand. I didn't want to spare myself today," Kopecky said. 'I was tremendously strong. I think I made my brother proud."

Kopecky was scheduled to compete in the midweek Pro Series, and despite the tragedy, she wanted to stick to that schedule. Having already won Omloop Het Nieuwsblad and finished runner-up to teammate Demi Vollering in Strade Bianche, she will be looking to defend her Tour de Flanders title and also Paris-Roubaix.

"I chose to race last week and I wanted to race today no matter what. My goal was to make it a hard race and I think I did that."

Kopecký attacked on the Lange Aststraat, a cobbled climb with 12km to go, followed by lone attackers Aud Biernik (Movistar) and Eleanora Gasparini (UAE Team ADQ).

"I wasn't very organized during the solo run," Kopecký said. 'The last few days haven't been easy, but you can't just sit at home on the couch with your head hanging.'

"Somehow, it was nice to join the team on Tuesday, laugh a little bit, and try not to think about what happened as much as possible. I'm the kind of person who needs to take my mind off things. It worked