The challenges of the 2025 season have continued to mount for Lotte Kopecky, who may have to close the curtain on the year even earlier than expected after further tests following her race-ending stage 3 crash at the Tour Cycliste Féminin International de l’Ardèche have shown that there were consequences beyond what the initial assessment had revealed.
“The crash in the Ardèche race has had more serious consequences than initially thought,” said her SD Worx-Protime team in a statement. “She has suffered a vertebral fracture following her crash in the third stage of the Tour Cycliste Féminin International de l’Ardèche.”
The scenario continues the tumultuous pattern of 2025 for Kopecky. The Belgian had already had to abandon the Giro d’Italia with severe back pain and then had her run at the Tour de France Femmes – where she was had been expected to be one of the top contenders – curtailed as well before deciding that with the way things had been going she would not attempt to defend her road world title in Rwanda, instead opting to look ahead to the possibility of a start at Track World Championships in Chile from October 22 to October 26.
It had looked like the road through the rest of the season had finally hit a smooth run when Kopecky went from claiming victories at three events at the Prague Summer Track meeting at the end of August to a winning start at Tour de l’Ardèche – even though she rocked up to stage 1 with seven stitches in her knee because of a crash while our for a spin the day before the race .
“I did not have an exact plan for after Ardeche although Track…
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