Lotte Kopecky will revise her rainbow-jersey ambitions on the track at the upcoming Glasgow World Championships, removing the Madison from her competition line-up for the foreseeable future after her event partner Shari Bossuyt returned a positive test for the banned substance Letrozole in March.
Kopecky spoke with Cyclingnews at the Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift in Clermont-Ferrand before the race began, revealing that she will focus on the Elimination Race, Points Race, and Omnium on the track and then the elite women’s road race at the first-ever combined World Championships held from August 3-13.
Kopecky and Bossuyt are the reigning world champions in Madison, having won their world titles at the 2022 Worlds in Saint Quentin en Yvelines, France. It was Kopecky’s second world title in the event, having also also taken victory with partner Jolien D’hoore in Hong Kong in 2017, the first time the women’s Madison was offered at the Worlds. Kopecky is also the reigning world champion in the Elimination Race.
“I will do three events on the track and the road race,” Kopecky confirmed. Asked if she was disappointed to remove the Madison event from her line-up at Worlds, she said, “It’s pretty hard, yes, but at this moment, I hope for Shari that she can prove that she is innocent; that is the most important thing.”
Bossuyt, who is under contract with Canyon-SRAM on the road, and her manager have told the team that her A and B samples tested positive for Letrozole. She now awaits a final verdict from the French Agence française de lutte contre le dopage (AFLD), who carried out the test on March 19 during the Tour de Normandie Féminin. Canyon-SRAM extended her contract on April 5 but has put her on ‘provisionally non-active’ status.
Kopecky said any future plans for that event are on hold given that she does not have a partner. She also said the Belgium national team will replace her and Bossuyt with a pair of up-and-coming riders for the Madison in Glasgow.
“For these Worlds, we are sending two young riders, Hélène Hesters and Katrijn De Clercq; we will see how they do it. For the Olympics, nothing is really for sure, you have to qualify, of course, but nothing is for sure about what we will do; it will be clear in the next months.”
Kopecky competed at the Tokyo Olympic Games and finished fourth in the road race. However, in the Madison and Omnium, bad luck and crashes prevented her from achieving her goal of winning a gold medal. She will focus on the road…
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