Lotte Kopecky’s unmatched strength on the final ascent secured her the stage 1 victory at the Tour de France Femmes, but it left members of the select chase group questioning whether they could have done more to prevent another SD Worx victory.
“I feel frustrated with myself with how I rode in the final,” said Kasia Niewiadoma as she cooled down on the trainer after the hilly opener. The stage finished with a category 3 ascent over the Côte de Durtol that peaked with 9km to go, followed by a fast descent and run-in to Clermont-Ferrand.
“I felt strong and in good shape, and today showed that I didn’t use it. I hope that will change because it is annoying coming to races feeling good and doing nothing about it.
“I think I really messed up when Lotte went. I just lost a couple of seconds. I was trying to get out of Ashleigh Moolman [Pasio] ‘s wheel because she was kind of blocking me. It’s a pity for us it ended up like this because I think we could have had a better result.”
Kopecky attacked partway up the final climb and immediately opened a small gap, which widened over the top and on the run-in, crossing the finish line 41 seconds ahead of a small group sprint won by her teammate Lorena Wiebes.
Among the initial chase group were multiple riders from FDJ-SUEZ; Marta Cavalli, Evita Muzic and Cecilie Uttrup Ludwig, Canyon-SRAM; Niewiadoma, Ricarda Bauernfeind, Elise Chabbey, and Movistar with defending champion Annemiek van Vleuten and Liane Lippert. There were also individual riders Demi Vollering (SD Worx), absolved of chasing her teammate up the road, Elisa Longo Borghini (Lidl-Trek), and Mavi Garcia (Liv Racing TeqFind).
There was little organization among the chase group behind Koepcky, with Cavalli suggesting that Vollering ‘interrupted’ their chase efforts by riding to the front and slowing down. A second group on the road that included Marlen Reusser and Wiebes (SD Worx) and Marianne Vos (Jumbo-Visma) reconnected with 2km to go, but by then, Kopecky had gained a healthy 40 seconds on her way to the stage win.
“It was definitely not [organized]. All the groups from the back came back together, so that showed that we weren’t really riding,” Niewiadoma said, suggesting that teams might have opted not to chase because Kopecky is not an SD Worx GC contender.
“Sometimes it feels like no one wants to work together because everyone has a different tactic or strategy in mind. She won’t be fighting at Tourmalet, so the commitment [to chase] is always smaller.”
Click Here to Read the Full Original Article at CyclingNews RSS Feed…