Just over a year ago, Lotte Kopecky was talking about a shift in focus towards trying to win the Tour de France Femmes overall. It was an experiment that never really got off the ground, and a season – aside from a third Tour of Flanders win – largely to forget.
A knee issue ruined her winter and continued to affect her during the Spring Classics, and back pain stymied her yellow jersey dreams and saw her ride a relatively absent race – by her high standards – at the Tour.
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When Puck Pieterse lit things up and attacked, Kopecky followed, eventually outsprinting her, Noemi Rüegg, and Eleonora Gasparrini to the line, but the Dutch champion revealed post-race that this was 90% the scenario they wanted and were expecting as a team.
This is perhaps best highlighted by the Belgian accelerating towards the front of the group even before Pieterse had actually tried to kick away on the Poggio – she was so ready for any attacks, it was almost as if she preempted the move entirely. Kopecky may not have matched previous years in 2025, but the champion’s mindset hadn’t disappeared; she demanded to be the focus for SD Worx on Saturday.
“We couldn’t…
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