Lotte Kopecky Won’t Be Racing the Tour de France Femmes
Lotte Kopecky announced two weeks ago that she would be riding the Giro d’Italia Women in July, but was still uncertain about the Tour de France Femmes. This week the SD Worx-Protime rider confirmed that she’d opt out of the French tour in order to keep her focus during the summer Olympic Games.
Last year at the Tour, Kopecky wore the yellow jersey before teammate Demi Vollering took it over on the Col du Tourmalet. Thanks to an impressive performance in the opening stage, Kopecky spent six stages in yellow. She attacked with about 10 km left and crossed the finish line 41 seconds ahead of the rest of the peloton. Kopecky ended up the overall runner-up.
This year, the Belgian will be going all-in at the velodrome, where she hopes to win the first Olympic medals of her career. Trying to transition immediately from track racing to the Tour would just be too much. “The Omnium ends Sunday afternoon, the Tour starts Monday morning. That is almost unfeasible to do that in a good way,” said sporting manager Danny Stam, according to Sporza.
“Combining those two events would also be a very difficult task mentally. If you were to take Olympic gold, it’s too short a day to start the next morning in the Tour. She can now fully focus on the Games,” Stam added.
GCN reported that Kopecky has “high hopes both on the road and track at the Olympics, where she will look to convert her successes from the World Championships into Olympic gold. The 28-year-old is a multiple world champion on the track across the Madison, Elimination, and Points race disciplines.”
So far, Kopecky’s best Olympic result was fourth place in the road race at the Tokyo Games.
Even though fans will be disappointed not to see Kopecky racing the Tour de France Femmes, there will still be plenty of action to watch. The World Champion will be racing the Tour of Britain Women in June before returning to the Giro d’Italia Women in July. And then, of course, the Olympics in Paris, which run from July 26 to August 11.
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