Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift stage two was full of surprises and unexpected performances. On both ends of the scale. While Mavi García stunned the public with a solo victory on a day deemed for Classics experts, one of them – Lotte Kopecky – was completely out of gas far from the finish line. The world champion would eventually return to the front to make a short pull for teammate Lorena Wiebes (who finished 2nd behind García), but any hope to ride a decent GC seems gone for the SD Worx – Protime star.
“The feeling isn’t great and that’s frustrating,” Kopecky told Sporza. “I didn’t sleep much last night.” That the Belgian might not be in an ideal shape was already more than obvious after first stage in Plumelec where she lost a minute on a course that should normally suit her.
“I’m not someone who makes excuses, it’s just not going well,” Kopecky said. “I’ve had a very long preparation, been away from home for a long time. I wanted to start strong here, but it all went wrong.”
“The fun factor is very important to me, and it’s a bit lacking at the moment. I’ve had some really good seasons over the past two or three years. To then be riding around like this this season in this jersey is mentally difficult. I struggled again on the climb today, but they said in my earpiece: ‘Lotte, we’ll need you later.’ I tried to get back and make one last effort. Unfortunately, we came up a bit short. But I’m glad I was still able to do something, even if it was only a few hundred meters.”
Team SD Worx – Protime can still shoot for a decent GC result without Kopecky. Anna van der Breggen may have never raced the Tour de France before, but as a four-time Giro champion (2015, 2017, 2020 and 2021), she is more than qualified for the leader role. Kopecky would love to be able to contribute to her result even just a tiny bit.
“Ideally, I’d like it to be next Sunday as soon as possible. Hopefully, we’ll have been able to make something good of this Tour with the team by then. But I’ll have to put my personal ambitions aside.”
Demi VolleringUnlike Kopecky, her former SD Worx teammate Demi Vollering (now FDJ – Suez) has been cruising through the opening stages without any difficulties and after a seventh place in Quimper, the Dutchwoman is still just 15 seconds behind two GC leaders Kim Le Court and Marianne Vos.
“I’m happy with my final; I might have liked to try even harder. But I was a bit at my limit. Besides, when you know it’s not about winning anymore, it’s always a little different,” she reflected at WielerFlits.
“The most important thing is that I stayed safe, and two top-10 finishes is very good. My biggest rivals like Niewiadoma and Ferrand-Prévot also look good, but they’re a bit more ‘punchy’ than I am. I hope that if it gets a bit tougher over the longer distance, I’ll be closer to the front.”