Cycling
Lotte Kopecky (28) will not participate in the Tour de France next summer. The start of the Tour falls one day after the end of the omnium track at the Paris Games. Kopecky finished second in the Tour last year, but is now fully aiming for Olympic medals.
It had been in the air for a while: Lotte Kopecky will suit up for the Tour this summer and is fully committed to an Olympic medal in Paris, where she will participate in the time and road trial. On the track she takes care of the omnium and she can also take part in the team race. The start of the Tour in Rotterdam, Netherlands on August 12 falls one day after the end of the omnium number.
After a busy spring, the world champion is now taking a rest period and will resume competition at the beginning of June in the Tour of Britain. Kopecky wants to definitively prepare herself for her Olympic quest through the Tour of Italy (7 to 14 July).
After the Games, Kopecky still has one important competition on the agenda, the World Championships in Zurich, although the Swiss course may seem too difficult for our compatriot. If she wants to prepare well for the World Cup, it seems appropriate to participate in the Tour de Romandie (5 to 8 September), also organized in Switzerland. Moreover, the combination with an exploration of the World Cup course is obvious.
SD Worx and Protime extend (at least) until 2028
There was some news from the Dutch team of Kopecky SD Worx-Protime on Monday. The two main sponsors will remain in the women’s peloton until at least 2028. After Kopecky had already extended his contract with the team, Dutch sprinter Lorena Wiebes has now also signed on. Both will be played more prominently as leaders in the Dutch formation.
Belgian HR services provider SD Worx has been the main sponsor of the Dutch team since 2021, when it replaced Boels and Dolmans. Since last year, subsidiary Protime has been added as a second sponsor. Since the arrival of SD Worx as main sponsor, the team has been stringing together successes and is dominant in women’s cycling. Kopecky won, among other things, the World Cup, the Tour of Flanders twice, the Strade Bianche twice and Paris-Roubaix. Wiebes won Ghent-Wevelgem this year and narrowly missed out on winning the Amstel Gold Race.
The team’s third leader, Tour winner Demi Vollering, will soon be looking for other places. Her new team has not yet been announced, although she has reportedly already received a lucrative offer from UAE Team Emirates.
