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Belgium’s Lotte Kopecky has decided to skip this summer’s Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift, with the SD Worx-Protime rider focused instead on the track at the Olympic Games in Paris, where she will look to win the first Olympic medals of her career.
When it was announced two weeks ago that Kopecky would ride the Giro d’Italia Women in July, SD Worx-Protime sporting manager Danny Stam said that any decision over the Tour de France Femmes would come after Kopecky had raced Liège-Bastogne-Liège. Following her performance on Sunday, the team have decided that Kopecky will bypass the Tour this summer.
“The Omnium ends Sunday afternoon, the Tour starts Monday morning. That is almost unfeasible to do that in a good way,” Stam told 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.”
Read more: Lotte Kopecky to ride Giro d’Italia Women
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.
Her best result at the Tokyo Olympics was fourth place in the road race.
This summer’s Tour de France Femmes will be the first that Kopecky has missed since the race was revived in 2022.
After a strong performance at the 2022 edition, Kopecky produced one of the best performances of her career at the 2023 race. On the opening stage, Kopecky attacked with a little under 10km to ride and crossed the finish line 41 seconds ahead of the next riders. With that advantage, she wore the leader’s yellow jersey for six stages, only ceding the race lead on the penultimate stage atop the Col du Tourmalet.
Such was her form that Kopecky finished inside the top six on all but one of the race’s eight stages, eventually securing herself the points jersey and second place overall at the end of the race. It was a triumphant race for herself and the SD Worx team – teammate Demi Vollering secured the race victory.
With Kopecky’s general classification victory at the UAE Tour earlier this season, many began to wonder whether the Belgian could challenge for victory at this summer’s Tour.
Those predictions must wait until next year, as Kopecky’s 2024 race calendar is now centred around the Olympic Games. The Paris Olympics will take place between 26 July and 11 August. With the Tour de France Femmes beginning on 12 August, it was simply deemed a step too far for the Olympic hopeful.
Before the Games, Kopecky will ride the revived Tour of Britain Women in early June before returning to the Giro d’Italia Women from 7-14 July. It will be the 28-year-old’s first appearance at the race in two years.
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