"I shouted at her that this was too ridiculous for words" - Lotte Kopecky slammed by Team SD Worx - Protime boss after questionable Tour of Flanders tactics
Cycling
Team SD Worx - Protime suffered some rare disappointment on Sunday as they completely missed the podium at the women's Tour of Flanders.
Pre-race, their big hope was world champion, Lotte Kopecky, but after showing some signs of fragility on the climbs, the best the Belgian could manage was 5th as Elisa Longo Borghini took the win. "Lotte is not going to sleep well from this," team boss, Danny Stam reflected post-race to HLN. "It is important to clarify where and how things went wrong so we can do better in the near future."
In particular, one instance stood out to Stam, earning his ire. Just five kilometres before the foot of the Koppenberg, the world champion dropped back to the support car for some provisions. "That was definitely not a smart idea. Lotte is the world champion and our leading lady. So where do you get it into your head to go get food yourself instead of leaving it to a teammate!?" recalls Stam furiously. "I was dumbfounded at first when I suddenly saw Lotte riding at the back of the peloton. Then, when she also let herself drop down to the follow car, I shouted at her that this was too ridiculous for words."
"Lotte has to learn to give orders. I think she realises that well now," Stam concludes. "During the debriefing, she apologised to the group and made it clear that that action was not smart. She does take that responsibility."
Just like Sepp Kuss, Lotte is not a natural leader and I think the pressure of knowing she will now have to play one gets to her. She will need some mental coaching if she’s to take on her new responsibilities. No rider performs to their best if the head is not where it should be.
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- Yes, I get that but it wasn’t exactly a good comparison if you ask me, circumstances and competition were very different. Also crashing whilst staying up front is pretty different from crashing and being left behind.Mistermaumau08-04-2025
- Pidcock was riding at a hard enough pace until the sector where Pogacar made up something like 20 seconds in something like... 20 seconds. Pidcock was quite a bit ahead, and suddenly he wasn't. At that point, clearly he would get caught, so might as well get caught sooner and work together. That's just good cycling. (I think the point is, plenty of people win even after they've come down in a crash - Van der Poel crashed at the worlds and won, anyway, for example).RidesHills08-04-2025
- Great sprint, Ineos set him up at exactly the right time, they protected the corners through the turns, and he did the job he was supposed to do. Nice to see him win again.RidesHills08-04-2025
- When Vingo, Rogla, and Wout were all at the height of their powers, a sight to behold.mobk08-04-2025
- To quote the article: riders from Arkéa - B&B Hotels and a few others seized the moment to launch an attack, increasing the pace as Pogacar was briefly off the bike. Not coolmij08-04-2025
- I don’t think it was a matter of easing up. I think it was a matter of attacking. And MVDP said his team would respect similar situations. Perhaps not on the penultimate climb, but I believe they would. To accelerate is a jerk move.mij08-04-2025
- His basic attitude always has been (and we know age often reinforces inherent values), if I’m going down I’m going to try taking you with me.Mistermaumau08-04-2025
- I know it’s tradition and nice but to make the discussion more interesting, if an Arkea rider had driven up to tell Alpecin or UAE to ease off for Mozzato or Vauquelin having a P, would they have been as gentlemanly?Mistermaumau08-04-2025
- That’s probably about right although if they’d talked it over it would have been in all their interests to work together to chase Pog down because those 4 arriving at the finish in that scenario would have left all 4 with a chance of victory.Mistermaumau08-04-2025
- Exactly, that easily makes for a minute at the front. You don’t see Pog cracking often either (less often than MVDP even) but when he does it’s lights out and over too. This is completely normal and to be expected, at the level of competitiveness all these guys are they only crack once they’ve pushed beyond their manageable limit and there’s no coming back from that. When your rival forces you into the red to keep or catch up, it’s over, in that respect, well done to WVA who seems to be world champion in staying just outside the red for as long as he can.Mistermaumau08-04-2025