"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.
Just in
Play for FREE! Fantasy Tour of Flanders
Subscribe to our Daily Newsletter today!
Popular news
Latest comments
- I don’t know how generalised it is but in every race in every country I’ve participated in you either need to show a club licence (which you only get by having a medical around every 2-3 years) or by having a doctors’ aptitude certificate. Can’t ask for much more. Don’t forget, 15000 people (of which quite some are well into the latter part of life), that’s a small town where people will have medical issues every day even without cycling hard. In one country I lived in you even have to do a full ECG and power test regularly to ride competitively after 50.Mistermaumau05-04-2025
- Before or after their kids get married to each other ;-)Mistermaumau05-04-2025
- Ok guys, both of you, this is far too complex to debate as a whole as there are dozens of variables and none of the conditions have been rigidly defined, what’s more, everyone is looking at things from a different angle and for a different purpose so let’s go back to the real basics first to see if we can agree on some starting principles. If you throw a golf ball or ping pong ball (assuming same size here) at the same speed in the same direction, which is going to land further? Ditto if you launch them with the same power? If two identical riders of 70 and 80kg (lets assume the extra 10kg is just bones and drinks and lunch) on identical bikes ride side by side at speed X with zero wind (or alternatively a really strong head wind) and both stop pedalling at the same time, which is going to roll further or come to a stop sooner? The wind force does inevitably come into play but I want to keep an open mind as to the effect it has in situ in practice because it obviously isn’t the only criteria and with acem82’s example it’s highly likely that wind is more minor but that wouldn’t be true for every real-life situation. Regarding cobbles, that’s an extremely complex motion to analyse, you can call it bouncing or hopping or climbing or what you like but in reality it’s indescribable and only high precision analysis can tell you exactly how much of each effect is contributing for each rider at each speed and every tire pressure/behaviour, you will NEVER manage to say that one criteria alone governs the whole efficiency equation.Mistermaumau05-04-2025
- Medical test should be mandatory before participationabstractengineer05-04-2025
- You are completely wrongvappaxbipmv05-04-2025
- Tadej has a little more chance. It will be an exciting race and the most important thing is that no one gets hurt.
maria2024202405-04-2025 - Whatever happens tomorrow... it'll be a hell of a raceslappers6605-04-2025
- Exactly Tadej, the cancer of modern society. Full of good-for-nothing people who gain visibility and importance on social media mocking, humiliating (and worse things) to earn money. But it's the follower's fault, no followers, no "influencers".maria2024202405-04-2025
- Great commentCaralladas05-04-2025
- i’m such a sucker for those group-hug, happy ending moments between competitors, largely because it’s so WASN’T that way in my younger, stronger days. (on that note, i have this hope that somewhere down the road, maybe fifteen or twenty years, a middle aged wout and mathieu will go for a pleasure ride together in flanders, and reminisce about the days when they were the young, strong monsters that stalked the cobbles.)OCexile05-04-2025