"It was the intention that Demi would come after me, but that did not work out" - Lotte Kopecky explains her attacks in the final of stage
Cycling
SD Worx's pre-planned tactics in the final of the Tour de France Femmes stage to Rodez didn't go to plan. Yellow jersey Lotte Kopecky attacked several times, but the follow-up was not on the schedule of the day.
"It was the intention that Demi would come after me, but that did not work out," she refers to leader Vollering.
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In the end, Vollering, who finished second behind the soloing Yara Kastelijn, took eight seconds on her big competitor Annemiek van Vleuten on the uphill finish in Rodez. Kopecky finished not far behind, so she keeps her yellow jersey in the Tour Femmes. "But as long as Demi stays good in the standings and wins time, it couldn't be better for us," the Belgian told Sporza.
The course of the stage was special, because a leading group of fourteen riders got more than ten minutes of lead. "We wanted to keep the gap between five and ten minutes, without catching too many riders. I think it worked out well," Kopecky looks back. "In short, we were not going for the stage win. The gap was still four minutes before the penultimate climb, that was too much to make up for.¨"
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Ondrej ZhasilCycling Journalist
Ondřej Zhasil is a cycling journalist at CyclingUpToDate and has been part of the team since 2023. He is based in Ostrava, the third-largest city in the Czech Republic, and covers professional cycling across the main UCI competitions, including the Tour de France, the Giro d’Italia, and La Vuelta a España. A key focus of his work is startlist analysis and pre-race coverage, where he examines team selections, rider line-ups, and tactical scenarios ahead of major events.
Alongside WorldTour coverage, Ondřej has developed specific expertise in junior cycling and in racing across East Asia, including competitions in China and Japan. He also maintains a broad working knowledge of other disciplines and levels, including cyclocross, while continuing to expand his understanding of mountain bike racing.
Ondřej holds a bachelor’s degree in Mathematics and Physics, which supports his analytical, data-driven approach to performance and race analysis. In his reporting, he regularly uses ProCyclingStats for results, statistics, and historical context. He places strong emphasis on careful sourcing, editorial accuracy, and updating articles promptly when new, verified information becomes available.
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- exactly, he had an amazing season, but with these overstatements they don‘t do him good.Ketterechts08-11-2026
- More to the point, it isn't his remaining goal.Renz08-11-2026
- lol yeahmij08-11-2026
- I know, their headlines can be so misleading. Pidcock had a great season with 5 wins. and some solid 2nds. no reason to take away from that with a fake headline.mij08-11-2026
- You can clearly see the the posture change from slightly sitting to again out of the saddle while changing of gears in the video of the sprintabstractengineer08-11-2026
- He has already beaten Pogi twice in the TDF. the achievement is over. He cannot beat Pogi now and he only has a few years left at the top. Win Giro and compete in the TDF, maximise palmares.abstractengineer08-11-2026
- Just looked again at the photo. Yeah I stand by that. If MS had fallen over in Brands direction I don’t even think she would have hit her. You must be a UCI race commissioner. I’ll be sure to check my sock height should I ever see you on a ride. Looks like everyone else on here sees what I see.mij08-11-2026
- I said looking at the photo it doesn’t appear she deviated. Chill out, not stating my word is the final judgement. Just commenting that based on the photo I don’t see it. And BTW the Dutch coach even said she didn’t impede her.mij08-11-2026
- Blah Blah Blah !frieders308-11-2026
- MS said she was changing gears so that caused her slight deviation. Nothing was intentional.frieders308-11-2026
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