Lotte Kopecky to win 2025 Tour de France Femmes? "I was already second in the Tour and the Giro without any specific preparation"

Lotte Kopecky is the two-time World Champion and although she was previously a classics specialist, currently her quality elsewhere has improved. A very strong time-trialist and ever-growing climber, the Team SD-Worx ProTime leader will likely be the team's best Grand Tour card in 2025 and may aim for a win after coming close already on two occasions.

After the Tour de France Femmes route reveal, the Belgian opened up about that possibility: "With what I know now, I can't say yet whether I'm going for it. I still have to study it in detail. That's something for the coming weeks. With what I know now, I can't say yet whether I'm going for the Tour," Kopecky told Het Laatste Nieuws.

"A lot of people ask me about the Tour. I don't know. You can't put words in my mouth, but maybe there are possibilities in the future... If I want to try, it has to be worth making those choices and sacrifices. What makes it attractive to me is that I was already second in the Tour and the Giro without any specific preparation".

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Objectively speaking, it is a very good possibility. In 2023 she thrived in the hilly days and time-trial which led her to finish second in the overall classification only behind team Demi Vollering. This year she aimed for the Giro Donne and was in the fight for the pink jersey until the very last day, but was ultimately beaten by Elisa Longo Borghini.

"I surprised myself a few times this year. I thought I had reached my limit in 2023, but it was nice that I could still push the boundaries. It went really well uphill. In the UAE Tour and certainly on Blockhaus in the Giro. I thought that was even stronger than the Tour the year before," she argues. With Vollering out of the squad she gains a rival, but also gains more space to lead the team - although it must be said that Vollering lost the race this year after a very controversial decision to have two teammates not wait for her in a hilly finale after she crashed whilst leading the race.

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Team DS Danny Stam added: “We have already talked to Lotte about how we can approach the Tour, because that would mean a change in the season build-up and Tour preparation,” HLN quotes. “Now that the course is there, we will see after her vacation whether it is worth aiming for a classification.”

“Does Lotte want to start the season later for that, and not already win in the UAE Tour? If she does not think it is worth it, then it would be stupid to skip certain races and she might as well ride the Tour with the ambition to win a stage. The first half is a Lotte course, the second half will be more difficult,”

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