"That's going to be quite a challenge for Anna" - Are Team SD Worx - Protime ready to handle both Lotte Kopecky and Anna van der Breggen in the same team?
Cycling
With Demi Vollering leaving the team for the 2025 season, Lotte Kopecky, a two-time world champion and Team SD Worx - Protime rider, is shifting her focus to climbing races such as Liège-Bastogne-Liège and the Tour de France Femmes. This transition signifies a busy season ahead for sports manager Danny Stam, who will oversee a team entering a new chapter.
Stam spoke to Wielerflits about the team's preparation and recent bonding activities. “We did a team building in Lapland and that was very successful. We always want to stay off the bike during our team building. That is one of the important points where we establish a first bond. And especially important that it is off the bike. That it is not about 'how hard do you pedal', but that they get to know each other in a different way. It is a nice group and they are very evenly matched.”
Another significant development for SD Worx-Protime is the return of Anna van der Breggen, who has come out of retirement. Stam expressed his anticipation for her comeback. “I am very curious where Anna will be. I think the preparations are going reasonably well. She has a lot of knowledge in racing, so I hope she can bring the team closer together.”
Stam also shared how van der Breggen decided to return to competition. “At a certain point you noticed that she was doing more and more sports and getting on her bike more and more. Not much later she said: I think I would like to cycle again. Then Anna had a conversation with team manager Erwin Janssen and it was clear pretty quickly that she wanted to do that again with our team.”
On how Kopecky and van der Breggen will work as a team, Stam acknowledged the challenges van der Breggen might face. “I think it's going to be very difficult to return to the level she was at back then. Especially with the speed at which women's cycling has developed in the meantime. That's going to be quite a challenge for Anna.”
Despite the hurdles, Stam remains optimistic about van der Breggen’s potential impact. “I certainly expect Anna to compete at the top again in women's cycling. But where exactly, I don't dare to put my stamp on that. I do think she will bring added sporting value. And we saw that at the last training camp, that she is definitely one of the strongest riders in the group again. We certainly suspect that she will be an absolute added value.”
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- and keep in mind the start of many crashes in the group are a violation of every group no no. don’t cross wheels that’s why wout went down, taking the group with himmij11-03-2025
- I haven't been watching cycling for very long but I feel like we are in a golden age with Pogacar, Vingegaard, Roglic, Evenepoel, Pidcock, van der Poel, van Aert (I'm definitely forgetting a lot of other riders)... My point is, we should be celebrating their differences because that is what makes it a golden age for me.Pogboom11-03-2025
- I know I just said I wouldn't feed the troll, but Tadej used to race cross, and is a former national champion. He's not a "crosser" but to say he'll never do CX is inaccurate (again)Evan10-03-2025
- you're saying this in a comment thread on an article specifically about Tadej and Jonas? The internet is about connection. People can connect without having to go off topic to argue or arguing for its own sake. The internet can indeed be a positive place where people agree on things. For the sake of dissent, you put forward very odd views that are poorly thought out. That's what trolling is. I'll stop feeding the trollEvan10-03-2025
- Any two matching riders are a spectacle in any race. Do we have to continually state the obvious by always referring to the same two, even if many strongly disagree and argue they are evenly matched in the races where they meet? Isn’t the point of the internet to enhance and further thought and opinion as opposed to agreeing on a very narrow consensus that kilks conversation?Mistermaumau10-03-2025
- As has been said many times, Jonas is a diesel, never going to focus on one day races, Tadej is a roadie, never going to do MTB or CX.Mistermaumau10-03-2025
- Unless you can ignore the winner to enjoy the rest if the race, hence the comment about using imagination. Easier to do during a race than retrospectively when you’ve discovered someone gets their titles, medals, prize money cancelled and disqualified. Of course, it helps if camera crew look for the action, some channels do better at that than others.Mistermaumau10-03-2025
- I think an article dedicated to Emielien Jeannière is also in order today, amazing performance. Let’s not forget that almost a decade ago he was also 2nd in an important race beating a certain TP.Mistermaumau10-03-2025
- More or less how I see it too. Jonas himself warned publicly 6 months in advance. We were warned of the slippery dry gravel BEFORE the race do riders had no excuse not to take it into account. It’s not for nothing Moho warned Tadej not to follow him downhill in MSR, not every rider has the same skills and each has to know his limit. Tadej was too focused on riding with Pidcock to check his limits. After that, yes of course in a peleton if one goes down (for whatever reason) in a critical place, they’re likely to take others within their limits with them, can’t do very much about that without destroying the sport, that will always be a risk to live with. It’s the same as with development in cars, drivers are made to feel safer so take more risk and become more dangerous to others.Mistermaumau10-03-2025
- I agree with everything he says about rider safety related to bikes and the riders themselves. Every bike company talks abou how many watts have saved off a 40k. Clothing is more aero. Materials are refined and made lighter than ever. All of which means more crashes. And then look at Jonas' tragic crash from a year ago. A bummer of a situation, yes - but Jumbo allegedly emailed the organizer about the bad roads. The organizer keeps them in. So Jonas knew there were bad roads, the organizer keeps them in - but who forced Jonas to go so fast or ride that corner in a group situation? back down, take a different line. races are rarely won on the downhills, they're lost. the organizers can only do so much. the tour of poland situation or leaving cars on the road IS bad. but rough roads? the riders need to own this too. As Tadej said, I was going to fast, and I crashed.mij10-03-2025