"The pressure has to go" – Van der Breggen comes to the defence of Kopecky

Lotte Kopecky’s Tour de France Femmes campaign opened with a setback, and she’s kept her distance from the media ever since. On stage 1, the world champion was dropped and lost more than a minute on the final climb, then skipped post-stage interviews. Ahead of stage 2, she once again avoided the press line. Her teammate Anna van der Breggen says that was no accident.

“We need to take the pressure off,” Van der Breggen told Sporza. “It’s better that she doesn’t do any interviews or look at social media for a while.”

Van der Breggen, who also previously managed the team, said Kopecky needs to reframe her mindset. “Lotte just needs to find the joy in cycling again. Go for a good attack today, get up front, try to make something beautiful of it.”

While Kopecky’s early struggles have shifted expectations, the team isn’t giving up on her. “The pressure is off her now. Things will be different in this Tour than she expected, but if she can recover, she can still be very good in these kinds of stages.”

The hope now is for a more open approach. “I hope we can help her with this and cheer her up. Hopefully, things will suddenly turn around.”

Van der Breggen said the team had still backed her fully on the opening day. “We knew it was possible, but we still wanted to try and go for Lotte.” But Kopecky’s legs didn’t respond at the key moment. “Not much. Lotte felt good throughout the stage, but on the last climb, it just didn’t work out and she said ‘no.’”

The team understands why that was such a blow. “There’s just a lot of pressure, because this is an important moment and you want to show that you can do it. And we all know she can. Normally, she’s one of the best in those kinds of finishes. If that doesn’t work out, you’re incredibly disappointed.”

Stage 2 to Quimper should, on paper, suit Kopecky’s strengths. But the team is adjusting its approach. “But we’re not going to say: all arrows on Lotte again. That doesn’t make it any better.”

“The pressure has to go,” Van der Breggen said. “If we give the other girls a little more freedom, I hope that will also give Lotte some relaxation, she can turn things around and realize: I do this because I like it.”