World champion Lotte Kopecky has but to review the route of the 2025 Tour de France Femmes however needs to see how nicely she will be able to carry out in a Grand Tour with totally targeted coaching.
Simply essentially the most versatile rider within the girls’s peloton, Kopecky has proven Grand Tour successful potential, regardless of her one-day experience, with runner-up finishes on the Tour de France Femmes and Giro d’Italia Girls prior to now two seasons and total victory on the UAE Tour.
Kopecky faces a number of challenges if she is to win the Tour in 2025. The route consists of a troublesome set of 9 phases and the switch of former teammate Demi Vollering to FDJ-Suez, means she isa now an enormous rival reasonably than teammate.
“Two years in the past I completed second within the Tour, this yr second within the Giro. Twice with out particular preparation. So inside the crew, the query is: what if that preparation is there?,” Kopecky revealed to Het Nieuwsblad after choosing up her fifth Flandrienne of the 12 months trophy
“My coronary heart is in fact with the Classics, these are the races I like essentially the most. De Ronde and Roubaix will certainly stay on my programme however I’ve already received these. That’s the reason I undoubtedly need to go for a classification in a Grand Tour no less than as soon as in my profession.”
Highlights of the 2025 Tour de France Femmes route embrace the Col de la Madeleine and Col de Joux Airplane, with the pair of brutal climbs a part of the ultimate weekend set to determine the fourth race for the maillot jaune.
Whereas Kopecky hasn’t correctly but analysed the nine-day route, on account of being on vacation in South Africa when it was introduced, there’s hardly ever a parcours that does not swimsuit her. There’s additionally ample alternative for her to choose up bonus seconds on the hilly and flat phases that precede the Alpine finale.
“The actual fact is that it’ll value quite a lot of vitality if I actually need to go for a classification in a Grand Tour. After which it is a matter of ready for a Tour or Giro that’s actually tailor-made to me. A course the place you recognize it is value taking up such a challenge,” mentioned Kopecky.
“I haven’t actually found out the [2025] course but. I rapidly checked out what it seemed like, however to actually make an estimate I’ll must run all the person rides by means of VeloViewer.”
Kopecky opted to overlook the Tour de France Femmes and so not defend her inexperienced jersey or podium end in 2024, preferring to prioritise the highway and monitor occasions on the Paris Olympics. With none targets overlapping with July, a return to the Tour could be anticipated in 2025. Whether or not or not she’ll be capable of win it, nevertheless, is a very totally different query.
After a near-perfect 2023 season, Kopecky had a equally unprecedented 2024 marketing campaign, including Paris-Roubaix to her illustrious palmares, alongside second triumphs at Strade Bianche and the World Championships, the place she defended her highway race rainbow jersey.
“In 2022 I used to be very proud of my season. Final yr I assumed: ‘It actually cannot get any higher now’. Nevertheless it labored out,” mentioned Kopecky.
“Now I can say with certainty that it will not work out anymore, however I would be capable of do it subsequent yr another way.”
