Lotte Kopecky has hit again at “utterly pointless” feedback made by her former SD Worx-Protime teammate Demi Vollering, after the Dutchwoman mentioned the pair had grow to be evasive of one another.
In an interview with NRC final month, Vollering mentioned that Kopecky “tried to keep away from me a bit” throughout her closing 12 months with SD Worx-Protime. “She was extra targeted on herself,” mentioned the 28-year-old, who has since signed for FDJ-Suez.
“I can perceive that, with all of the expectations they’ve of her in Belgium. However she was very targeted on subsequent 12 months when I’m now not there.”
In accordance with Vollering, the pair’s relationship got here to a head on the Tour de Romandie in September, the place they sprinted in opposition to one another on stage two, as they did at Strade Bianche in 2023. Vollering received the stage, however misplaced out on the general to Kopecky by six seconds.
“I observed that the communication was solely one-sided. In Romandie we prevented one another a bit,” the Dutchwoman instructed NRC. “Then I believed, ‘Now it is simply over.'”
Responding to Vollering’s feedback in an interview with HLN, Kopecky mentioned it was “utterly pointless to start out kicking folks now”.
“I believe Demi ought to keep in mind that this staff has given her so much. Demi is a very good rider, however this staff has introduced her to the place she is now and I hope she may be very grateful for that after which she ought to present a bit extra respect for that,” the world champion mentioned.
This season, the 2 leaders competed collectively in eight races for SD Worx-Protime, seven of which got here within the spring.
“Issues didn’t go nice for Demi,” Kopecky mentioned of the early-season races. “She was fortuitously in a position to make up for that within the Spanish races afterwards, however I believe it’s not my fault that she didn’t carry out properly within the spring. Afterwards we rode separate packages. She aimed for the Tour, I for the Giro and the Video games.”
Kopecky added that it was September’s Tour de Romandie the place she believes “it went fallacious for Demi”.
“Demi mentioned she was aiming for the final classification and I additionally mentioned I wished to go for the general victory,” the Belgian mentioned, including of the current feedback: “I believe it is a disgrace that she makes these statements.”
“I’ve all the time had a great relationship with Demi,” Kopecky continued. “I hope that we will nonetheless deal with one another with respect sooner or later, not less than that’s definitely the case for me. I hope that Demi will try this, too.”
