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Paris-Roubaix Femmes avec Zwift winner Lotte Kopecky was not in the beginning of Wednesday’s Brabantse Pijl in Belgium, as she recovers from the weekend’s victory, however the world champion has been confirmed to experience the Giro d’Italia Women in July.
It will likely be the Belgian’s fourth begin on the Italian Grand Tour and see her make a return to the race after two years. The information was introduced by her SD Worx-Protime sporting supervisor Danny Stam, who was discussing the crew’s coming plans with Het Laatste Nieuws.
“Lotte will experience the Giro. A great race to attain and enhance stage wins your self. Lotte won’t go on an altitude coaching course earlier than the beginning of the [Olympic] Video games,” he stated. “We are going to keep on the lowlands and attempt to let her develop to her high degree by means of stage races.”
Learn extra: Paris-Roubaix Femmes avec Zwift: Lotte Kopecky sprints to a narrow victory in the velodrome
As Stam referred to, the Giro d’Italia Girls can be an essential a part of Kopecky’s Olympic preparations, the place the Belgian is hoping to take medals each on the highway and on the monitor in Paris. The ultimate stage of the Giro, working from 7–14 July, takes place 13 days out from the Olympic time trial occasion.
Kopecky has raced the Giro on three events, ending the race twice and selecting up one stage victory alongside the way in which. That victory in 2020 was truly the Belgian’s first at Girls’s WorldTour degree and got here simply weeks earlier than she signed for her first WorldTeam, Liv Racing.
4 years on and the world champion can be again wanting so as to add to her stage win tally, however as for the Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift, the place the 28-year-old completed runner-up final summer season, Kopecky’s participation stays undecided.
“A longlist for the Tour isn’t but there, as a result of sure riders have been injured and it’s not but clear whether or not they are going to get match,” Stam stated. “After Liège, I’ll sit down with Lotte and speak in regards to the Tour. An important factor is what she desires.”
The Tour de France Femmes begins solely a day after the omnium on the Olympic Video games.
This 12 months’s Liège-Bastogne-Liège, in the meantime, would be the first of Kopecky’s profession, however the stress can be off the Paris-Roubaix champion, with Demi Vollering the slated chief for SD Worx-Protime.
Demi Vollering to steer SD Worx-Protime within the Ardennes
In her high form, Kopecky could be a serious favorite for Liège-Bastogne-Liège alongside her teammate and defending champion, Vollering, however Stam is eager to level out that it has been a protracted spring for the Belgian.
“It isn’t the course that would be the deciding issue for Lotte in Liège. The psychological and bodily freshness after a protracted spring can be. She has labored in the direction of the Tour of Flanders and Roubaix. It stays to be seen how a lot is left in her tank in opposition to women who can be comparatively contemporary in the beginning.”
Learn extra: Lotte Kopecky on Paris-Roubaix win: ‘Today was exactly as we planned’
A kind of more energizing riders can be Vollering herself, who selected to not experience Paris-Roubaix and can tackle the trio of Ardennes Classics: Amstel Gold Race, La Flèche Wallonne and Liège-Bastogne-Liège, all three of which she received final 12 months.
“Demi is our chief within the Ardennes. We hope to get at the least one win along with her.”
Vollering, who is about to depart the crew on the finish of the season, is but to win in 2024 however discovered her greatest consequence but at De Brabantse Pijl, the place she positioned second behind Lidl-Trek’s Elisa Longo Borghini. Alongside the Italian, Vollering will start the Ardennes Classics as an impressive candidate so as to add to her 29 profession victories.
Learn extra: SD Worx team manager wanted to keep Vollering and Kopecky for 2025
For the newest information, interviews and evaluation from the world {of professional} biking, remember to try the Racing tab on the GCN website and go to our essential guide to The Spring Classics to remain updated with all the motion from biking’s most enjoyable season.
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