Lotte Kopecky’s 2023 season could not have gone significantly better: It began with a win at Omloop Het Nieuwsblad adopted by a second Tour of Flanders victory earlier than a Tour de France Femmes total podium and culminated in three world titles in the identical week on the UCI World Championships in Glasgow.
Chatting with the press forward of the 2024 season, Kopecky is pragmatic concerning the likelihood of repeating her earlier successes: “I feel it was an incredible season and I feel for me an important factor I’ve to take with me within the subsequent season is to remain calm and to not begin to count on that each race would be the similar as final yr as a result of it won’t be,” she says.
Her goal, she says, is to take pleasure in racing within the rainbow jersey and “select my moments to get in the appropriate form and possibly decide a little bit bit extra the races I wish to be good at.”
The 28-year-old will start her season on the second version of the UAE Tour Ladies in two weeks earlier than specializing in a focused Classics marketing campaign which sees her sights set on a Flanders-Roubaix peak.
“Final yr, I managed to get truly on a really excessive stage by way of the entire spring however now I [will] attempt to possibly peak a little bit bit later, extra within the interval of [Tour of Flanders], Paris Roubaix, Amstel, Liège,” she explains. “As a result of in case you are already at the actual high of your recreation in Omloop then it is onerous to maintain this way for 2 months. So yeah, I took issues a little bit bit simpler this winter, to get on my finest type to start with of April and attempt to maintain it the entire month.”
A win at Paris Roubaix is the aim, with the cobbled Basic having eluded the Belgian rider so far. The unprecedented dynamic of the 2023 version in addition to dangerous luck within the type of crashing meant that she missed out in 2023.
“You can’t actually predict these races earlier than,” she displays. “It is actually how the day goes. Final yr was actually particular for ladies’s biking, I feel we had a break of like 17 riders, roughly. That is one thing we don’t see usually. For positive not in a basic race. So yeah, we simply should be ready for all eventualities.”
Though the Hell of the North is clearly a goal for the Belgian she is reluctant to place stress on herself for the one-day Basic:
“It is a race I simply actually like. I imply, it is preventing by way of to each cobbled part. It is also… your weight would not matter in any respect. I imply, not like different races. It is also the type of efforts I actually like and it is only a heroic race. It is a very cool race and I simply hope I can win it in the future. However I additionally realise that it is actually onerous to say or harmful to say I wish to win Paris Roubaix or put all my playing cards on that race as a result of the race could be over earlier than it,” she says.
“That is why I say extra the month of April is for me an important as a result of then , I imply, in case you’re good in Tour of Flanders then you definately’re additionally good at Paris Roubaix and also you’re additionally good in Amstel. So it is extra of a interval I attempt to goal and probably not simply that one race, though it could be good if I can simply win that race. However we’ll see. It is a particular race, it is a good race and I simply attempt to go there with out an excessive amount of stress. And I feel that also works the most effective for me.”
The World Champion can be reluctant to solidify her plans for the season post-Classics as she gears in direction of the Paris Olympic Recreations the place she’s going to compete in each the highway and observe occasions. With the Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift coming scorching on the heels of the Olympics, Kopecky retains that she remains to be uncertain as as to whether she’s going to make it to the beginning line in Rotterdam in August.
“First I give attention to the Classics as a result of these are additionally essential to me. I simply hope that I could make a great Classics season and simply go along with good vibes in direction of this build-up to the Olympics. After which I feel with the mixture of observe and highway I already proved that that is one thing I can do, and it would not actually have an effect on observe or highway races for me” she says.
“So I am going to end the classics season in Liège and after that, I am going to actually make a very detailed programme in direction of the Olympics. And likewise the Tour de France is excellent after. That is additionally one thing we are going to focus on later if I’ll do the Tour de France or not.”
“That is one thing I actually wish to begin to actually get utterly deliberate or organised after the Classics. Then we now have a full imaginative and prescient of how I’m at that second. I feel it is best for me to plan it fairly late.”
For now, although, she is already itching to get her 2024 marketing campaign underway: “I am truly blissful I can begin in UAE Tour as a result of I actually wish to begin racing,” she says.
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