'The fun factor is lacking' – Lotte Kopecky's struggles continue on stage 2 of the Tour de France Femmes

After two days of struggle at the Tour de France Femmes, Lotte Kopecky says, "the fun factor is a bit lacking at the moment"

The world champion has endured a disappointing start to the Grand Tour in Brittany and heads into stage 3 already almost three minutes off the race lead with the hardest days of the race yet to come.

Before the Grand Départ, Kopecky said a stage win would be the limit of her ambitions following a back injury at the recent Giro d'Italia Women. But after a punishing opening weekend, she's now just eyeing the end of the race, she said in Quimper after stage 2.

"The fun factor is very important to me and it's a bit lacking at the moment," Kopecky told the assembled media after the hilly race around Finistère, won by Mavi García.

"I've had some great seasons in the past years, so to be riding around like this season in this jersey is difficult mentally.

"Ideally, I'd like it to be next Sunday as soon as possible," she added, referring to the race's conclusion in Châtel. "Hopefully, we'll have been able to achieve something beautiful with the team at this Tour by then. But I'll have to put my personal ambitions aside."

Kopecky's first two results of the race, 43rd in Plumelec and 48th in Quimper, rank some way short of what she might've hoped for, and a world away from her most recent outing in France.

Two years ago, she finished second overall, wore yellow, and won the points classification, picking up a stage win in Clermont-Ferrand to boot.

Sunday's stage saw her drop from the peloton on the final climb of the day, the fourth-category Côte du Chemin de Trohéir, before battling her way back to the front of the peloton at 1.5km to go for a 700-metre pull.

The efforts of her and her SD Worx-Protime teammates weren't enough to bring García back and deliver Lorena Wiebes to victory, but it wasn't for lack of trying.

"I had a hard time on the climb today, but they said in my earpiece, 'Lotte, we'll need you later.' I tried to get back and make one last effort. Unfortunately, we came up a bit short, but I'm glad I was still able to do something, even if it was only a few hundred metres," Kopecky said, before team manager Danny Stam admitted that his team alone didn't have the firepower to catch the Spaniard.

"I don't think we underestimated [García]. We didn't have riders to close it," he said. "Lotte tried everything she had, and the moment that Anna took over then they started sprinting already.

"When you get second, then you can ask 'OK, did you underestimate?' but we just didn't have the people to close it. Lotte was dropped before she came back, and she directly started chasing."

Despite a rough first two days, the Dutch squad do have some positives to point towards. Anna van der Breggen is firmly in contention among the top 10, while Wiebes is second in the points classification with two stages suited to her coming up on Monday and Tuesday.

For Kopecky, though, the remaining seven days of the Tour could be long ones.

"The feeling isn't great, and that's quite frustrating. I'm not someone who makes excuses. It's just not working," she said.

"I had a long preparation, and I've been away from home for a long time. I wanted to start well, but it has all gone wrong."

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