For a team as dominant as SD Worx, anything less than a victory probably feels like a disappointment, and that is precisely how yellow jersey Lotte Kopecky felt about suffering a puncture and finishing second in the uphill sprint into Mauriac on stage 2 at the Tour de France Femmes.
"I didn't start [my sprint] too early. Once I started, however, I didn't feel like I had grip in my back wheel," Kopecky told the press that she was surprised to see that the tire in her back wheel was flat after she crossed the line.
"I'm disappointed with second because the team did a good job today. But, we should be happy that none of us crashed, and we have our position on GC."
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The rain-soaked stage 2 of the Tour de France Femmes, an undulating 151.7km route from Clermont to Ferrand to Mauriac, saw multiple crashes along the slippery and technical mountain roads, ended with a chaotic run-in to a steep final ascent.
The final climb was five kilometres, but it was broken up by a slight dip in the terrain through the flamme rouge before kicking back up with 500 metres to the finish line.
"The race was really nervous. The roads were slippery, and then there was a final downhill toward the final climb. In the end, we saw rain, and it was very nervous," Kopecky said.
An attack by Kopecky's teammate Marlen Reusser forced the paces high into the last section of the climb. Once she was caught, Demi Vollering took over to lead out try Kopecky in an attempt to secure a second consecutive win at the Tour.
Vollering explained that she had no knowledge of Kopecky's puncture through the final roundabout and into the last pitch and would have gone for the win for herself if she had known to secure the time bonuses at the line.
It was pretty scary at that point, and I was really careful. I'd rather lose a few seconds than crash," Vollering said of the chaotic race into Mauriac.
"In the final, I did the sprint for Lotte, but she only noticed afterwards that she had a flat tire. If I'd known that before, I would have done my own sprint to try and take the stage win myself," noting that stage 4 from Cahors to Rodez and stage 7 from Lannemezan to the Col du Tourmalet will be her main targets.
"Maybe I would have won ten seconds [bonus], but I'd prefer to save my legs for Wednesday and Saturday."
As for Kopecky, she explained that she didn't realise she had a flat tire until she crossed the line behind Lippert and looked at her back wheel.
"Though the last corner, behind Demi, I felt something was wrong with the bike. I thought, 'What's going on here,'" Kopecky said.
"Demi started a lead out, and when I started my sprint, I felt something was wrong, but I didn't know what. I just kept sprinting to the line, but after the finish, I realised that my back wheel was a flat tire."
Kopecky finished just behind the day's winner Liane Lippert (Movistar), while Silvia Persico (UAE Team Emirates) finished third. Kopecky acknowledged Lippert's strengths on the climb and that she was one of the favourites for a stage 2 win, too.
"This was also a good finish for Liane Lippert. She is very strong on a finish like this, and she also deserved to win," Kopecky said.
Stage 3 from Collonges-la-Rouge to Montignac-Lascaux appears to be one for the sprinters where SD Worx plan to work for Lorena Wiebes.
"Tomorrow is not as hard as today, the final is more flat, and something that will suit Lorena. We will see how the race is going, if there is a break, it all depends on how the race goes."
