Lotte Kopecky (SD Worx-Protime) came away empty-handed for the second straight day in La Vuelta Femenina. After finishing a close second on Sunday, Kopecky was relegated to last place in her group of 36 in the sprint on stage 2.
Coming onto the finishing straight in the slipstream of her teammate Anna van der Breggen, Kopecky looked like a very good bet for the victory on stage 2 to San Cibrao das Viñas.
But as she launched her sprint, Kopecky veered left, bumping into eventual stage winner Shari Bossuyt (AG Insurance-Soudal). She then veered right, into the path of eventual stage runner-up Franziska Koch (FDJ United-Suez) and stopped pedalling, crossing the line in 15th place.
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Kopecky was fined 500CHF for violating rule 2.12.007-5.1, "Deviation from the chosen line that obstructs or endangers another rider or irregular sprint", according to the race communique. She also received a yellow card and was docked 18 points toward the green jersey classification.
She said after the stage that her contact with Bossuyt caused her to make an error in shifting.
"I wanted to shift gears. With the SRAM system, if you press both buttons at the same time, you shift to the small chainring," a frustrated Kopecky explained to Belgian broadcaster Sporza.
"At the moment I wanted to shift up, I came into contact with Shari, that caused me to shift to the inner [smaller] chainring and drop the chain."
Taking to Instagram later in the day, Kopecky said that she wouldn't change anything about how she races the final in any upcoming sprint finishes.
"If I start a sprint tomorrow. I would do exactly the same," she wrote. "I got a great leadout from Anna VDB, start my sprint so I take my line, not Anna’s. So YES, I have to go off my original line. At that moment no one was next to me yet.
"After watching the video I really want to say Shari Bossuyt did not do anything wrong. So absolutely congrats to her!
"I don’t agree with the decision of the jury. But that’s another discussion all together. No further comment."
Until the last 200 metres, everything had gone to plan for Kopecky.
"My team did great work today and dropped me off for the final. That last climb was hard, but I got over it, then I came to Anna, and she did a perfect lead-out. I launched at the perfect moment," she told Sporza.
Now, Kopecky faces an uphill battle for the points classification, dropping from second to 14th, 38 points behind Bossuyt. She should have another opportunity for a sprint in Tuesday's stage 3 to A Coruña.
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