Lotte Kopecky leads the Simac Ladies Tour(Image credit: Getty Images)
Lotte Kopecky and Lorena Wiebes go 1-2 on stage 4(Image credit: Getty Images)
Wearing the yellow jersey, Lotte Kopecky (Team SD Worx) has won her second Simac Ladies Tour stage in three days by sprinting to victory at the top of the Cauberg ahead of her teammate Lorena Wiebes and Kasia Niewiadoma (Canyon-SRAM).
After an attritional race with many attacks, Floortje Mackaij had made a solo move from a small front group with five kilometres to go and began the Cauberg with a 15-second advantage, but an attack by Niewiadoma quickly spelled the end of Mackaij's dreams.
Instead, Niewiadoma pulled away from the rest of the favourites with Kopecky and Wiebes on her wheel, and Kopecky pounced at the top of the climb to win the stage.
"First of all, I really have to thank my teammates. They worked so hard, setting the pace, chasing back groups and closing gaps; it is thanks to them that we could sprint to first and second place today. It can’t get more beautiful than that,” said Kopecky.
“I knew that the Cauberg is a climb that suits me. We discussed the scenario in our morning meeting, and I am happy that we could pull it off. Tomorrow is another day, and you shouldn’t underestimate it; it will be hot again. The parcours is very punchy, so we will see if I can take the jersey home,” the overall leader wasn’t ready to celebrate overall victory just yet.
With one relatively hilly stage around Arnhem to go, Kopecky is now 11 seconds ahead of Wiebes, with Anna Henderson (Team Jumbo-Visma) 37 seconds behind in third place.
How it unfolded
The day didn’t begin well for Team SD Worx as Demi Vollering had to abandon the race due to illness, leaving the team with two leaders for the 131.6-kilometre stage through the hills of southern Limburg. The stage finished with two laps of a circuit that included the Geulhemmerberg, Bemelerberg, and Cauberg and was raced in very hot weather.
Before the start, there was a minute’s silence for one of the race’s neutral service mechanics who passed the night before.
Femke Gerritse (Parkhotel Valkenburg) won the first mountain sprint on the Bemelerberg after 15 km and took another point on the first passage of the Cauberg to take the polka-dot jersey from her teammate Lieke Nooijen.
A crash in the feed zone took down Christina Schweinberger (Fenix-Deceuninck), second-placed Riejanne Markus (Team Jumbo-Visma), and Lucinda Brand (Lidl-Trek). Schweinberger could continue the race, but Markus and Brand had to abandon, as did several other riders due to other crashes.
After many more-or-less short-lived attacks, Ruby Roseman-Gannon (Team Jayco AlUla), green jersey Charlotte Kool (Team DSM-Firmenich), Maike van der Duin (Canyon-SRAM), and Barbara Guarischi (Team SD Worx) got away, but an attack by Annemiek van Vleuten (Movistar Team) then saw a group of favourites bridge to the front group with 54 km to go.
Van Vleuten attacked twice more in quick succession, and Kopecky was forced to close the gap herself both times. Niewiadoma and Pfeiffer Georgi (Team DSM-Firmenich) made the next move, and they were let go by Kopecky and Wiebes.
As the two frontrunners increased their gap to over 30 seconds, riders returned from behind, turning the small chase group into a reduced peloton, and the Team SD Worx riders immediately took control of the chase. At the bottom of the first of three ascents of the Cauberg, the gap had been reduced to 20 seconds, and 28 km from the finish, Niewiadoma and Georgi were reeled in.
The next move was initiated by Brodie Chapman (Lidl-Trek) who took Francesca Barale (Team DSM-Firmenich), Letizia Paternoster (Team Jayco AlUla), Jelena Erić (Movistar Team), Elena Cecchini (Team SD Worx), and white jersey Zoe Bäckstedt (Canyon-SRAM) with her.
Erić, Barale, and Cecchini left the others behind on the second Cauberg ascent but were themselves caught just after the climb. Several attacks followed but were closed down by Kopecky who stayed attentive at the front of the peloton to keep things together.
Mackaij attacked just under eight kilometres from the finish and got a gap, though she had Cecchini sitting on her wheel. Elise Uijen (Team DSM-Firmenich), Shirin van Anrooij (Lidl-Trek), and Quinty Schoens (Parkhotel Valkenburg) bridged to the front duo just as disaster was narrowly averted when a car drove onto the course.
Mackaij made another move and went solo with 5 km to go, quickly getting a gap of up to 25 seconds, but only 15 seconds were left for her as she began the final ascent of the Cauberg. In the peloton, Niewiadoma launched a strong attack that quickly bridged the gap to Mackaij, but unfortunately for the Pole, she had Kopecky on her wheel with Wiebes just clinging onto Kopecky’s wheel.
After that attack, Niewiadoma had nothing left for the sprint, and Kopecky easily won the stage, with Wiebes making it another SD Worx 1-2.
Lukas Knöfler started working in cycling communications in 2013 and has seen the inside of the scene from many angles. Having worked as press officer for teams and races and written for several online and print publications, he has been Cyclingnews’ Women’s WorldTour correspondent since 2018.
