Lotte Kopecky Clinches Victory at Tour de Romandie Women After Three-Day Race

Tour de Romandie Women Summary: Kopecky Triumphs After Three Days of Racing

World champion Lotte Kopecky appears in top shape as she eyes retaining her title in Zurich. After beginning her 2024 road season with an overall win at the UAE Tour, Kopecky has now capped off her WorldTour racing year with another overall victory at the Tour de Romandie. This win adds to her 2023 Simac Ladies Tour title, making for a successful year in the rainbow jersey.

Kopecky showed consistency throughout the race, finishing second in both the sprint on Stage 1 and the mountaintop finish on Stage 2. She secured third place in the final stage, just behind two breakaway riders. These performances earned her the overall victory, placing her six seconds ahead of her teammate Demi Vollering and 46 seconds ahead of Gaia Realini of Lidl-Trek.

“I came here to see where my form stands, and I’m happy with how things are looking as we head towards the World Championships,” Kopecky commented after the final stage.

Elisa Balsamo (Lidl-Trek) took the opening stage win, while Riejanne Markus (Visma-Lease a Bike) claimed victory in the final stage after a day spent in the breakaway.

How It Unfolded

The Tour de Romandie Women began with an action-packed sprint stage. There were several strong attacks, the most notable coming from Elizabeth Holden (UAE Team ADQ) and Christine Majerus (SD Worx-Protime), but the peloton, led by FDJ-Suez and Lidl-Trek, reeled them in with 2.5 km to go. The sprint finish was contested by Lotte Kopecky and Elisa Balsamo, with the Italian taking the stage win and the first leader’s jersey of the race. Liane Lippert of Movistar secured third place.

Stage 2 featured a challenging 9.5 km climb that shook up the general classification. The climbers came to the forefront, but FDJ-Suez’s Évita Muzic crashed and couldn’t contest the finish. Mavi García (Liv AlUla Jayco) led much of the climb, but in the end, it came down to a battle between four riders: three from SD Worx-Protime (Vollering, Kopecky, and Niamh Fisher-Black) and Gaia Realini of Lidl-Trek. Vollering won the stage, but Kopecky’s strong performance earned her the leader’s jersey by a slim two-second margin.

The final stage, a rolling course, provided the last opportunity for a shakeup. A long-range breakaway by Fisher-Black and Markus held off the peloton for much of the day. Despite late attacks from the chasing group, Markus claimed the stage win, with Kopecky finishing third, securing her overall victory. Unfortunately, a crash in the finale involved Vollering and Ashleigh Moolman Pasio, but the 3 km rule protected Vollering’s second-place finish.

Quotes of the Race

The battle between Vollering and Kopecky on Stage 2 mirrored their close competition at Strade Bianche earlier in the season. After the finish, Vollering acknowledged Kopecky’s strength but expressed her determination to contest the overall title. Despite leaving SD Worx-Protime next season, Vollering remained focused on the race, hinting at the tactical decisions still to come.

Analysis

Elisa Balsamo’s stage win signals her return to form after a challenging season marred by a crash and illness. Lidl-Trek faces a rebuild next season with the loss of Elisa Longo Borghini, but new additions like Markus and Fisher-Black, combined with Realini, give them a solid foundation for future GC campaigns.

SD Worx-Protime, meanwhile, won’t miss Vollering much with Kopecky’s emergence as a top GC contender. Kopecky’s continued development as a climber suggests she could have made an impact on the Tour de France Femmes podium. As she heads into the World Championships in Zurich, she remains a top contender to defend her rainbow stripes for next season.