Lotte Kopecky took back-to-back wins at the 2024 Lloyds Bank Tour of Britain Women, powering to the second stage victory in Wrexham after a breakaway with British rider Anna Henderson.
The world champion from SD Worx-ProTime stormed up the iconic Horseshoe Pass at a blistering pace, breaking away from the peloton with Henderson (Great Britain Cycling Team) hot on her wheel, before beating the Brit in a sprint finish after tackling 140.2km and 1,570m of climbing.
It was a steady start out of Wrexham’s town centre, with the peloton staying together and embracing the crowds, before Franziska Koch (Team dsm-Firmenich Postnl) made the first big move of the day around 30km in.
Reaching the first Queen of the Mountains (QOM) of the day at 88km in, Koch remained unchallenged, and had increased her lead to three minutes and 15 seconds. With a distance of 1.4km and average elevation of 3%, Koch took Eyton Hill in her stride to take maximum QOM points, while a strong sprint behind saw Heidi Franz (Lifeplus-Wahoo) cross the line second and the current jersey holder, Lizzie Deigan (Great Britain Cycling Team) take third.
The peloton slowly started to reel Koch back in, reducing the gap to a minute as the German rider also took the intermediate sprint solo at the 93km mark. A battle for second and third saw Charlotte Kool (Team dsm-Firmenich Postnl) and Kopecky go shoulder to shoulder, with the Dutch rider just edging out ahead of the race leader. Koch was shortly swallowed back up by the peloton, but secured the Combativity award of the day for her efforts.
The race was set alight as the riders battled up the second Queen of the Mountains on Horseshoe Pass, with Kopecky taking the 4.2km climb and 6.4% gradient in her stride. The Belgium rider showed her world champion class, accelerating effortlessly from the front of the peloton to form a gap, with Henderson straight on her wheel. Deignan attacked to take third on the classification and retain her Queen of the Mountains jersey.
Henderson and Kopecky continued to build a considerable lead on the peloton, with the gap growing to 38 seconds coming into the final 10km of the race.
Heading into Wrexham, Henderson tried to mount a last gasp attack on the world champion, but was no match for Kopecky, who stormed to her second win of this year’s Tour of Britain Women and crossed the line with her arms outstretched. The chasing pack crossed the line 20 seconds later with sprint queen Lorena Wiebes (SD Worx-ProTime) powering to third.
Kopecky’s win sees the Belgium rider maintain the leader’s jersey and sprinters jersey, while Henderson now sits in the Best of British jersey. Deignan remains top of the Queen of the Mountains category, while Elise Jansen’s 10th place sees her maintain the Young Rider jersey. With two riders on the podium today, SD-Worx ProTime maintain the team classification.
Speaking on her second stage win, Kopecky said:
“It couldn’t have gone better, I am really happy with today’s race. It was nice to get Anna with me in the break today, and I wasn’t prepared to try something after the longer climb. I knew what the finish would look like, and I didn’t panic, and it’s been another really good day for our team.”
Henderson said:
“I am really happy, bittersweet I think. I was super happy to go with Lotte and be on par with her physically up the climb. But being that close to the win, I am disappointed but happy with my second race back after breaking my collarbone.”
"On the team’s potential to win an upcoming stage, Henderson said: “I think we can, we have a lot of strength in the team and it is a big ambition for us as a team to win a stage.”
Deignan added:
“We have a really strong group of women now, it is exciting. I think it is the first time we can say that we have four strong road riders that could potentially medal in Paris."
“It is always nice to take a trip to the podium, being in the Queen of the Mountain jersey, and win some flowers. My mum is here so extra motivation there!”
Tomorrow’s third stage will start and finish in front of the iconic Golden Gates of Warrington Town Hall, with the peloton immediately heading south, crossing the River Mersey and Great Manchester Canal. Riders will then pass the stunning Walton Hall and Gardens before breezing through the picturesque Cheshire West and Chester villages of Higher Whitley, Great Budworth and Wincham.
Find the full preview to the event here.
Photo credit SWpix.com.