Lotte Kopecky (SD Worx-Protime) has made the difficult decision to abandon the Giro d'Italia Women after stage 5 due to ongoing back pain. The World Champion will take several days to recover before turning her attention to the upcoming Tour de France Femmes that starts on July 26 in Vannes.
"According to the medical staff of Team SD Worx – Protime, the discomfort in her lower back should heal completely with a few days of rest. She will then be able to resume her preparations for the Tour de France Femmes as planned," SD Worx-Protime confirmed in a press release.
SD Worx-Protime manager Danny Stam initially confirmed that Kopecky was experiencing back pain after she lost more than 19 minutes on stage 4's final climb to Pianezze.
“Lotte has pain in her lower back; that’s why things didn’t go as they should on the climbs. Under these circumstances, there was little point in going all-out on the finishing climb, and Lotte chose to take it easy," Stam told Het Laatste Nieuws on Wednesday.
Koepcky started stage 5's 120km race from Mirano to Monselice and finished in fourth place, in the group that had torn off the front of the main field in the wind-swept echelons. She supported her teammates Lorena Wiebes to victory and Anna van der Breggen to move up to third overall in the GC standings.
However, she and the team staff made the decision that she sit out the final three stages of the Giro d'Italia.
"Lotte Kopecky will not start tomorrow's sixth stage of the Giro d'Italia Women. The world champion is still experiencing some discomfort in her lower back. As a precaution ahead of the Tour de France Femmes, she is leaving the Giro d'Italia Women to take three to four days of complete rest," the team confirmed.
In addition to the support she provided her teammates in the opening five stages, Kopecky finished second on stage 1 in Bergamo, third on stage 3 in Trento, and fourth on stage 5 in Monselice.
"Kopecky led the sprint today for Lorena Wiebes, who recorded her second stage victory in three days. With a second, third and fourth place in the stage results, Kopecky has performed well in Italy over the past few days. However, she experienced some discomfort in her lower back when climbing, so she did not want to push herself too hard."
From the start of the season, Kopecky has been very clear about her intent to pursue the yellow jersey at the Tour de France Femmes. She made some drastic changes to her season targets that saw her take a slower build-up ahead of the late-Spring Classics, only starting her season at Milan-San Remo.
She has only raced in one other stage race this year, Vuelta a Burgos, but she finished second overall at the 2023 Tour de France Femmes, behind her then-teammate Demi Vollering, and second overall at the Giro d'Italia last year, proving that she can climb with the best on the iconic slopes of the Col du Tourmalet and Blockhaus, respectively.
Whether she is healthy in time to compete for the overall title at the Tour de France Femmes this year remains to be seen.
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