Lotte Kopecky's unmatched strength on the final ascent secured her the stage 1 victory at the Tour de France Femmes, but it left members of the select chase group questioning whether they could have done more to prevent another SD Worx victory.
"I feel frustrated with myself with how I rode in the final," said Kasia Niewiadoma as she cooled down on the trainer after the hilly opener. The stage finished with a category 3 ascent over the Côte de Durtol that peaked with 9km to go, followed by a fast descent and run-in to Clermont-Ferrand.
"I felt strong and in good shape, and today showed that I didn't use it. I hope that will change because it is annoying coming to races feeling good and doing nothing about it.
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"I think I really messed up when Lotte went. I just lost a couple of seconds. I was trying to get out of Ashleigh Moolman [Pasio] 's wheel because she was kind of blocking me. It's a pity for us it ended up like this because I think we could have had a better result."
Kopecky attacked partway up the final climb and immediately opened a small gap, which widened over the top and on the run-in, crossing the finish line 41 seconds ahead of a small group sprint won by her teammate Lorena Wiebes.
Among the initial chase group were multiple riders from FDJ-SUEZ; Marta Cavalli, Evita Muzic and Cecilie Uttrup Ludwig, Canyon-SRAM; Niewiadoma, Ricarda Bauernfeind, Elise Chabbey, and Movistar with defending champion Annemiek van Vleuten and Liane Lippert. There were also individual riders Demi Vollering (SD Worx), absolved of chasing her teammate up the road, Elisa Longo Borghini (Lidl-Trek), and Mavi Garcia (Liv Racing TeqFind).
There was little organization among the chase group behind Koepcky, with Cavalli suggesting that Vollering 'interrupted' their chase efforts by riding to the front and slowing down. A second group on the road that included Marlen Reusser and Wiebes (SD Worx) and Marianne Vos (Jumbo-Visma) reconnected with 2km to go, but by then, Kopecky had gained a healthy 40 seconds on her way to the stage win.
"It was definitely not [organized]. All the groups from the back came back together, so that showed that we weren't really riding," Niewiadoma said, suggesting that teams might have opted not to chase because Kopecky is not an SD Worx GC contender.
"Sometimes it feels like no one wants to work together because everyone has a different tactic or strategy in mind. She won't be fighting at Tourmalet, so the commitment [to chase] is always smaller."
Ashleigh Moolman-Pasio (AG Insurance-Soudal-QuickStep) also expressed frustration with the lack of organization among the chasing group. Although she had no other teammates in the group, she felt the non-SD Worx riders could have worked together to close the gap to Kopecky.
"Kasia and I got pretty close, but then, as the descent started, it was so frustrating. It wasn't my job to chase because there were other riders from other teams. I didn't want to just sit up, so I tried to keep things going," Moolman-Pasio said.
"I don't understand the mentality to attack and counter-attack because if we worked together, we could bring her back. Either way, it was not a big surprise for it to start this way, but I'm feeling good and looking forward to the next few days."
Lidl-Trek had one rider in the chase group, Elisa Longo Borghini. However, the team's director Ina Teutenberg said she would not have expected nor asked Longo Borghini to chase in this scenario.
"I know how strong Kopecky is, and never say never, but I do not think she is a threat to the GC. You never know, there are six classic stages, and maybe she gets 10 minutes by the end of them, and then they don't catch her. But I only had one rider in there, and I wouldn't have them chase," Teutenberg said.
"Kopecky was very strong today. You have to have the legs to do what she did, and no one could react. There were enough mountain riders there who saw her go on the climb, and no one had the legs to follow.
"Chapeau to Kopecky, the best rider won."
