After the home-nation Road World Championships in Flanders didn’t run to plan, it looked every bit like Lotte Kopecky could have a redo on the Wollongong course, particularly when she underlined her combination of climbing/sprint credentials by taking victory at Strade Bianche ahead of Annemiek van Vleuten.
However, after a tough Tour de France Femmes, it turns out the Belgian actually pulled the pin on Worlds. It was only after an unexpected recent turn of form that she asked for her place back, and she now finds herself in Australia fighting for two rainbow jerseys.
Kopecky had a superb start to the 2022 season, from that Strade Bianche win to a Tour of Flanders victory, second place at Paris-Roubaix, a Vuelta a Burgos stage victory, and the Belgian national time trial title. That, however, is where the victories stopped.
There were still podiums, with a second place on stage 6 of the Giro d’Italia Donne and two thirds at the Tour de France, where Kopecky was also involved in a crash with compatriot Lorena Wiebes (Team DSM), but the top step eluded Kopecky and her form wasn’t what she felt it should be.
"The Tour de France, to me felt super bad," Kopecky told Cyclingnews after a media conference just north of Wollongong this week. "My body was a bit struggling. So afterwards, I took some rest and I decided to skip the Europeans on the road, but I did them on the track."
And that wasn’t all she decided to skip, also pulling out of the Worlds team.
"After the Tour, actually, I didn't touch my bike for a week," said Kopecky. "My body just needed a bit of rest and when I came on the track I was flying again."
Kopecky said initially the decision to drop the Australian Worlds had lifted a weight, but then came her successful track outing, where she swept up gold in both the points and the elimination race, and she was regretting her decision.
"Afterwards I was at home and I also really felt that I made a wrong decision," said Kopecky. "So I called the coach again and said that if my place was still there, that I would really like to take it again."
And this time she didn't just sign up for the road race, with the rider who has won the national championships in the discipline the last four years adding a Worlds time trial to the agenda as well.
The 34.2km elite women's time trial, which runs on the morning of Sunday September 18, delivers a corner-heavy course which winds its way from near the water's edge in central Wollongong, through the city and surrounds and back again, with riders taking in two laps of the circuit.
It is a technical course that has the potential to deliver some unexpected results. However, Kopecky said that as it is her first foray in the time trial at Worlds, she is not sure where she will sit on the final score card.
