Kopecky's overall victory secured

Kopecky's overall victory secured

Reward for Majerus fails in final stage of Tour of Britain

09/06/2024

The master plan to end the Tour of Britain with a stage win for the ‘best’ teammate of all time Christine Majerus, in addition to Lotte Kopecky's overall victory, failed. Although the Luxembourg rider did manage to move up to third place and thus a podium place in the general classification behind Kopecky and Anna Henderson thanks to the action in the last twohundred metres. That satisfied the team.

Linked race Tour of Britain Women - Linked cyclists Lotte Kopecky Elena Cecchini Chantal Van Den Broek-Blaak Lorena Wiebes Barbara Guarischi Christine Majerus - Gekoppelde ploegleiders: Danny Stam

On the rain-drenched course around Manchester, Kopecky's leading position was still eagerly attacked, but Team SD Worx-Protime defended the leading position across the board with great conviction. In the final chicane 250 metres before the line, Kopecky grabbed a few more metres, before holding back to let Majerus (who is in her 11th season for Team SD Worx-Protime) sprint to the stage win. There, the Luxembourger made the mistake of cheering too early, allowing Ruby Roseman-Gannon to run away with the stage win.

Christine Majerus: ‘Of course it is my fault that I cheered too early, but at the same time I must also congratulate Ruby for continuing to believe in the stage win until the finish line. I want to thank my teammates for giving me the chance to sprint for victory today. You know I'm sorry I messed up. But not all is bad today, because Lotte won the Tour of Britain and I was able to move up in the standings and join her on the podium in third place. I'm more than happy with that."

Lotte Kopecky: ‘It was a cold day and a hectic ride with some nice, steep climbs. In the end, we always kept control. We made the choice to play Christine's card in the sprint. We did that perfectly until the last corner where I came out with a slightly too big lead. When I saw Christine turn on, I stuck to our plan. We made the deal that she would sprint for the win today, but maybe this was a mistake. Nevertheless, I would still do exactly the same now when we were in the same position."

"It would be nice for Christine, who is always committed to the others in the team, to win another race at WorldTour level in her last season. However, as a team we still came out well. Ruby ends up winning the stage. She is a good rider and this is a nice win for her. In the end, I am happy that Christine still finished third on the overall podium thanks to the bonification seconds. Maybe it all looked funny. It is what it is, but I am certainly not disappointed. With our performance throughout this Tour of Britain and my overall victory, I am thickly satisfied."

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