Lotte Kopecky, who wore the yellow jersey of the Tour from the first to the last day, when she lost it in the Tourmalet, is the absolute queen of the World Cycling Championships held in Scotland, which closed with the women’s road race. She dressed in the rainbow jersey, as she did in the elimination and scoring track tests, and in addition to the three golds, she got the bronze in omnium. On the last day, and from start to finish, the Belgian runner was the best, and she knew it. That’s why she ran restless, nervous, waiting for any movement, sometimes falling into traps that she later knew how to get out of, because her legs and her head were enough for that and more. Kopecky, who managed to get onto the Tour podium behind only Demi Vollering, her teammate, ended up relegating her to second place in Glasgow a few days later.
He had to wait for the last lap of the unpleasant circuit through the streets of Glasgow to fully show his tricks, which were the good ones. The World Cup had been run in the classic way, without earpieces to hand out slogans, with skirmishes that separated the wheat from the chaff; opting for natural selection. In the end, after going through several filters, the race was only between the Swiss Chabbey, the promoter of a short but persistent breakaway, and a group with Kopecky, Ludwig, Vollering, Van Vleuten, Reusser, apparently recovered from the downturn of the time trial, Schweinberger and Deignan.
Always in sight, Chabbey kept his pursuers on edge, who understood each other at times; sometimes not, and they looked at each other with mistrust. Kopecky asked for collaboration with his gestures, perhaps because he knew that he was very strong, but he did not receive it, precisely because the others also knew it.
Van Vleuten attacked and her rival for the rest of the year, Demi Vollering, stopped the group by doing teamwork for a day, all the Netherlands. It had to be Kopecky who closed the gap, but the effort did not take its toll. Then Van Vleuten worked for Vollering. There were only a few kilometers left and on the penultimate ascent to Monrose Street, an attack by Vollering led to the neutralization of Chabbey. Then Van Vleuten disappeared.
The previous world champion suffered a breakdown, had to change bikes for the second time and lost her options. No one in the group noticed at first; then yes, and they all looked back in surprise, especially Vollering, who lost an ally, and Kopecky, who got rid of an occasional enemy –for that they run on the same team–. The Dutch options to play two tricks vanished and anarchy appeared in the group. Ludwig and Schweinberger attacked, taking a few meters. In the end, Kopecky had to come out after them, and in the chaos, the Belgian managed with mastery. It seemed like the end, but Vollering made her penultimate effort and managed to catch up with the women in front on one of the slopes, where she came from behind and wanted to surprise.
Then the cramps struck. He rubbed his left leg, took his foot off the pedal and stretched his muscles, but on the next hill, Ludwig hit, Kopecky followed, and Vollering couldn’t answer. The two of them would play, in principle, the gold medal. With 5.5 kilometers to go, Kopecky began to crown herself Queen of Scots. She left her rival behind and left alone on the way to the rainbow. The Danish Ludwig did not win the silver medal either, because in a class start, Demi Vollering overcame the distance that separated them in the final stretch, and finished second by a tubular. After her, forgetting for a day that they were rivals, she melted into a hug with her teammate Lotte Kopecky, since Sunday, Queen of Scots.
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