Takelast week
Julia Kopecký leaves SD Worx-Protime for Lidl-Trek on a two-year deal through 2028. This isn't a step down from a superteam — it's an exit from depth, trading a roster stacked with leaders for room to become one.
At 22, Kopecký already holds four elite Czech championships, including three consecutive time-trial titles, plus a road race/time-trial double in June 2026 — yet she still calls herself "a classics rider" chasing her first major final. SD Worx-Protime's depth chart makes that ambiguity hard to resolve; Lidl-Trek, rebuilding under the Schleck brothers with young talent given real responsibility, is betting that space to fail is what turns a champion at the national level into one at the WorldTour level.
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