TakeWorlds9 hours ago
Lotte Kopecky is racing junior men again before a World Championships. She did this exact thing in 2023—five races against junior men before the Tour de France Femmes—and went on to win the rainbow jersey in Glasgow. This isn't a novelty act, it's her actual prep protocol.
In 2026 Kopecky has one notable result all year, Milan-San Remo, and just pulled out of the Tour of Britain Women sick. So she went back to the formula: Molenbeek-Wersbeek against juniors, 36th at 1:16. In 2023 she explained it plainly—«those guys give me stimuli that I can really use later in the season»—and followed it with a Tour de France Femmes stage win and the world title. Belgium coach Ludwig Willems says she's climbing back toward that level, and there may be another junior race on the calendar before Montreal.
Sources