Lotte Kopecky has hit back at “completely unnecessary” comments made by her former SD Worx-Protime teammate Demi Vollering, after the Dutchwoman said the pair had become evasive of each other.
In an interview with NRC last month, Vollering said that Kopecky “tried to avoid me a bit” during her final year with SD Worx-Protime. “She was more focused on herself,” said the 28-year-old, who has since signed for FDJ-Suez.
“I can understand that, with all the expectations they have of her in Belgium. But she was very focused on next year when I am no longer there.”
According to Vollering, the pair’s relationship came to a head at the Tour de Romandie in September, where they sprinted against each other on stage two, as they did at Strade Bianche in 2023. Vollering won the stage, but lost out on the overall to Kopecky by six seconds.
“I noticed that the communication was only one-sided. In Romandie we avoided each other a bit," the Dutchwoman told NRC. "Then I thought, 'Now it's just over.'"
Responding to Vollering’s comments in an interview with HLN, Kopecky said it was “completely unnecessary to start kicking people now”.
“I think Demi should remember that this team has given her a lot. Demi is a really good rider, but this team has brought her to where she is now and I hope she is very grateful for that and then she should show a bit more respect for that,” the world champion said.
This season, the two leaders competed together in eight races for SD Worx-Protime, seven of which came in the spring.
“Things didn’t go great for Demi,” Kopecky said of the early-season races. “She was fortunately able to make up for that in the Spanish races afterwards, but I think it’s not my fault that she didn’t perform well in the spring. Afterwards we rode separate programs. She aimed for the Tour, I for the Giro and the Games.”
Kopecky added that it was September’s Tour de Romandie where she believes “it went wrong for Demi”.
“Demi said she was aiming for the general classification and I also said I wanted to go for the overall victory,” the Belgian said, adding of the recent comments: "I think it's a shame that she makes these statements.”
“I've always had a good relationship with Demi,” Kopecky continued. “I hope that we can still treat each other with respect in the future, at least that is certainly the case for me. I hope that Demi will do that, too.”
