Lotte Kopecky is the world champion in cycling

Belgian Lotte Kopecky became world champion this Sunday at the Road Cycling World Championships in Glasgow, Scotland, while Dutch Annemiek van Vleuten said goodbye to big stages in eighth place.

Kopecky, 27, covered the 154.1 km between Loch Lomond and Glasgow, where the city circuit was organized, in 4:02.12 hours, crossing the finish line alone, with a seven-second lead over the rest of the podium finishers. Dutch Demi Föhlering is in second place, Dane Cecilie Uttrup Ludwig is in third.

A six-time world champion on the road, twice in Glasgow, Kopecky finally added a world road title by isolating herself in the final kilometers, taking advantage of the Scottish town’s urban circuit to stand out from her rivals.

After an excellent Tour de France in second place behind Föllering, and victories at the Tour of Flanders and Omloop Het Nieuwsblad, among other things, the Belgian confirmed her predictions and pulled away from her rivals in the final kilometers.

Ludwig seemed like the strongest candidate that day, but it was the Belgian who took over from Annemiek van Fleuten, who will say goodbye to the road this year at the age of 40, and drove the last major race of her program today, finishing eighth after being affected by a malfunction.

It was an ‘ungrateful’ goodbye for the reigning world champion with 103 pro victories: four Tour of Italy wins in 2018, 2019, 2022 and 2023 and two World Cup distance races in 2019 and 2022, in addition to the title of Olympic champion in the race. time trial at Tokyo 2020 and silver in the long distance race.

The Tour of Spain has won it three times in a row, from 2021 to this year, and “Monuments” such as the Tour of Flanders (twice) and Liège-Bastogne-Liège (twice) are also part of its history.

Swiss Elisa Shabbi was another one of the day’s protagonists as she ran throughout the day, more than 130 kilometers from the finish and then with an attack 75 kilometers from the finish, which put Kopecký in position with a seventh-place finish in the final .

Rain once again affected the race at the Road World Championships and the race, which combined the Women’s Elite and Under 23 titles, was not ended by the Portuguese hitting the rear derailleur during a fall on the road. the peloton, the delay of the young Daniela Campos, who had to leave.

Without the right to a support car in the race, Portugal was unable to help Daniela Campos, stopped when she was more than 10 minutes from the race leader and Vera Vilasa, who was in the elite, did not finish.

“I was stuck in a fall, I was late and couldn’t come back. From the very beginning, I felt bad,” said Vilasa, quoted by the Portuguese Cycling Federation (FPC).

Today, the World Championship ended with this race, but before that, the Portuguese Renato da Silva was eliminated in the quarterfinals of the BMX Race competition.

Overall, Portugal scored a gold for Youri Leitao in the omnium in track cycling and a silver for Antonio Morgado in the under-23 road test, as well as Nelson Oliveira’s sixth in the time trial. elite among men, which deserves an additional place in the exercise at the 2024 Olympics in Paris.