Team SD Worx heads to the Ronde van Drenthe with confidence, with Lotte Kopecky in the purple leader’s jersey. Past successes include wins for Lizzie Deignan (2014), Chantal van de Broek-Blaak (2016) and Amy Pieters (2018). This year, the peloton will have to cover 156 kilometers of rural roads through open fields, forest paths, mossy cobblestones and four climbs over the VAM mountain, a garbage dump that was turned into a penalty in Dutch road races.
“Drenthe is one of those races where actually anything can happen”, says Christine Majerus. “Wind, echelons, breakaways that can stick also because of the VAM but it can also just be a bunchsprint. So it is actually hard to predict and it is often the teams that adjusted best to the changing situation that were there with numbers in the final. I guess this year won’t be any different.”
The Luxembourg champion looks ahead with confidence. “I think we have a strong team for that kind of racing here. Having Lotte in the leaderjersey is a nice extra and I guess the Strade Bianche win gave her a lot of confidence. I hope we will have the best race possible and go for the win with one of our riders.”
A few facts in a row
In addition to Lotte Kopecky as leader of the individual ranking, SD Worx starts as number one in the team classification of the WorldTour. Elena Cecchini has already finished second twice, as she did last year behind winner Lorena Wiebes. Team SD Worx will start in the Ronde van Drenthe with Lotte Kopecky, Elena Cecchini, Christine Majerus, Roxane Fournier, Lonneke Uneken and Marlen Reusser.
Pictures by Getty Images.