Lotte Kopecky before the start of the Gravel World Championships
Saturday morning, 7:45 a.m. My alarm goes off, and I feel excitement rush through my body. For the first time in weeks, I finally have the energy to get out of bed, because today, I get to cheer for Lotte Kopecky again!
By 9 a.m., after eating breakfast and preparing lunch, my mom, sister, and I get in the car and drive to Wetteren to catch the train. Once we arrive, we only need to wait a few minutes until the train to Brussels-South pulls in. When we get there, we rush to find the right train to Halle.
In Halle, I hop on my folding bike and head to the team buses. After looking around for a bit, I finally spot the buses of the big teams, all grouped together in a parking lot—and of course, SD Worx Protime is one of them! While I’m waiting, a few of their riders pass by, this time wearing their national kits instead of the usual pink-and-purple gear. Schreiber, Markus, Gerritse, and even Majerus walk by without being stopped.
While we're here, I have to say how sad I am that Christine Majerus is retiring. She’s so down to earth and always so kind and grateful. I’ll miss you, Christine!
Then the crowd went wild as Lotte Kopecky stepped off the bus and headed off to do some interviews. Once things calmed down, I noticed another rider coming in my direction. Not a road, gravel, or even CX rider, this was a track rider! I won’t keep you in suspense any longer, it was Valerie Jenaer. I met Valerie in January this year; she’s the one who guided me to Lotte at the Euro Track! Besides being an amazing athlete, she’s also an incredible person! I loved catching up with her and being her professional bike holder for a while! ;-)
For those who don’t know Valerie (shame on you ;-) !), she’s not only one of Lotte Kopecky’s best friends but also a sprinter on the track! Before starting her track racing career, she rowed at university, she was the captain of the Belgian national ice hockey team and even competed in bobsleigh races! On top of performing at a world-class level, she also works in her family business!
Anyway, after Valerie got the stuff Lotte needed, I handed back her bike, and we figured out we would probably see each other again at the finish. Then I waited a little longer until Lotte came back. My first thought (taking a pic with Lotte) faded away pretty quickly, though. The moment Lotte returned to the buses, the crowd grew larger again, and people became more pushy. When Lotte stepped out of the bus, looked at the crowd, shared a knowing glance with the mechanic, and gave a half-smile to the public, I felt so bad. I wished I could take away all the pressure, crowds, and expectations for her. Sadly, I couldn’t, so I just decided to keep my distance and remind people that she’s a human being and deserves their respect.
After that I watched the start, went back to the station and headed to the finish in Leuven!
Me arrived at the finish, the moment I read Lotte Kopecky was in the front, captured by one of my twitter followers
Once I arrived at the finish and sat on the ground (my sleepy head forgot my chair), I felt exhaustion hitting me, but soon enough, I was distracted by Lotte riding amazingly and pushed the fatigue away for a little longer. As I grew more and more nervous (Marianne Vos really wasn’t the rider I wanted to see in the lead alongside Lotte. She’s a bit too strong and fast, in my opinion), I also had some people saying hi and expressing how much they love my stuff on Twitter. To those people, thank you very much; I appreciate it!
At the first passage, I screamed my lungs out for Lotte, even the people around me were shocked that a nice, kind-looking girl could scream like that! LOL!
The closer we got to the finish, my mom and I shared a knowing look that it would probably be second place today for Lotte (call it a gut feeling). As they approached, I grew more and more nervous and started convincing the people around me that it would work out, so that’s what I did. When they eventually got that close without sprinting, I knew it would be almost impossible to beat Marianne. There probably isn’t anyone as explosive after a long an heavy race as the GOAT... :-(
Although I would have liked to see it differently, there’s absolutely no shame in coming second in your first-ever gravel race. Considering she wasn’t 100% fit, it’s even more impressive!
The podium (From left to right: Lotte Kopecky, Marianne Vos, Lorena Wiebes)
At the podium, it was a bit of a mixed experience. I had a chat with a lovely lady from Yorkshire whose husband was competing the next day. She came to watch the women today because she thought they were all so strong. When she heard my rainbow jersey was already signed by Lotte she got so excited and insisted I would take her place so Lotte would so be able to see the Lotte Superwoman Kopecky cardboard better. <3
After the podium, there were some photographers taking pictures of me with my sign, so I waited a bit. Honestly, I wish I hadn’t done that. Then I wouldn’t have been scolded by a drunk man who felt like he needed to call me names and say I was stupid because he couldn’t take a nice picture of the podium because of my cardboard (its literally only the size of an A3 paper)!
He could have just taken a step to the left or right or ask me to put it away for a second. But that would’ve been too nice, right?
I won't go into further details because I’m not planning to let one bad experience ruin all the good ones.
After that, I unlocked my bike and headed back to the station, where I briefly met someone from Twitter and Valerie Jenaer again.
While I was on the train, drinking my smoothie and feeling the adrenaline flow out of my body, exhaustion really hit me. My first and only thought was, "F ck, just f ck." I tried to hold it together until I got home, did my best to eat something (which isn’t easy when you barely have enough energy to chew), and crashed into my bed at 9:30 p.m. For the first time in weeks, I had a pretty good night, so I can’t complain about that. :-)
A few days later, as I reflect on my day at the Gravel World Championships, I have to say I really enjoyed it. I’m incredibly happy I was able to go and cheer for Lotte one last time this road season. There’s no denying that I’m also a bit sad that the road season is almost over. But yeah, I’ll do my best to live by the quote, “Don’t cry because it’s over, but smile because it happened...” :-)
A season of cheering for Lotte Kopecky in 48 seconds
Hi everyone, thank you for reading my blog again! I hope you enjoyed my blog at least half as much as I enjoyed my day at the World Championships! As always, don’t hesitate to contact me on my socials via DM or just here in the chat function for questions, suggestions, or if you find any typos! In the coming weeks you can expect multiple blog posts where I’ll reveal the winners of the Saar's Pedal Passion Awards! Hope to see you next week for a new blog post! <3
Saar weer een geslaagde blog
Wanneer ik deze blog aandachtig lees, zo vlot geschreven en ik voel de kracht die van jou uitgaat voor het vrouwenwielrenner maar in het bijzonder de waardering voor Lotte Kopecy, je groot idool.
Je oma Marie-Paule