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Can SD-Worx be beaten?
Even when significant cracks appeared in SD Worx’s bid for the Tour de France Femmes campaign, they emerged with Lotte Kopecky in yellow and Demi Vollering taking time on her major rivals in the overall battle.
You can read more about the analysis of the tactics here, but the short of it is that SD-Worx were placed under pressure, but other teams let them off the hook by pursuing their own strategies which aided the race leaders and favourites.
Annemiek van Vleuten vs Vollering is the battle that everyone has their eyes on, and while the world champion has been less dynamic than her younger self, she is still a powerhouse. She has been gouging and swinging her bike all over the road with some of the attacks, in stark contrast to the mostly seated, conservative style of Vollering, but the pair have been mostly evenly matched so far.
The younger rider appears to have a bit more left to give each time an attack goes, but there’s no doubting van Vleuten’s fighting spirit.
What can the Aussies do?
The 12 Australians present in the race are giving a visible account of themselves, mostly as top-class domestiques for their team leaders. Grace Brown (FDJ-Suez), Sarah Roy (Canyon-SRAM) and Lauretta Hanson (Lidl-Trek) have been ever-present at the front of the race when the going gets tough.
However, it’s not the sort of performance that an Australian audience would have hoped for from Brown, who was dropped surprisingly early on Stage 1 and has decided to focus on teammates’ ambitions instead of her own. Stage 8 is the big goal for her, the time trial is a target for her and it will be important leading into the time trial at the world championships where she’s looking for the top step of the podium.
Georgie Howe is also one to watch keenly in the race against the clock, a top 10 would be a good return for the former rower.
Amanda Spratt (Lidl-Trek) is hanging thereabouts on the general classification, currently 1’57 behind Kopecky and in 13th overall. The question will be where to from here, she could maintain her own GC bid, a good performance on the Col du Tourmalet would see her rocket up the standings, she could focus entirely on team leader Elisa Longo Borghini, or she could lose a bit more time and try for a breakaway on stage 7 to the Tourmalet.
The rest of the Aussies’ best opportunities look to be from breakaways. Alex Manly (Jayco-AlUla) was solid for her sprint to sixth on stage 3, but there are faster riders than her present at the flat finishes. She would be a very good shot from the breakaway, and the intermediate terrain on stages 5 and 6 should be perfect for the track convert.
Dani De Francesco (Arkea Samsic), Amber Pate (Jayco-AlUla), Rachel Neylan and Josie Talbot (both Cofidis) would be good options for a breakaway as well, each with enough of a sprint to be dangerous on a flat finish, with the exception of Neylan, who has the nous to figure out other ways of riding to a win.
How far can Kopecky go in yellow?
Kopecky has had a very impressive season, she has 11 wins to date, in just 26 race days. Yes, she excels on the hard stages of races that end in sprints and the more classics-style races, but even in the hilly classics, normally reserved for climbers, she has excelled.
In Amstel Gold Race, and Strade Bianche, she was second behind Vollering, the first an impressive show of the strength and teamwork, the second a show of strength and non-teamwork as she sprinted her own teammate.
On that form, and with her strong time trial pedigree, you’d say why not for a GC-push. However, the reality is Kopecky hasn’t done much in the way of long climbs in top tier races. Her most recent was at last year’s Tour de France, and she didn’t figure in the overall standings there, nor was she a bit part of Vollering’s mountain support on the key stages.
She’s stronger than then though, the question is how much? Kopecky, for what it’s worth has been consistent in saying that she’s here to support Vollering for the overall win, though her actions on the road sometimes tell a different story.
