Sports director Danny Stam ‘stunned’ by Lotte Kopecky’s action: “Too ridiculous for words”

Danny Stam, team leader and sporting manager at SD Worx-Protime, was not amused after the Tour of Flanders. None of his riders were on the podium of ‘Flanders Most Beautiful’ and that was due to a lack of ‘fierce’, according to the Dutchman. He was particularly dissatisfied with a specific action by his leader Lotte Kopecky.

“If you look at the match and the result, we were not awake,” Stam said in conversation with Het Laatste Nieuws. “We lacked fierceness. Our riders were no worse than the first three, but because they were not fierce enough, they never saw the first three in the final. The cold and rain are no excuse. It was equally cold for all riders.”

Get your own food
Kopecky was ultimately the best rider in the SD Worx-Protime results. The winner of 2022 and 2023 finished fifth in Oudenaarde. She had lost her connection earlier on the Koppenberg, where she had to get off her bike. However, in the run-up to that slope, strewn with slippery cobblestones, something happened that didn’t suit Stam: five kilometers from the base, Kopecky went to get food himself.

“That was certainly not a smart idea,” says Stam. “Lotte is the world champion and our leader. How do you even think about getting your own food instead of leaving it to a teammate?! I was initially astonished when I suddenly saw Lotte at the back of the peloton. When she lowered herself to the support vehicle, I shouted at her that this was too ridiculous for words.”

Learning to give orders
Kopecky acknowledged in conversation with HLN that this was ‘not the best time’ to go get food. “But the track to the Koppenberg is quite wide and I was able to move up quite well afterwards,” she added. According to Stam, Kopecky must learn to give orders. “I think she realizes that now. During the debriefing she apologized to the group and showed that that action was not smart. She does take that responsibility.”