{"id":119912,"date":"2026-05-06T16:15:12","date_gmt":"2026-05-06T16:15:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/basketball.runfyers.com\/index.php\/2026\/05\/06\/la-vuelta-femenina-stage-4-kopecky-buries-frustration\/"},"modified":"2026-05-06T16:15:12","modified_gmt":"2026-05-06T16:15:12","slug":"la-vuelta-femenina-stage-4-kopecky-buries-frustration","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/basketball.runfyers.com\/index.php\/2026\/05\/06\/la-vuelta-femenina-stage-4-kopecky-buries-frustration\/","title":{"rendered":"La Vuelta Femenina stage 4: Kopecky Buries Frustration"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><\/p>\n<div>\n<div class=\"justify-start\">\n<nav class=\"align-left col-span-full mb-base\" data-pom-e2e-test-id=\"breadcrumbs\"\/>\n<p>&#8216;We believed we could win but had to wait for it&#8217;: Kopecky takes GC lead at La Vuelta Femenina with redemptive victory after 3 near misses.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div><\/p>\n<p class=\"fp-leadCaption py-tight text-left font-utility text-utility3-size leading-utility3-line-height text-secondary\"> (Photo: Szymon Gruchalski\/Getty Images))<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"article-body\">\n<p>Updated May 6, 2026 10:30AM<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>It was fourth time lucky Wednesday for <a target=\"_self\" class=\"text-brand-primary underline hover:text-brand-primary\/85 break-words overflow-wrap-anywhere underline-offset-[3px]\" data-afl-p=\"0\" href=\"https:\/\/velo.outsideonline.com\/tag\/lotte-kopecky\/?_ga=2.131346822.865342739.1777886943-1760294712.1777545159\" rel=\"noopener\">Lotte Kopecky<\/a> at <a target=\"_self\" class=\"text-brand-primary underline hover:text-brand-primary\/85 break-words overflow-wrap-anywhere underline-offset-[3px]\" data-afl-p=\"0\" href=\"https:\/\/velo.outsideonline.com\/tag\/la-vuelta-femenina\/?_ga=2.131346822.865342739.1777886943-1760294712.1777545159\" rel=\"noopener\">La Vuelta Femenina<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>The Belgian powerhouse unleashed a huge sprint for a victory that had been long-time coming after three near misses in three days.<\/p>\n<p>Kopecky\u2019s superdomestique Anna van der Breggen placed second on Wednesday\u2019s stage 4. She played MVP in the final kilometer by sitting on the Belgian\u2019s wheel to disrupt the rival sprinters.<\/p>\n<p>Kopecky, Van der Breggen, and the SD Worx massive were in raptures at the line after fortune finally turned their way at the Spanish tour.<\/p>\n<p>Kopecky had finished second on stage 1, was relegated after <a target=\"_self\" class=\"text-brand-primary underline hover:text-brand-primary\/85 break-words overflow-wrap-anywhere underline-offset-[3px]\" data-afl-p=\"0\" href=\"https:\/\/velo.outsideonline.com\/road\/road-racing\/vuelta-feminina-stage-2\/\" rel=\"noopener\">late mechanical chaos<\/a> on stage 2, and was <a target=\"_self\" class=\"text-brand-primary underline hover:text-brand-primary\/85 break-words overflow-wrap-anywhere underline-offset-[3px]\" data-afl-p=\"0\" href=\"https:\/\/velo.outsideonline.com\/road\/road-racing\/results-stage-3-la-vuelta-femenina-kerbaol\/\" rel=\"noopener\">denied by C\u00e9drine Kerbaol\u2019s surprise attack on stage 3.<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u201cTwo times second, one time not so great,\u201d Kopecky said at the finish, visibly relieved. \u201cWe really believed as a team we could win, but we had to wait for it.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>It couldn\u2019t have been much better on Wednesday for the team that once dominated the Women\u2019s WorldTour but has been threatened by new superteams.<\/p>\n<p>SD Worx-Protime fully committed to Kopecky through the final and were rewarded with a victory that put their leader into the red jersey.<\/p>\n<p>Overnight GC leader Franziska Koch (FDJ United-Suez) finished fifth at the line and on the same time as Kopecky, but lost out on bonuses.<\/p>\n<p>She drops to second overall, six seconds back.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe last three days we were not so lucky,\u201d Van der Breggen said at the finish. \u201cEvery time almost, but something went wrong. Today the motivation was really high.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhen it\u2019s not working, it gets worse and worse.\u201d<\/p>\n<h2>Patience pays off for SD Worx-Protime<\/h2>\n<figure id=\"attachment_985128\" class=\"pom-image-wrap photo-alignnone\"><img alt=\"Kopecky delivers at La Vuelta Femenina\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"1024\" height=\"683\" decoding=\"async\" data-nimg=\"1\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-985128\" style=\"color:transparent\" srcset=\"https:\/\/velo-cdn.outsideonline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/GettyImages-2274811439.jpg?width=1080&amp;auto=webp&amp;quality=75&amp;fit=cover 1x, https:\/\/velo-cdn.outsideonline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/GettyImages-2274811439.jpg?width=2048&amp;auto=webp&amp;quality=75&amp;fit=cover 2x\" src=\"https:\/\/velo-cdn.outsideonline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/GettyImages-2274811439.jpg?width=2048&amp;auto=webp&amp;quality=75&amp;fit=cover\"\/><figcaption class=\"pom-caption\"><span class=\"article__caption\">Van der Breggen and Kopecky celebrate a hard-earned win.<\/span> (Photo: Szymon Gruchalski\/Getty Images)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>SD Worx-Protime left it late to reel in the final breakaway riders on Wednesday, but it worked out perfect.<\/p>\n<p>Lauretta Hanson (Lidl-Trek) and Marta Jaskulksa (Human Powered Health) were hoovered up at little more than 2km to go, leaving SD Worx only a few opportunistic attacks to control before the final gallop.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis was the easiest stage of the race so far, but the final was really hard,\u201d Kopecky said. \u201cAt one point, I thought we weren\u2019t going to catch the break any more.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cLuckily my teammates were on fire and could respond to the final attacks, and I just had to jump from wheel to wheel.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWith Anna in second place as well, it\u2019s great.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Kopecky will wear her new red jersey into another sprint stage on Thursday. After that, the notorious summits of Les Praeres and Angliru loom in to view.<\/p>\n<h2>La Vuelta Femenina stage 4 results<\/h2>\n<p><iframe class=\"fp-remove\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.procyclingstats.com\/widgets\/result.php?h=fbae8a7d80a2138519631660dc057a29b2f47aac\" width=\"520\" height=\"320\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><!-- --><\/div>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/velo.outsideonline.com\/road\/road-racing\/la-vuelta-femenina-stage-4-report-results\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&#8216;We believed we could win but had to wait for it&#8217;: Kopecky takes GC lead at La Vuelta Femenina with redemptive victory after 3 near misses. (Photo: Szymon Gruchalski\/Getty Images)) Updated May 6, 2026 10:30AM It was fourth time lucky Wednesday for Lotte Kopecky at La Vuelta Femenina. The Belgian powerhouse unleashed a huge sprint [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":119913,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[4],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/basketball.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/119912"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/basketball.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/basketball.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/basketball.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/basketball.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=119912"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/basketball.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/119912\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/basketball.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/119913"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/basketball.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=119912"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/basketball.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=119912"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/basketball.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=119912"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}