Twenty-two-year-old Vacek and nineteen-year-old Kopecky dominated Thursday’s time trials at the national championship. While Vacek beat Josef Černý, the runner-up, by more than two minutes, Kopecky won by just seven seconds ahead of Nikola Nosková. In today’s race with a mass start, she confirmed her good form with third place.
“It was easier for us in the men’s category, the road commission unanimously agreed on Vacka. Pavel Bittner will be the first substitute thanks to his long-term results in elite races. For the women, we waited until today’s championship race, but even after that we all agreed on Julia Kopecky,” said Kaltofen.
Even before the fight for home medals, Vacek, who will go to Sunday’s road race as the defending champion, was practically a clear choice for him. Among other things, the member of the Lidl-Trek worldtour stable claimed the nomination due to his excellent results from the last few weeks – he took fourth and second place overall in stage races around Norway and most recently around Belgium.
Kopecky has already had great success this season. At the end of May, she became the first Czech female cyclist to win the Tour de Feminin stage race in 35 years. In addition to her and Burlova, Tereza Neumanová and Nikola Nosková were also considered. Although Kopecky was “up to” third today, as in the time trial, she did the best of the aforementioned quartet.
In the French capital, both will appear only in road races, in the fight against the chronometer, the Czech Republic did not fight for a place at the start. For Vack, the option would only open up if a country did not use the quota.
For example, Russian cyclist Alexandr Vlasov this week renounced the possibility of competing in the Olympic Games, although he had already received approval to start as a neutral athlete. It is said that the profile of the track for a race with a mass start does not suit him.
2024-06-22 19:47:40
#Olympiad #Mathias #Vacek #Julia #Kopecky #ride #cyclist #road #races #Paris #Olympics
