‘She’s the best’ – Blythe hails ‘unbelievable’ Kopecky after UAE Tour victory

Adam Blythe hailed Lotte Kopecky’s incredible talent after storming to general classification victory at the women’s UAE Tour.

The Team SD Worx rider topped the podium ahead of Neve Bradbury (Canyon//SRAM Racing) and Mavi Garcia (Liv-Alula-Jayco), showcasing her abilities to compete with the sport’s best climbers and sprinters.

Kopecky was victorious in Saturday’s third stage after mastering the climb from Al Ain to Jebel Hafeet, while Amber Kraak won the fourth and final stage on Sunday.

Blythe believes that Kopecky’s display in the third stage was reminiscent of her performance on the Col du Tourmalet in last year’s Tour de France Femmes.

“She’s the best,” said Blythe speaking on The Breakaway. “She showed how good she was yesterday on that climb, she was unbelievable. I expected it because I know how good she is.

“She won on the climbing stage, and I said she was incredible at the Tourmalet in last year’s tour, and it wouldn’t surprise me if she built on that already.

“You [Dani Rowe] were telling us about the Strava times and she went 43 seconds quicker up there. The wind conditions may have something to do with it, but each year the level is going up and up.”

However, Dani Rowe believes the rest of the cycling field remains wide open and says the competition for Kopecky remains as fierce as ever.

The London 2012 team pursuit gold medallist highlighted EF Education Canada’s success in Mallorca and Sarah Gigante’s victory in last month’s Tour Down Under as two big examples.

“Look at AG Insurance Soudal Quick-Step in Down Under, Sarah Gigante is coming back from a lot of injuries and illnesses. She looks like she’s on fire,” she explained.

“EF Education Canada had two wins in Mallorca, so they’ve started the season off well. It’s just powerful when you start off in that vein, breeding success through the season.

“What is really exciting for us is that we’re going to have three starts to the season with such different styles of racing.

“We looked at the Tour Down Under, which is very different to this and the Classics are different again, so I don’t think any team has started hugely better than anyone else.”