SD Worx-Protime are looking to continue their domination of the Women’s WorldTour, eyeing “as many wins as possible” at the upcoming Tour of Britain Women.
The Dutch squad will be led by World Champion Lotte Kopecky and top sprinter Lorena Wiebes as they take on the four stages, which start on Thursday in Welshpool and conclude on Sunday in Greater Manchester.
As a team, they have 31 wins already in 2024 and have taken overall wins at half of the 18 WWT events so far this season. Their four most recent wins also came in the UK at the RideLondon Classique, where Wiebes won all three stages and the overall with Kopecky on lead-out duty.
"We are going there with a strong team. Our aim is to get as many wins as possible,” said Sports Manager Danny Stam said when SD Worx confirmed their line-up.
“It is a challenging course that should suit us. However, we have to see how well Lotte Kopecky has recovered from the RideLondon. She rode an impressive race there but also crashed hard and had a bit of a cold.
“For stage wins, we will certainly also be looking at Lorena Wiebes. She has gone the extra mile again this season. She is simply unbeatable in the sprint.”
SD Worx-Protime have been the top women’s team for the past few seasons with Kopecky, Wiebes and GC star Demi Vollering all contributing most to their near-total domination in 2023.
The 2024 season has seen them miss out on big goals at the Ardennes Classics and Tour of Flanders, with Lidl-Trek, Canyon SRAM and FDJ-SUEZ all spoiling the party. But Stam was still delighted with the current win tally, especially after Vollering’s clean sweep of the Spanish stage races in May.
"For now, there's almost nothing to write off. We've had a strong spring. In the Ardennes classics, we performed less than the year before, but overall I am satisfied with the spring,” said Stam.
“Then, as a team, we rode very impressively in the Spanish block. After the 2023 success year, we did not expect at the beginning of this season to have such a high win total again now."
Kopecky and Wiebes will likely share leadership across the varied parcours at the Tour of Britain Women as it returns to the calendar now under the organisation of British Cycling. SD Worx-Protime will also have Elena Cecchini, Chantal van den Broek-Blaak, Barbara Guarischi and Christine Majerus to support their sprinter and the World Champion.
