Kopecky relegated at Vuelta over irregular sprint

Lotte Kopecky's Vuelta España Femenina is definitely not going to plan. After misjudging her line in the stage 1 sprint and narrowly missing out on a stage win, the SD Worx-Protime rider got a solid leadout from Anna van der Breggen on stage 2 only to lose position bumping eventual winner Shari Bossuyt in the final meters, interrupting her momentum and dropping her to 15th. To add insult to injury, the race jury relegated Kopecky to 36th (last in the first finishing group) for that bump. From the overhead shot – which you can see in Abby Mickey's race report – Kopecky is beginning to come off Van der Breggen's wheel when her line leads left directly into a surging Bossuyt. The contact clearly takes Kopecky by surprise and she appears to pop out of her pedal, pumping her arm in frustration as the field surges around. Kopecky is still in third overall and Tuesday's stage 3 likely suits her abilities.