On Tuesday, she had raised her arms to the sky to celebrate her victory in the first stage of the Tour de l'Ardèche, but yesterday Lotte Kopecky had to raise the white flag and leave the French race due to a fall she was involved in just a few kilometers after the start from Avignon.

Late last night, the world champion informed her fans about her health conditions with a message on her social media. "Today I fell at the beginning of the race, I felt it wasn't going to be a good day. I tried to get back on the bike but was forced to stop. Fortunately, medical exams did not reveal any fractures to my back, but it hurts like hell," wrote the 29-year-old Belgian from SD Worx Protime, referring to the reason for her withdrawal.

In the same post, Lotte explains that she was also unlucky on Monday during training: "I fell and got seven stitches on my knee, but despite this, I was motivated and happy to return to racing and indeed won the first stage, which was quite challenging".

Kopecky, who besides Tuesday's success has won the Tour of Flanders and the Belgian time trial championship this season, also gave some indications about her future plans: "I didn't have a precise plan after the Ardèche, although I had the Track Worlds in mind. Now everything is even more uncertain. I hope to return to cycling soon and from there understand whether to aim for the Track Worlds or end the season".

For now, the certainty is that the two-time world road champion is not on the list of those called up by the Belgian federation for the world championship in Kigali, which will instead see Justine Ghekiere, Marthe Goossens, Marieke Meert, Julie Van De Velde and Margot Vanpachtenbeke participate.