Tears Before the Start Line: Lotte Kopecky Moved by Emotional Letter from Late Father Ahead of Giro d’Italia Women 2025
Lotte Kopecky stood at the start line of the opening stage of the Giro d’Italia Women 2025, not with the usual steely focus of a world-class cyclist, but with tears silently streaming down her cheeks. As cameras captured the moment and commentators speculated about pressure, fatigue, or even injury, few could have imagined the truth behind her visible emotion. Nestled in the back pocket of her jersey was a folded piece of handwritten paper—a letter from her late father, Gert Jaroslaw Kopecky, discovered by her team mechanic just minutes before the race.
“You don’t need to win, Lotte,” the letter read. “You just need to love cycling like the first day…” Simple, quiet words from a man who had shaped her journey from the first time she swung her leg over a bike. Words that echoed not just in her ears, but in the hearts of everyone who knows what it means to chase glory while carrying the weight of legacy.
Gert Kopecky passed away unexpectedly last year, leaving a void that no number of podium finishes could ever fill. Known to be her biggest supporter and quiet mentor, Gert was often seen at the edges of training circuits and post-race celebrations, rarely speaking to press, but always standing tall in the background. His loss was a blow not only to Lotte but to the entire Belgian cycling community.
The letter, believed to have been written and tucked away by Gert months before his passing, surfaced at the most unexpected of times. According to team sources, it had been sewn into the lining of an old racing jacket Lotte had packed for sentimental reasons. When her team unpacked it the night before the Giro’s opening, the note was discovered and gently placed into her jersey pocket—without her knowing—by a mechanic who had been close to the family.
It was only when Lotte reached back, moments before lining up with the peloton, that her fingers brushed against the familiar handwriting. In that instant, the noise of the crowd, the cameras, the tension—all faded. The letter took her somewhere else entirely. Not to the stress of competition, but back to childhood rides through cobbled Belgian streets, to muddy jerseys and crooked helmets, to the voice of her father cheering her on from a distance.
As she stood at the start, the world saw a champion cracking under pressure. But those who knew the truth saw something far more powerful—a daughter remembering her father, a rider reconnecting with the raw passion that began it all.
Though the stage itself ended with Kopecky finishing a respectable sixth, it’s likely few will remember the result. What they will remember is the image of Lotte wiping tears from her eyes as the countdown began, and the quiet strength it took not to race for glory, but to ride for love.
In a sport obsessed with marginal gains, watts, and strategy, Lotte Kopecky reminded the world what truly fuels the human engine—memory, emotion, and the people we carry with us long after they’re gone. The Giro d’Italia Women 2025 had barely begun, but for Lotte, it had already delivered the most unforgettable moment of the race.
