Injury 'still a question mark' but Kopecky makes winning return to track

The SD Worx-Protime rider landed the Omnium title at the Belgian Track Championships on Saturday evening with a dominant display, winning all four disciplines during the event.

Kopecky is now set to line up at the Gent Six, and she also indicated that the European Track Championships in Turkey in February will be a target.

“It went pretty smoothly today, but that doesn't change the fact that I started with some questions,” Kopecky said, according to Het Laatste Nieuws. “I hadn’t competed since September, especially not on the track. So, of course, I had some questions, but today went better than I expected.”

Kopecky had planned to ride the Track World Championships in Santiago in October, but she immediately shelved that idea after her crash, preferring to focus on building gradually towards the 2026 season.

“I wanted to give my body time to recover, so I decided not to push myself any further for the World Track Championships, because that was pretty much impossible,” she said. “I think it was the best decision to give myself some rest and immediately start thinking about next season.”

Kopecky has trained in Lanzarote in recent weeks, though she noted that she was still feeling the effects of her injury and so the rehabilitation is ongoing.

“The recovery is going well, but the injury still poses a question mark,” she said. “I had a broken vertebral protrusion, and the surrounding muscles also took a significant hit. So far, things are going well, but I hope it won’t affect me when the workload increases and I compete more.”

Kopecky will be one of the star attractions at the Gent Six, lining out in the women’s races on Friday and Saturday night. The six-day event gets under way on Tuesday, with Elia Viviani and Benjamin Thomas the marquee names in the men’s race.