Lotte Kopecky's rise as a professional athlete and her success over the past three seasons has had a noticeable impact on the increase in the number of U17 (15-16 year olds) and U19 (17-18 year olds) junior girls who register their licenses with the Cycling Vlaanderen Federation.

According to Anne-Laure Gheerardyn, Cycling Vlaanderen's women's cycling coordinator, the number of girls under 18 has nearly quadrupled in the past three seasons, and that total is expected to increase again in 2023.

"This is a strong number considering that not all girls have applied for competition permits yet and the moment of mass acceptance only comes in the summer," Gheerardyn told HLN (opens in new tab), adding that the number of registrations at the end of 2019 will be 152 and at the end of 2022 over 600, and girls 18 and under continue to register now and during the summer of 2023, she reported.

Gehlardin also noted that along with the popularity of Kopecký, Cycling Vlaanderen's campaign "ZIJ AAN ZIJ" (opens in new tab) - side by side - has also impacted registration numbers.

The three-year-old campaign, #ZijAanZij, was revived in 2023 with three pillars: inflow, club support, and quality. The goal is to get more girls and junior women interested in cycling through a rich calendar of clubs, guidance, follow-up and training sessions.

Participation in #ZijAanZij is completely free and open to all girls between the ages of 5 and 18. According to Cycling Fullandelen, these are birth dates from 2005 to 2018.

"Our own ZIJ VAN ZIJ campaign may have been a stimulus and increased media attention to women's cycling, but Lotte Kopecký's international breakthrough was definitely the driving force. You could say it's the Kopecký effect," said Gerardin, who also noted a 14% increase in registration of women over the age of 18 between 2021 and 2022.

Kopecky, a multiple-time Belgian champion, has made rapid progress in pro cycling over the past three seasons, joining the women's WorldTour in 2021 with Liv Racing before moving to SD Walks from 2022 to 2024 and becoming not only the road race She became one of the strongest women in the peloton on the track.

Highlights include, but are not limited to, a stage win at the Giro d'Italia Donnay and podiums at the 2020 Ghent-Wevelgem, Tour of Flanders, and Bourges des Pannees. The following season, she won stages at the Thuringian Ladies Tour and the Challenge by La Vuelta, as well as the overall at the Tour of Lotto Belgium.

Last year, while wearing the Belgian national champion's jersey, she won the Strade Bianche and Tour de Flanders and finished second in Paris-Roubaix and the world championship women's road race.

This year she was dominant as part of the SD works team, winning the Omloop Het Nieuwsblad, Nokelle Koers, and Tour de Flanders for the second year in a row and finishing second in the Amstel Gold Race.

Kopecky will close out his spring classics campaign in Amstel before switching from the road to the velodrome at the UCI Track Nations Cup in Milton, Canada, April 20-23.

The reigning world champion in the elimination race and Madison, she will be looking to earn crucial points to qualify for the Olympic track events in Paris next summer.