VIDEO. The Spark of the Year goes to Lotte Kopecky in yellow jersey at the Tourmalet: “Sorry, guys!”

Lotte Kopecky provided the Spark of the Year. That’s the special emo moment that makes people sit in front of the TV. The prize was presented by Maarten Baert, CEO of the Belgian bicycle brand Specter.

Readers could vote digitally for a week for one of the five moments selected by the cycling editors. The images of Lotte Kopecky, who had to leave the leader’s jersey to her leader Demi Vollering after six days of yellow at the Tourmalet in the thick fog, appealed most to the imagination. Kopecky received 45 percent of the votes in this referendum supported by Specter. Wout van Aert followed in second place with 18 percent. The selected moment of Wout van Aert who shouted the quote of the spring to the camera after his won sprint in the E3 Saxo Bank Classic in Harelbeke: I just don’t have to do anything! Last year, Wout van Aert won the Spark of the Year again.

Jonas Vingegaard’s phenomenal time trial in the Tour, Mathieu van der Poel’s fall at the World Cup and Jordi Meeus’ surprising sprint on the Champs-Élysées were the other nominated moments.

Kopecky beats names such as Wout van Aert and Jonas Vingegaard. “Sorry, men,” she laughs. “I am a bit surprised, yes, but it is a lot of fun as a woman to outdo those men. That week in yellow? I look back on that very positively. That was a dream week, because that was perhaps my best week on the bike, while the Tour of the year before was perhaps my worst week on the bike.”