{"id":305468,"date":"2025-12-08T18:17:11","date_gmt":"2025-12-08T18:17:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/305468\/"},"modified":"2025-12-08T18:17:11","modified_gmt":"2025-12-08T18:17:11","slug":"it-shouldnt-be-a-taboo-it-belongs-in-the-sport-lotte-kopecky-pushes-to-remove-shame-around-menstruation-in-cycling","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/305468\/","title":{"rendered":"\u201cIt shouldn\u2019t be a taboo. It belongs in the sport\u201d: Lotte Kopecky pushes to remove shame around menstruation in cycling"},"content":{"rendered":"

Former world champion Lotte Kopecky has spoken out about the persistent taboo she feels around menstruation in professional cycling, and she’s\u00a0urging more open conversations about its effect on performance.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI used to suffer from it a lot, too \u2013 my body retained a lot of fluid. If that comes back every month and coincides with an important goal, you have a problem,\u201d the SD Worx leader said on the Caf\u00e9 Koers podcast.\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cYou have to learn to understand your body. My advice is: don\u2019t be afraid to ask for help.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Kopecky explained that the taboo surrounding the topic makes it harder for cyclists to recognise and address how it impacts their performance.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"20232023 Ronde Van Vlaanderen, Lotte Kopecky (credit: Zac WiLLIAMS SWpix.com)<\/p>\n

\u201cEspecially when the coach is male, there\u2019s still some embarrassment around talking about it. But as a male coach, you have to immerse yourself in it if you train women. It shouldn\u2019t be\u00a0taboo. It\u2019s part of the job.<\/p>\n

\u201cA lot of riders have testified this season that it brings more discomfort than the outside world realises.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen you say that, people still often laugh it off. But many women have complaints during that period that can hinder performance.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt shouldn\u2019t be a taboo. It belongs in the sport\u201d.<\/p>\n

This discussion comes after\u00a0EF Education-Oatly rider Veronica Ewers announced she will step away from elite cycling in 2026 to recover from RED-S,<\/a> following a long battle with eating disorders.\u00a0<\/p>\n

RED-S, or relative energy deficiency in sport, is a condition caused by inadequate energy intake that affects hormone function, bone health and athletic performance.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"VeronicaVeronica Ewers, 2022 Tour de France Femmes (credit: Zac Williams\/SWpix.com)<\/p>\n

In the brutally honest blog post on her Substack<\/a>, she wrote:\u00a0\u201cI\u2019ve not had my period since 2014. My bones are weak. My gastrointestinal function is shit.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cTrying to perform, which I physically couldn\u2019t do until my hormones recover (stabilise), while trying to recover, which I couldn\u2019t do until I stop trying to perform at the top level, was like beating my head against the wall.<\/p>\n

\u201cI sat down with my dietician to go over the results and was devastated. I was confronted with two options: keep doing what I\u2019ve been doing or focus on full recovery and then performance.<\/p>\n

There have been more open conversations surrounding menstruation in the sport\u00a0recently.\u00a0At the Tour de France Femmes this year,\u00a0Kim Le Court revealed that she won a\u00a0stage of cycling’s biggest race while on her period.<\/a>\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"KimKim Le Court wins stage 5, 2025 Tour de France Femmes (credit: ASO\/Charly Lopez)<\/p>\n

At the finish in Gu\u00e9ret she said:\u00a0\u201cIt\u2019s that time of the month for me, and my body is more tired than usual. That\u2019s what we women have to go through.\u201d<\/p>\n

Dutch journalist and former pro Marijn de Vries has also noted changes in attitudes in the sport, explaining that when she was racing, \u201cit was crucial that you didn\u2019t menstruate.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYou were so thin that it wouldn\u2019t start,\u201d she said. \u201cNow it\u2019s the opposite, and it\u2019s encouraged.”<\/p>\n

\u201cThey just want you to menstruate, because that\u2019s a sign of health,\u201d Le Court’s Belgian teammate\u00a0Justine Ghekiere\u00a0added. \u201cWe also have specific meetings about this topic with the team. It\u2019s discussed openly.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Former world champion Lotte Kopecky has spoken out about the persistent taboo she feels around menstruation in professional…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":305469,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[37],"tags":[4985,101,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-305468","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cycling","tag-cycling","tag-sports","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/305468","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=305468"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/305468\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/305469"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=305468"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=305468"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=305468"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}