Lotte Kopecky (30) recently revealed that she has found a partner for 2025. She has not yet disclosed who she is in a relationship with, but according to the Flemish weekly Dag Allemaal, it is Axel Merckx (53).
The rumor that Kopecky is a couple with Axel Merckx, the son of cycling legend Eddy Merckx and currently team manager at Hagens Berman Jayco, had been circulating for some time. On Strava, Merckx has shared several photos featuring Kopecky and himself together, and his activities often start from Kopecky’s hometown of Assenede. In addition, the two rode together in October around the Zolder circuit. According to Dag Allemaal, they have also been spotted together at the Belgian National Championships and the Six Days of Ghent.
At the end of 2024, Kopecky said she sometimes felt lonely, but in a recent conversation with Sporza, she explained that things are much better now. "I wasn’t in a relationship back then, but that has changed,” she said. “On a personal level, things are going very well and I’m very happy. I no longer come home alone. So that loneliness has largely been filled.”
photo: Strava Axel Merckx
No Announcement
At that time, Kopecky also said that she and her new partner do not plan to share a post about their relationship on social media. “But we go everywhere together and are also seen together. If people bring it up, we have no problem with it. Sometimes people say they won’t say anything, which is kind of funny. We are very happy together like this and don’t feel the need to make it a story for the press. But it’s okay for it to be known, no problem.”
Kopecky was in a relationship with her former coach Kieran De Fauw until a few years ago. Merckx was previously with former world time trial champion Chloé Dygert and was married to Canadian ex-triathlete Jodi Cross. Merckx has two daughters with Cross: 23-year-old Axana and 19-year-old Athina.
