As one of the overwhelming favourites at the Tour de France Femmes, Demi Vollering’s job in the opening six stages was to remain calm and focused on SD Worx’s one goal – to win the yellow jersey.
Vollering’s task was made exponentially more challenging given the controversial circumstances surrounding her team, where she was docked 20 seconds for drafting following a flat tire and her director Danny Stam was kicked off Tour for dangerous driving, two days before the GC-deciding summit of the Tourmalet.
All was forgotten as Vollering crested a rain-soaked and foggy summit of the iconic ascent with a commanding victory, securing the yellow jersey at 1:50 ahead of Katarzyna Niewiadoma (Canyon-SRAM Racing) and 2:28 ahead of Annemiek van Vleuten (Movistar).
“It was sometimes a bit hard. In the end, the team said let’s not talk about seconds but about minutes. I tried to gain as much time as possible, and I’m happy that I could do it for the team,” Vollering told the media assembled at the top of the Tourmalet,” Vollering said.
“They kept saying to me that [the 20-second penalty] doesn’t matter and that I would gain more than that on the Tourmalet. Sometimes, I said to them, ‘I also need to do it. It’s nice when you say it, but in the end, I’m the one who has to do it.’
“It made me a little bit nervous, but also, I know they say this because they believe in me, and that gives me strength.”
The general mood at the SD Worx camp over the previous days has been somewhat subdued, with seemingly little to celebrate, all despite Lotte Kopecky leading the race for six days following her solo victory on stage 1 in Clermont-Ferrand. The team had been accused, right from the start, of using blocking tactics and not taking up the chasing responsibilities while in yellow.
Then on stage 4 into Rodez, Vollering crossed the line in second place but thought she had won. Shortly after crossing the line and raising her arms in a somewhat hesitant victory salute, officials informed her that breakaway rider Yara Kastelijn (Fenix-Deceuninck) had already won the race over a minute earlier. The silver lining was that she had gained eight seconds on rival Van Vleuten, only to lose 12 the following day after for drafting.
At the start line in Lannemezan, Vollering lined up with an ice vest on to help keep her body cool in the 35 degrees Celcius heat. As the race settled in, the peloton seemed to sense the two looming ascents.
“I was a bit nervous this morning and my team kept telling…
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