After opening her Classic’s campagin with a thrilling sprint win against Kasia Niewiadoma-Phinney, Demi Vollering was quick to credit her FDJ-Suez teammates for her success.
“She rode so hard that I hardly had to do anything,” Vollering told Sporza with a laugh after the race. “It also typifies the team. We’re on the road together a lot, we have fun, and we push each other to a higher level.”
She was referring to Franziska Koch, who joind FDJ-Suez from Picnic PostNL, and set a brutal pace going into, and half-way up Muur van Geraardsbergen.
That lead out launched what would be Vollering’s winning move. From the top of the Muur, the eventual race-winner was alone with Niewiadoma-Phinney. Even then, Vollering says knowing FDJ-Suez had maintained several riders in the chase allowed her to put tactical pressure on the Polish rider so she could gain an advantage in the sprint.
The tactic started earlier, with Elise Chabbey getting into an early break. That took pressure off Vollering and her FDJ-Suez teammates in the chase.
“The plan was to go full throttle on the Muur. I just found the space to attack,” Vollering recounted in post-race interviews. “We then created a gap, and after that, I just rode as hard as I could. At the top, I saw that only Kasia could follow. After that, it was just full throttle to the Bosberg and the finish.”
The same team, but a fresh start to 2026
Despite looking like a plan was carried out to a T, Vollering says the race didn’t go entirely smoothly. Again, she credits a FDJ team that she say is stronger this year than in her first year with the squad.
“You see that we’re getting better at understanding each other on the bike. If something doesn’t go exactly according to plan, we can switch gears. Everyone knows their role and can act accordingly. That’s great to see.”
Looking at Vollering’s results from 2025, her first year with FJD-Suez was already quite successful. If Omloop is just a hint at what’s to come, the Dutch rider’s ambitious race calendar should be exciting to watch.
Then again, Pauline Ferrand-Prevot, who beat Vollering at the Tour de France, has said much the same about her squad.
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