Demi Vollering empathises with Tadej Pogacar's Tour de France crash: "Only for me it cost me a Vuelta GC win and a Tour"
Cycling
Tadej Pogacar sent the cycling world into a frenzy on Wednesday afternoon when the world champion was caught up in a late crash on stage 11 of the 2025 Tour de France. Whilst he ultimately escaped without time loss and seemingly without serious injury, the incident raised the heart rate of both the rider and his fans momentarily.
After the stage, Pogacar took to his official Instagram account to update those fans on his condition. "All is good. Thank you all for support. That's racing and I can be happy I finished the stage in front group full respect," assesses the Slovenian. "All day full gas congrats guys in breakaway very strong. Lesson learned today for the rest of the Tour: don’t stop for pee anymore."
A big reason Pogacar was in such a good mood despite the crash, was the instant reaction of respect from his rivals. Seeing the world champion and three-time Tour winner go down, the likes of Jonas Vingegaard, Remco Evenepoel and Maillot Jaune Ben Healy stopped the GC group from riding and waited up for Pogacar to re-join proceedings.
This situation seemingly struck a nerve for former Tour de France Femmes winner Demi Vollering, as she recalled a similar instance that happened to her, where the women's peloton did not show the same kind of respect when she crashed in the Maillot Jaune whilst riding for Team SD Worx - Protime at the 2024 Tour de France Femmes. Not even her own teammates were waiting for Vollering on that occasion, and that time loss proved decisive as she went on to lose out on a second successive Maillot Jaune by just 4 seconds in the end.
"Looks like you had all the shit I have experienced," replies the now FDJ - Suez leader in a comment on Pogacar's Instagram post. "Only for me, it cost me a Vuelta GC win and a Tour."
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Kieran WoodDeputy Editor-in-Chief
Kieran Wood is a sports journalist based in Wales and has been active in journalism since 2022. He regularly contributes to DartsNews.com and CyclingUpToDate.com, where he covers professional cycling and darts. In cycling, his work includes liveblogs from major races, including the Tour de France, the Giro d’Italia, and La Vuelta a España, alongside race reports and analysis. He has also conducted interviews with professional riders.
His reporting spans the full racing calendar, from one-day classics to stage races, with a focus on accurate, real-time coverage and clear contextual analysis. For statistics, results, and historical context, he regularly uses resources such as ProCyclingStats. To support reporting on rider activity and training context where relevant, he also references Strava.
In his work, Kieran places strong emphasis on careful sourcing, editorial accuracy, and updating articles as new, verified information becomes available.
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