Demi Vollering rejects vengeful feelings towards SD Worx: "It’s not that I want to take revenge on them"

Demi Vollering was the start his morning at a press conference hostel by FDJ - Suez, in which she, some of her teammates and management talked about the upcoming season, ambitions and emotions. A big topic was that of Team SD Worx - ProTIme which the Dutch rider left this winter, but she refuses feelings of revenge after what was a rocky few months.

“First of all, I don’t see it as a battle between the two teams. I think it’s a battle between the whole peloton. I think a lot of teams are stepping up with strong riders, so it’s a very nice spread this coming season," Vollering said this morning in a press conference, as reported by CyclingWeekly. "I think we will have competitors in all kinds of teams in the peloton at the moment.

It is understandable why that feeling could've potentially emerged, taking into consideration the internal rivalry with Lotte Kopecky and also the Tour de France Femmes controversy where the lack of support on a day where she crashed whilst in yellow led her to lose time that cost her the overall win.

But she reiterates her positive feelings towards the team as a whole: “It doesn’t feel for me like I want to take revenge or something, because I left there with good feelings. It’s not that I want to take revenge on them. Of course, we want to win from them, but that’s another thing.”

Vollering will however be a big rival for the Dutch team without a doubt, still led by Lotte Kopecky and Lorena Wiebes. Kopecky mainly will be a contender for all sorts of races throughout the year including the classics, World Championships - and at her rate of evolution in the mountains, quite possible the Tour de France Femmes as well.

But the 28-year old feels more ready than ever to beat them: “This winter was way more relaxed, way more calm. Last winter, I had so many decisions I needed to make, so much stress I had in that period. I already feel very much at home in the team. It was of course really scary to join a new team with so many new people around me, but the first camps made it easy because I felt fast in my place," she reassures. "Everybody was really nice and it’s just a very relaxed atmosphere, nothing to prove".

She will already make the debut in her new jersey this Thursday at the Setmana Valenciana, with Omloop Het Nieuwsblad and the first edition of the women's Milano-Sanremo already in her schedule. But "of course, the Tour de France is always a very big goal of mine, and also the team now, of course. It's a really nice goal to work together towards, but there will be other goals also on the road already. First the other goals, and then of course, the big goal," she concluded.