Demi Vollering reveals broken tailbone in crash that cost her Tour de France Femmes: "I had no feeling in my left leg at all"

Demi Vollering has opened up in a recent interview about a number of topics including her complicated relationship with Lotte Kopecky, but also the Tour de France Femmes which she lost by a mere 4 seconds, and partly because of the lack of support on a key moment. The Dutchwoman now reveals that she also suffered a fracture in that dramatic crash.

This happened in stage 5 of the Tour de France Femmes, at this point in the race the Team SD Worx - ProTime rider was already in the race lead after winning the time-trial in Rotterdam, but on this day she crashed with only a few kilometers to the finish and only had a few teammates that could pace her into the run-in to Amnéville - a hilly one. Blanka Kata Vas and Lorena Wiebes were ordered to stay in the peloton, with Vas eventually winning the stage, but with Vollering coming across the line almost two minutes later and by herself, losing the yellow jersey. Eventually, she lost the race by only 4 seconds, no doubt due to the lack of support on this day.

Vollering describes the crash, which had bigger consequences than what was known. “At first I had no feeling in my left leg at all,” she told NRC. "My bike was lying next to me on the ground, but it took a minute before I could bend over to pick it up. At first I thought: I broke my hip. My pants were also wet, so I thought I was bleeding."

Only after the stage she was diagnosed with this injury... "Then I also understood why I had those wet pants. If you have a fracture in your tailbone, the doctor told me, you often have to pee spontaneously". However she did not abandon the race and seemingly it did not impact her performance either afterwards, as she soared to the stage win on the queen stage up to the Alpe d'Huez on the final day.

On that stage she had gone all-out on the Col du Glandon, and then pretty much did a time-trial up the famous ascent, but the stage win and gap over Katarzyna Niewiadoma were eventually not enough to regain the yellow jersey. “When we arrived at the foot of Alpe d’Huez, I thought: oh, now we still have to climb this whole climb. I was in so much pain. The whole climb I was only thinking: I have to get up here at all. It was such a terrible struggle.”