The first stage of Tour de Romandie Feminin concluded with Movistar rider Arlenis Sierra’s victory. Team SD Worx rider Demi Vollering tried her best but was only able to secure third place in the end.
"Beforehand, we had determined that we would race with an open mind. We are only with four riders here, so it is not up to us to control the race,” said Vollering She continues, “We wanted to make the race hard. Thirty kilometres from the end, we got the signal from the car to attack in turn. As a result, we thinned the group fiercely, but unfortunately, we didn't get away."
She lucked out in the final sprint as she could not position herself best, which is very crucial. "Ashleigh came to me and asked if I wanted to sprint. At the same time, Marlen Reusser lurked in the back to possibly make a late attack if the opportunity arose. I have quite a good final sprint, but positioning is very important, and when you haven't sprinted for a while, that feeling is less there,” said Vollering.
Now she looks forward to the second stage, where she will get to try to change the GC ranking. “The second stage with the mountain top finish really offers opportunities for us. We are here with four very strong climbers. If we can play that off, we can definitely make it difficult for the rest. We are already looking forward to tomorrow's stage,” concluded Vollering.
“I’m happy with our performance & the 3rd place”, says @demivollering after the 1st stage of @TourDeRomandie. “We made the race hard, by attacking in turns. Tomorrow will be interesting.” 💬 Full report with @demivollering: 👉 teamsdworx.com/en/news/report… #wesparksuccess 📸 Getty
