Demi Vollering is a very strong rider and time-trialist in her day, but few would've expected her to beat the world's best today at the Tour de France Femmes. Against the clock, she was head and shoulders above the competition and even put on the yellow jersey.
"I am very surprised that I managed to win this time trial. Even with a difference of five seconds. I have no idea how that's possible. Although I rode nice and hard. Team leader Anna van der Breggen told me after she did the lap behind another rider that it was really a course for me. I thought, that she said this to motivate me," Vollering said in a post-race interview. Turns out it was literal as well, as the defending champion put in a team that beat Chloé Dygert and Loes Adegeest.
With Grace Brown out of the picture because of a crash, Vollering was the dominant figure on the day and is already in the race lead. "The times I looked down at the power meter I saw that I was doing well. But such a short time trial of 6.3 kilometers is something we do very seldom. I thought this course was more for the sprinters," she admits. "For the punchy riders like Chloe Dygert. Although I am also a bit explosive."
"It is very special to win a stage in the Tour de France Femmes in my own country. And it is even more wonderful that I can start in yellow tomorrow in Valkenburg," the Dutchwoman will have a challenging day tomorrow already in the Ardennes. "For me, this Tour only starts with the stage from Valkenburg to Liège," before the riders move on to France for the most important days of the race. "The fact that I already have the yellow is a bit of a switch."
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