Demi Vollering transfer: Hit or Miss? | FDJ rider wins big but fails to win Tour de France Femmes

Demi Vollering was one of the absolute best riders in the peloton already for several years, and her success was developed at Team SD Worx - ProTime, and so when news of her departure came at the end of 2024, it would go on to rock the women's cycling scene. She and Marlen Reusser went from part of the success of the team to becoming some of its main rivals, and the Dutchwoman became the new leader of FDJ - Suez in order to be the undisputed leader. Did her transfer prove to be successful?

Vollering signed with SD Worx in 2021, after two years of promising results that put her among the brightest developing talents. It was a proven transfer, a success in every way as right from the first year she began taking big wins such as Liège-Bastogne-Liège, La Course by Le Tour de France and the Women's Tour. During her entire stay with SD Worx, she won only twice outside the Women's World Tour, including dozens and dozens of triumphs... The Tour de France Femmes, twice the Itzulia Women, one La Vuelta Femenina title, two Liège-Bastogne-Liège titles, Strade Bianche Donne, the list goes on and on and on... In her field, that of the climbers, she became perhaps the biggest feature in women's cycling, whilst her teammates Lorena Wiebes and Lotte Kopecky would take on the role of best sprinter and classics rider respectively.

But in a team packed with sharks, it is not possible to always feed the individual shark what they want. Whilst success was all-round, there were moments in which the lack of an undisputed leadership was rightfully questioned. In 2024 this became very apparent at the Tour de France Femmes, where Vollering was the defending champion and at the time of stage 5, the yellow jersey of the race. The Dutchwoman fell in the final kilometers of a seemingly harmless finale with a small hilltop finish, later revealing she had fractured her tailbone in the process. What happened following the crash was a disasterclass from the Dutch team, and the best example of its contrast.

The team had three riders support Vollering after the crash, but due to the flat and fast nature of the finish, the pace was very high and did not slow down. Vollering was left without support still racing on flat roads where this could make a huge difference. In the peloton, Lorena Wiebes and Blanka Kata Vas remained, not waiting - even if communication problems could've been the root cause for this decision. Vas won the stage, Wiebes finished eighth, but 1:47 minutes down arrived the team leader Vollering, bloodied, disappointed and out of the race lead all of a sudden. The 'shark tank' all of a sudden became a problem and not a privilege, and the victory was not a reason to celebrate highly at the end of the day. Vollering would go on to lose that Tour by a mere 4 seconds over Katarzyna Niewiadoma, time that would've easily been taken back if either Vas or Wiebes had spent a few kilometers supporting Vollering on the Amnéville finale.

Vollering was not an absolute leader, and she had every reason to desire this. Hence came a three-year deal with FDJ - Suez, with high-level brands as Specialized and Nike having a say in the move, but also providing the Dutchwoman with incredible support of riders such as Juliette Labous, Évita Muzic, and Elise Chabbey. Not far from what she had at SD Worx, where the likes of Kopecky and Reusser often had their own individual ambitions alongside Vollering. The Dutchwoman confirmed the success of the transfer by winning Strade Bianche early in the spring, even if she lacked other big-level wins throughout the opening months of the season.

But as soon as the high-level stage-races came along, her level began to be shown more clearly, as she won La Vuelta Femenina ahead of Reusser and her former DS Anna van der Breggen who now also led SD Worx' refurbished mountains block... But Vollering would also go on to win Itzulia Women and then the Volta a Catalunya, bringing back the confidence she needed. A second place behind Marlen Reusser at the Tour de Suise Women a month before the Tour wans't ideal, but not a major cause for concern.

After 2024's defeat, Vollering wanted revenge at the Tour. Reusser and Elisa Longo Borghini were out of the race after a few days, Lotte Kopecky was out of form and Pauliena Rooijakkers did not have the same legs... The list had been reduced, but she had a new rival in Sarah Gigante who was back to her best, but unfortunately for Vollering, a Pauline Ferrand-Prévot who was back to the sport and in incredible form for the summer's biggest event.

Vollering looked to have the legs to get her title back, but on the queen stage to the Col de la Madeleine this simply proved to not be the case, not by lack of legs, but because of the jaw-dropping climb of Ferrand-Prévot who put over 3 minutes into the rider who was considered the main favourite to conquer the yellow jersey. The next and final day Vollering still attacked and managed to climb to second place as Sarah Gigante's lack of downhill skills proved deadly, but it was a very distant second place, one that left a very different taste when it comparison to 12 months back.

At the World Championships Vollering had the chance to take the victory she craved for, one that would indeed change her career, but a tactical fumble by the main favourites in Kigali saw Magdeleine Vallière outsmart the competition and take on the rainbow stripes. Vollering didn't actually look the strongest during the race, but when it mattered - at the finish line - she won the sprint for 7th place ahead of Kim Le Court and Marlen Reusser. Only this was for a minor place, with other positions being taken by riders who attacked earlier.

However not all was lost for Vollering who lost her mojo but perhaps got it back in Drôme-Ardèche where she launched an attack à la Pogacar on the main climb of the day, still far from the finish, and dropped everyone from her wheel to take the European title. Whilst not the biggest win in comparison with the Tour or Worlds, this triumph confirmed where she thrives above all others currently, which is in the field of consistency. Vollering continued to have strong form all-year round and although she missed out on the two races that mattered the most, she performed from February to October, bringing in many high-level victories on the way, finishing close to the top when she didn't win, and bringing in the largest amount of UCI points out of any rider.

It's hard to rate Vollering's signing. On one hand, it is undeniable the success she has achieved, but in the two races that perhaps mattered the most she wasn't able to take a career-changing victory. Perhaps it is unfair to not give her a perfect grade over those two races, but it feels like the next logic step in her career.