Demi Vollering under fire! Former Tour de France Femmes winner faces scrutiny ahead of important 2025: “Vollering is a typical hard rider, but not a cyclist”
Cycling
Demi Vollering, one of the most successful female cyclists of recent years, continues to make headlines both on and off the bike. The 28-year-old Dutch star, who won the Tour de France Femmes in 2023 and followed it up with a Vuelta victory in 2024, has recently come under scrutiny from prominent cycling commentators on Eurosport's Kop over Kop.
Bobbie Traksel, a regular voice on the show, offered a critical take on Vollering’s tactical IQ, "Vollering is a typical hard rider, but not a cyclist. That may sound strange, because in my opinion she is the best cyclist in the world. But when it comes to the tactical part, the real cycling starts. It is not just riding very fast. She really has problems with the game. Especially if it is not guided by earphones, then it is simply over," said Traksel.
This perspective was echoed by fellow commentator Jan Hermsen, who questioned Vollering’s team dynamic and interpersonal skills.
"She wouldn't be my favourite teammate. When I sometimes see interviews of her. Athletes are assholes, but cycling has increasingly become a team sport. Then you also have to be able to function in a team," Hermsen stated.
Traksel also pointed out how Vollering's dominance can sometimes work against her in the peloton, "Because she is the best, nobody wants to continue cycling with her. Normally she can then ride away herself, but the level of competition has become higher. As a result, she will miss out on a lot this season," he explained.
In 2025, Vollering will begin a new chapter in her career as she joins FDJ-Suez after parting ways with Team SD Worx - Protime, a move that has raised eyebrows in the cycling community. Reflecting on her time at SD Worx, Hermsen added, "She has had a lot of run-ins at SD Worx. I don't know how well that is managed at FDJ."
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- well she’s only been a pro for 4 years, and even without “figuring out” cycling yet she’s won the tour de france (twice), the vuelta, liége-bastogne-liége (twice), strade bianchi, amstel gold, fleche-wallone, dwars door vlaandren, and a bunch of individual stages. i agree that her undeveloped tactical IQ is a “ weakness” (obviously a byproduct of her enormous strength that has allowed her to get away with tactical blunders and still be a big winner), but there’s still time to change that. in the men’s side sometime like mathieu van der poel was still a bit of a tactical knucklehead as late as age 26 or so, and he was born into pro cycling. he finally got tired of blowing opportunities when he realized that they don’t present themselves all that often. vollering may come to the same conclusion. i hope so. greatness like she’s capable of would be a shame to squander to any unnecessary degree.OCexile09-01-2025
- She appears as dominant among the women as Pogacar is in the men's peloton. But she doesn't appear to have even a basic understanding of racing tactics. Moreover, it seems like the entire field races against her, including her own team. This is odd, as she seems like a nice person in interviews, but something is clearly going on. If she just wants to go hard, she might do better switching to triathlon, or just running. It doesn't seem like she is going to figure out bike racing.
Barney09-01-2025 - i have MASSIVE respect for vollering as an athlete. how can you not? but i do agree about the limits of her tactical and interpersonal skills. if she had both to the same degree as someone like kasia niewiadoma, she would end her career someday as one of the greatest cyclists of all time — male, female, whatever…OCexile08-01-2025
- Completely agree.Mistermaumau08-01-2025
- i’m pretty sure mathieu has never spent a moment of his adult life dreaming of winning the Tour. he’s known for a very long time that that’s not the kind of rider he is. I’m also pretty sure he’s known for a very long time that TDF stages count for a lot in the palmares of big puncheurs like him and wout. he hasn’t decided he doesn’t care about racking up stage wins at the tour because they wouldn’t matter in terms of his legacy. he KNOWS they would. so it’s more interesting than that. he doesn’t care about stages IN SPITE of knowing how much they “matter.” he doesn’t care because he just DOESN’T CARE about anyone else’s standards or judgments. he decides what he’s interested in, what captures his imagination, and he just does THAT (within the WIDE parameters of free choice he’s allowed at Alpecin, which are certainly wider and freer than anyone else in the peloton).OCexile08-01-2025
- Isn't the riders comming from indoor e-sport cycling crashing a lot?Jkolner12308-01-2025
- Right... Unless the two people above consider 2 Paris Roubaix and 3 Ronde meaningless... You don't win that many editions by being lucky.alsene08-01-2025
- Call it how you want, in order to win which matters to him, even if it’s for the team as lead-out, he has to and tries to be in top shape 10 out of 12 months, whether that’s a bunch of peaks, a couple of prolonged peaks or just that his general level is so good he can win anytime without peaking is a new discussion.Jumpyjohn08-01-2025
- I think he’s right and mental attitude is one of the biggest factors at elite level, especially over 3 weeks.Jumpyjohn08-01-2025
- Enforcing cease and desist isn't working. The site is still live (8 Jan 13:55 CET)leodis08-01-2025