“I am especially proud of the way I won" - Demi Vollering reveals delight after securing historic Ardennes Classic hat-trick

Demi Vollering has had herself an incredibly successful spring. In her last seven races, the 26-year-old has five wins and two second-place finishes to her name. In an interview on a Dutch talk show she has revealed her pride at her form.

“Last year I finished on the podium a lot, but I just missed those victories. Then you also become very critical of yourself, looking for things that cause it," Vollering, who was introduced as 'the cycling queen of the spring', revealed on the talk show Op1. "I mainly think that a mental coach helped. I also took that step because I was so close to it."

Having always been a rider that trains hard, Vollering believes the biggest change she has seen this year in order to bring her winning form, has been mental. "Taking a step in training is not that difficult, because I like to train harder. I felt like I had to take a step mentally," she explains. "Tactically, but especially mentally. That I didn't get so nervous, for example when there was a climb coming up where I had to compete against Annemiek. Then I was given assignments or I started visualizing, so that I could remain calm."

On The Move podcast, Vollering also spoke of her pride. “I am especially proud of the way I won. It was always in a different way. I have a kind of booklet in which I write down my goals. When I wrote down my goals for the Ardennes, I thought it would be cool to do something crazy," she says. "I had somewhat forgotten, but when I saw the booklet I suddenly thought: wait a minute, I just wrote this down. I wanted to win with an attack, solo and in a sprint. That was very cool."