"I fell so hard on my a**, I was shaking so much and in pain" - Demi Vollering gets away from her crash with just bruises

Demi Vollering was one of the main victims to a crash on a roundabout in the final phases of Thursday's fifth stage of Tour de France Femmes. The Dutch favourite for overall triumph lost quite a bit of time on GC and thus her second Tour victory in a row can no longer be taken for granted,

Vollering only appeared at a post-stage press conference quite late into the evening. She described the situation after the crash to NOS. "Luckily no broken bones, but my tailbone is quite bruised," says the leader of SD Worx - ProTime. At the moment it doesn't appear that there would be anything preventing her from starting in the sixth stage.

Initially, Vollering thought she could hold the turn, despite the fact that several other riders fell in front of her. It took a while before she could continue her way. "Of course, it's chaos at such a moment. It's also a bit of a bummer that I was so slow to get back on the bike. I fell so hard on my ass, I was shaking so much and in pain... It took a while before I could get my leg over my bike again."

The 27-year-old number one of the UCI Ranking does expect to have some problems with her painful tailbone. "We do sit more on the front of the saddle, but it is not ideal for the lower back. But okay, we will see. I am very keen to regain the yellow jersey, with my teammates. Despite everything, we had a very good day thanks to Blanka Vas' victory. That brings something positive."

Still, the Dutch woman is relatively relieved about getting away without major injuries. This means she's still in the contention for GC victory, even if her position isn't as comfortable as before. Both figuratively and literally. "I think it’s going okay. It could have ended a lot worse. But I’m still fighting, we’re just going for it!"