She might be sitting 8th overall, 1:15 down on the Maillot Jaune of Katarzyna Niewiadoma, but there is little doubt that as the 2024 Tour de France Femmes heads towards a finale atop Alpe d'Huez, Demi Vollering is the most likely to wrestle the race lead from the Pole.
"It was a long and tough day. The climb was not tough enough, not steep enough, as I thought. If you then take the lead, everyone benefits. I didn't want to do that," the Team SD Worx - Protime leader reflected in conversation with NOS after she and Niewiadoma matched each other on the summit finish of stage 7.
Whilst Niewiadoma and Vollering were evenly matched on the climb, it was Vollering who won the fight for 3rd place on the stage, taking 4 bonus seconds as a result. In her own mind however, the Dutchwoman is beginning to sense she has the mental advantage in the fight for the Maillot Jaune.
"I wanted to make Kasia a bit nervous. And I succeeded, she was looking back the whole time. I had the idea that she was very afraid that I was going to attack. That gave me a good feeling," the 2023 Tour de France Femmes winner assesses of the dynamic with Niewiadoma on that final climb of stage 7. "Tomorrow the climbs are much harder, hopefully that will be enough for me."
Another positive for Vollering is no lasting effects from her crash earlier in the race. "My body held up well. It's the end of the Tour, so no one feels great anymore. Now I just have to make sure I recover well for tomorrow. Whether it works or not, we'll see in hindsight," she concludes. "I can get really worked up about it having to work out, but that only makes me stressed. So I try not to put too much pressure on my shoulders."
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