"If it doesn't work out in Rwanda, I can be done for" - Dutch national coach could be fired without a gold medal from 2025 World Championships

For two years in a row, the Dutch women have been unable to dethrone Lotte Kopecky at the World Championships. Often, the leadership disputes were to be blamed for a lack of cohesion between the women in orange jerseys as a clear hierarchy was seemingly not established among the stars.

What has been most evident as an issue at the Tokyo Olympics, is now becoming a threat to Laurens ten Dam's position as national coach of Dutch women: "If it doesn't work out in Rwanda, I can be done for," he unveils on the WielerFlits Podcast.

The strong individualities require even better tactics from the coach to get their full commitment to the gameplan: "They may not listen to me, but if it’s good, the women there will carry out my tactics," Ten Dam continued. "That also means that you can hold me accountable for that. And not the rider in question. If she’s riding in front and it looks strange, while I said it should be done, then it’s my responsibility. I want to make that clear."

In Zurich 2024, there was a good opportunity to win for The Netherlands with Demi Vollering, Marianne Vos and Riejanne Markus still at the front in penultimate lap. But unexplicably, instead of trying to win through the numbers, Vollering attacked on the last climb, dropping (pretty much only) her compatriots in the process.

"But last year was also a strange year," the national coach believes. "Last year she had to make up for her entire season in Zurich – in her opinion. The Tour was lost, the classics may not have gone the way she wanted. I hope she has already won a few races before the World Championships. That also means that the pressure is a lot less. Because yes, under that pressure she made the wrong choices in the final last year."

Ten Dam emphasizes that it is not only Vollering who made mistakes in Zurich. "Certainly not. It is not just Demi, but the whole process. The riders also agreed to a tactic that was not entirely correct. All seven were there at that time. The group must mature enough to have the right tactics in advance and to be on the same page. They must not say 'yes' and think: I don't really know. That must all be discussed thoroughly."

For Ten Dam, everyone starts with a clean slate now that he is national coach. "Everyone starts from scratch. Before you go to Rwanda, you know what your role is going to be. You have to agree to that."