Lance Armstrong surprised at Tour de France Femmes and Demi Vollering's speed: "Her average speed in this time trial was 51 kilometers an hour. I remember doing time trials at 51 km/h"
Cycling
Lance Armstrong won many time trials during his career in the Tour de France and, although they were later removed for doping, there is no doubt that he knows the discipline to perfection and that he is an expert in the field. Thus, in his podcast The Move, analyzing the third stage of the Women's Tour de France, the Texan made it clear that what Demi Vollering did during the time trial in Rotterdam was a real barbarity.
The Dutchwoman won the technical time trial of 6.3 kilometers with a time of 7 minutes and 25 seconds, 5 seconds less than her closest rival Chloé Dygert. In other words, she finished the stage with an average of over 51 km/h. Lance told his podcast partners that he knows what it's like to ride at those speeds and that it's a real shock:
"Demi Vollering's average speed, it was a short time trial, I don't think that matters because it was amazing; her average speed in this time trial was 51 kilometers an hour. I remember doing time trials at 51 km/h, that's really fast!. All this with curves, with a traffic circle, a twist... I'd be riding down the road probably at an average of 55 km/h."
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Vollering, already in yellow
After three stages of the Tour de France Femmes, the great favorite and winner of the race in 2023, Dutch rider Demi Vollering already leads the purple jersey with 3 seconds ahead of her teammate in SD Worx Lorena Wiebes and 5 with Chloé Dygert. Rivals such as Katarzyna Niewiadoma are already half a minute behind Vollering who is already setting herself up as the woman to beat, but the race is still yet to reach it's hardest stages where the biggest differences will be created. Today, there will be a finale in Liège after tackling some of the climbs that are raced in Liège-Bastogne-Liège.
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A founding contributor to CyclingUpToDate since its launch in January 2022, Ruben Silva has played a central role in shaping the site’s editorial direction and long-term growth. Before joining the project, he built his experience through independent blogging at Echelons Hub and by producing race previews for Ciclismo Internacional, developing a strong analytical voice rooted in daily engagement with professional cycling.
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- On a positive note, you maybe notice turning this topic into a discussion has the benefit of eliminating certain participants who do not see how they can turn it back to their sole interest ;-)Jumpyjohn08-11-2026
- People see what they want to. I am actually the opposite of your accusation, probably more of a rebel than most of you who don’t get the big picture. The difference is, I don’t go moaning publicly about the consequences of my transgressions, I understand the need for rules and I take my OWN responsibility when deciding to ignore or break them or doing so involuntarily. I will also not hesitate to state my case or argue vehemently when relevant, sometimes it works, sometimes it makes things worse but that’s the price to pay for principles and having character.Jumpyjohn08-11-2026
- That may be but that was unknown to others and nothing says that’s the whole truth. Again, don’t try to misinterpret, it is a call and technically it is correct. Besides, even if there is a valid reason, that does not disqualify the ruling or punishment as far as the rules have been developed. I don’t think they’re as far as in football where for handball there is a distinction (in some ways and specific cases) between intentional or not. And football can be just as harsh and people live with it, eg the offside rule, also judged to within tiny fractions but often wrong or ignored. It’s the nature of every collective organisation and sometimes I wonder if our rebellion against it isn’t seated in the feelings we carry from the injustices we’ve felt personally, like being flashed driving 1km/h too fast when we are explained limits are just a security measure but we are absolutely certain not to have endangered anyone with our transgression. The problem is, nobody has better solutions and no 2 people have the same interpretation of where a limit should be.Jumpyjohn08-11-2026
- Because for you deviated implies the other rider MUST have been made to fall and fail to finish ??? I don’t know if you ride a bike but next time someone carves you up or drives dangerously close, just hold back from those feelings of changing something, reporting or filming or even complaining. Everyone will just say, hey you’re still here undamaged, doesn’t seem like anyone did anything.Jumpyjohn08-11-2026
- And we, what are we doing?Jumpyjohn08-11-2026
- And yet, it attracts people, even you. What’s more, it attracts the rival fanboys to fill cyberspace with endless pointless my hero is better than your hero blabla that’s all been heard before and only helps sell the site as an advertising platform. You know what the solution is but most can’t resist. No different than women who follow and discuss celebs through gossip magazines.Jumpyjohn08-11-2026
- he is doing 460 watts for 35 min to achieve 7 w/kg with VO2 at 96 , just unreal numbers.abstractengineer08-11-2026
- Just do it, and put up with the consequencesJumpyjohn08-11-2026
- "was a headliner at the Tour de France" Nobody cared about Piddie. Only rivals that were there for Pogi, Jonas, Remco, Sexias, Lipo, Del Toro and they were all expected to lose. Piddie was not even in any conversation.abstractengineer08-11-2026
- exactly, he had an amazing season, but with these overstatements they don‘t do him good.Ketterechts08-11-2026
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🥹 Listen to the emotional reaction of @demivollering after her win today. 🥹 Découvrez la réaction pleine d'émotion de @demivollering après sa victoire d'aujourd'hui. #TDFF2024 | #WatchTheFemmes | @TISSOT | @GoZwift
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