"Like Tadej Pogacar and Mathieu van der Poel" - Demi Vollering entering 2025 with a different approach; opens up about World Championships disaster

Cycling
Friday, 20 December 2024 at 18:00
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Demi Vollering is starting a new season and phase of her career with FDJ - Suez and recently she has opened up about multiple important topics that she hadn't throughout the season such as her disastrous crash at the Tour de France Femmes, her relationships with Lotte Kopecky... Now also the controversial World Championships tactics.

In March, her departure from SD Worx was confirmed by the team without her knowing beforehand, which came as a shock for the Dutchwoman. Relationships within the team clearly had issues, and likely the biggest was her internal rivalry with Lotte Kopecky. The team's huge budget meant the team had under contract three of the absolute best riders in the peloton, which had to battle for leadership in their personal goals.

"I wasn’t ready for that news at all. It caused a lot of stress in the first months of the season. After the spring, I found some calm, but some uncertainties stuck with me throughout the year," Vollering shared with NOS. "Leaving SD Worx wasn’t a small thing. I spent four great years with that team".

At the Tour de France Femmes then, she crashed whilst wearing the yellow jersey and lost almost two minutes on stage 5 with little support from the team when it mattered the most. She then lost the GC by a mere 4 seconds. She had fractured her tailbone and reveals that after the TDFF, the injury continued to affect her but that didn't change her initial schedule.

"It needed time to heal, but I didn't have that time because I wanted to compete at the World Championships," she tells, sharing the pressure she had to perform and how she didn't prioritize her recovery. "I had to avoid all impact, couldn’t run, couldn’t do strength training, and sprinting was also out of the question."

Then came the World Championships. The Netherlands entered the final lap with two riders up front, and Vollering did hold herself not attacking until they were caught. But then she did, dropping Marianne Vos who was the only reasonable rider to beat Lotte Kopecky in the spring. Vollering and all Dutch riders ended up outside the podium - whilst race radios can also be blamed as a reason for these unusual tactics, unlike what we see during the rest of the season.

"I wanted to win so badly that I was too afraid to lose. I wasted my energy and made some mistakes," she admits. "I realized that immediately after the finish, but then there’s nothing you can do. No matter how big the mistakes are, you learn from them. That’s what I will hold on to for the coming years."

Now with FDJ - Suez, the 28-year old is going to race less in 2025 but try to win just as much or more than what she did this year. "After the first conversation, I walked out the door with a big smile. We’re focusing more on career goals and less on seasonal goals. Specifically, that means that I will ride fewer races, like Tadej Pogacar and Mathieu van der Poel, but will aim to be in top form almost everywhere I compete," she concluded. 

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