"Quite bizarre" - Lance Armstrong questions Demi Vollering's Mont Ventoux tactics as yellow jersey changes hands
CyclingSaturday, 08 August 2026 at 11:15
The Tour de France Femmes has been flipped on its head on the queen stage. Whilst most expected a battle between Demi Vollering and Marlen Reusser to see who would take up the yellow jersey, it was Katarzyna Niewiadoma who did it. Lance Armstrong shared his opinions on the climb.
Armstrong on Niewiadoma
The 21-kilometer ascent featured very steep gradients, and has been used at the men's race on several occasions - including with the American's presence. It is one where tactics matter little as the gradients are very steep for many kilometers.
"This mountain obviously has a lot of history... but I don't know if we have ever seen anything like today in a peloton," Armstrong said on The Move podcast. "Riding away completely from two amazing riders, Reusser and Demi Vollering, 9 kilometers from the finish line. I place this among the great achievements. It was an incredible finale".
Armstrong ranks Niewiadoma's performance very highly, in a field that contained many of the world's best climbers chasing her.
"The peloton may have received a gift from EF for riding at this pace. What was EF doing? Who knows? I don't know!' But they narrowed it down to 10 riders, and after that it was simply 'the best woman wins'."
Demi Vollering was second on Mont Ventoux at the Tour de France Femmes
Armstrong questions Vollering's tactics
When Katarzyna Niewiadoma attacked Demi Vollering and Marlen Reusser, the American pundit had no doubt on what would happen.
"When she went and had a minute and ten seconds lead, I got up to go to the toilet and said 'she is going to win by two minutes now.' She was well on her way to doing that, but Demi still had that extra acceleration at the end, which is quite bizarre".
Vollering could not close the gap to Niewiadoma at first, trying to bridge across whilst dropping Marlen Reusser. That was plan, but execution was harder. In the end, the European Champion then waited until the final kilometer to attack again.
"'In my opinion, you shouldn't ride that hard at the end of the Ventoux. You need to keep a little in the tank, but you should have deployed most of it lower down the climb.," Armstrong believes.
"She flew at the end, she went so fast". The acceleration, whilst impressive, was not enough to shut down the gap in sufficient amount to jump into the yellow jersey. After Reusser, it was now Niewiadoma in the lead.
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"Especially when those two (Reusser and Vollering, ed.) were looking at each other... at that moment they need to look at each other and say 'whatever the relationship was in the past or is now, let's put it aside'. Kasia is riding away from them and is on her way to the yellow jersey. So now, regardless of what has been said or happened, we need to find synergy and not let her ride too far ahead".
Armstrong questioned the long time waiting to attack Reusser towards the end of the climb, when it then proved to be very clear that Vollering had the legs to make the difference quite easily.
"The only question I have for Vollering: 'On TV it looked like she had a weaker moment halfway up the steep section where she didn't feel so good, and that she recovered from that? But yeah, it was way too much energy to have left at the finish to close the gap like that, while she looked so strong. What if she had attacked 2 kilometers earlier? Then she would have come very close".
Rúben SilvaEditor-in-Chief
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.
Beyond editorial work, he has been closely involved in the expansion and coordination of CyclingUpToDate’s wider network, helping establish and support sister platforms across multiple languages. This includes ongoing collaboration with CiclismoAlDia (Spanish), CiclismoAtual (Portuguese), WielrennenUpToDate (Dutch), and RadsportAktuell (German), contributing to a shared editorial vision and consistent international coverage.
He also helps oversee editorial governance across the network, setting standards for accuracy and consistency and coordinating updates or corrections when needed.
Originally from the Porto metropolitan area in Portugal, he holds a bachelor’s degree in Geography. His path into cycling journalism was shaped not through formal media training, but through independent reporting, community engagement, and sustained on-the-ground involvement in the sport.
Over the course of his career, he has conducted approximately 100 interviews across road cycling and cyclocross, ranging from one-to-one conversations and online formats to press conferences and on-site pre- and post-race coverage. His interviews include leading riders, team managers, and prominent figures within cycling media: Tadej Pogacar, Jonas Vingegaard, Mathieu van der Poel, Primoz Roglic, Wout van Aert, Joao Almeida and Tom Pidcock; managers like Patrick Lefevere and Joxean Matxin; and YouTube personality Bryan Kennedy (BKXC)...
Within 18 months of launch, he helped grow CyclingUpToDate’s English-language platform into one of the most-read cycling news websites, built entirely from the ground up. As both a professional journalist and lifelong cycling enthusiast, his focus remains on delivering accurate, timely, and well-contextualized coverage.
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- Not easy to see if Gery did something wrong on purpose. Sounds more like a weak excuse that she could not follow Vollering. She could have lost a lot more time if it was not for Longo- Borghini
DareDevil08-08-2026 - problem is UAE just getting better and visma getting worse and Jonas seems totally defeated and given up. Visma dont have what it takes their ruined too so i think we need to wait for Decathlon and seixas. Then theres del toro to at uae which they made into a star already.miguel08-08-2026
- problem is UAE just getting better and visma getting worse and Jonas seems totally defeated and given up. Visma dont have what it takes their ruined too so i think we need to wait for Decathlon and seixas. Then theres del toro to at uae which they made into a star already.miguel08-08-2026
- Big thanks to Demi, Kasia, Elisa, and the rest of the women's peloton for delivering awesome racing and amazing feelings. You gals are the antidote to the borefest by the "esteemed" UAE Team and the Slovenian mutant!
vannpelt08-08-2026 - Yeah, I agree....PogiSloFans08-08-2026
- Sadly i think he is right. Jonas looked defeated and more importantly his desire is not in it anymore judging by his wife comment. Vingegaard likely wont even beat del toro anymore.miguel08-08-2026
- It's sad that Gery's positioning has caused bad feeling between the teams (and she hasn't had the right of reply yet). But whatever happened before the decisive climb, the confrontation was after the stage, not during it, as this article states.Hills3308-08-2026
- Gratuliere, Felix! Super Leistung, Bravo!!RidesHills08-08-2026
- This race (today) and this race (the tour) are incredible cycling. Just fabulous to see such amazing riders pushing each other to and past their limits, the strategy, the competition, the quality of it all.RidesHills08-08-2026
- Soon nobody but the Tate’s fanclub and Mou will be watching the men’ race anymore if things don’t change.Mistermaumau08-08-2026
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