SD Worx teammate says that Vollering and Kopecky dispute is "all pure gossip"

Team SD Worx - ProTime is the team with the biggest budget in women's cycling up until this year and this meant that it had a lot of world-class leaders whilst having a limited amount of races. Elena Cecchini tells of her experience with the departing Demi Vollering including their friendly relationship, emotions and a comment on how things stood with Lotte Kopecky.

"We shared a room a few times, especially during our first year at SD Worx in 2021. I got to know her on a personal level, which helped me a lot in embracing my role as her wingman. It was a joy to work with and for her," Cecchini told Bici.Pro. "Both the team and I personally will miss her deeply. She’s an athlete who gives you the feeling that anything is possible.”

The Italian rider is staying with the team as a domestique but the same cannot be said of Vollering who will join FDJ - Suez, looking for more freedom and a team to be a sole leader. This year at the Tour de France Femmes she did not conquer the yellow jersey by a mere 4 seconds, and it was time that could've been saved when she crashed and lost time on stag 5.

"The beauty of bonds like this is that they stay with you. Demi and I will stay in touch. We are, first and foremost, friends. Demi’s decision was purely professional, but it doesn’t change what we’ve built and shared together," Cecchini adds. "Her confidence. She has an incredibly determined but deeply sensitive personality, which made it easy to connect with her. She’s someone who openly shares her emotions and feelings, even in public."

"When you watch her race, you immediately know what she wants — both from her teammates and from herself. During this year’s Vuelta, she wore the red jersey, but you could tell she wasn’t 100 percent sure of herself, even after she had proven to be the strongest. That hesitation stemmed from losing the race by just a few seconds in 2023. During the race, I stayed close to her and reminded her not to worry. Sometimes, just one word can make all the difference."

Ultimately, Cecchini believes that Vollering - who fractured her tailbone on that TDFF crash - was still the strongest climber in the race. "I wasn’t there and didn’t experience the dynamics of that moment. I only know that under normal circumstances, Vollering would have won. On the day of the crash, I don’t know exactly what happened. But anyone who knows anything about cycling knows that Demi was the strongest in the Tour. Like other Dutch athletes, she has an undeniable ability to just get back up again."

On Vollering and Lotte Kopecky's relationship, which Vollering herself said became 'one-sided' towards it's end, the 32-year old has a different view on how it really was: "A lot has been written and said, but I think it’s all pure gossip. Up until the Tour, those connections were calm and relaxed. I wasn’t at La Grande Boucle, so I don’t know if things changed from that point on. But in October, we were all at ease and happy with what we’d built together."