"She is really enjoying herself with her new team" - Demi Vollering blossoms after departure from SD Worx

The transfer of Demi Vollering from world's best team SD Worx - Protime to FDJ - Suez was a big topic in, not only, the women's cycling peloton. The new distribution of power suddenly brings more open races with the Dutchwoman often clashing with her former teammates.

The complicated tactics were clearly not something that Vollering would've liked and now she seems to have flourished in new environment, ex-cyclist and commentator Roxane Knetemann observes in magazine Helden.

"That has been very good for her. Physically, Demi is the best in the peloton, but cycling is also about tactics. The moment Demi is not served well enough in that area, which was the case at SD Worx, then she starts doing stupid things."

Knetemann has some examples to back-up her point. "Like in the Tour de France Femmes last year, which she lost to Katarzyna Niewiadoma by four seconds. And also in the road race at the World Championships she made decisions that were followed by a storm of negative reactions."

Where Vollering had struggled, it allowed some of her teammates to benefit. "We also saw last year that her former teammate Lotte Kopecky thrived in races where they both had to go for the win."

Racing "on instinct" may not be the Dutchwoman's cup of tea and thus the clearly set boundaries in FDJ - Suez give her the comfort to focus on her own performance: "That tactic turned out to be far too vague for Demi. She needs a team of five riders and a staff that moves around her. That happens at FDJ, that's why I'm sure she will flourish there."

The cycling careers of Knetemann and Vollering overlapped only very briefly, but they still know each other. "In my last year as a cyclist, I was a teammate of Demi at Parkhotel. I sometimes text her. I saw Demi riding very well at the beginning of the season with her new team and I let her know. She immediately replied that she is really enjoying herself with her new team."