"She was really on the edge, almost crying" - Is the pressure getting to Demi Vollering at 2025 Tour de France Femmes?

Animosity was sparked at the 2025 Tour de France Femmes earlier this week, when the sports directors of FDJ - Suez and Team Visma | Lease a Bike were involved in a spat via the media, following a crash that saw former Maillot Jaune winner Demi Vollering caught up. Although Vollering herself is trying to stay focused on the race, are the outside pressures starting to get to the Dutchwoman?

"That crash wasn’t ASO’s fault, it was the riders. It all comes down to respect, the mentality of some teams is unbelievable, truly disrespectful. They’re playing with people’s lives like this. Demi wants to ride at the front, but they keep cutting her off," FDJ - Suez's Stephen Delcourt told reporters after Vollering's crash

Visma's Jos van Emden quickly fired back: "I have no respect at all for these comments. Let me be clear, what he is saying is completely ridiculous," said the Dutchman. "He seems to want a peloton of eight riders with Demi in it, riding in a golden cage - sure, she is the best rider but that doesn’t mean that everyone needs to move aside for her."

According to French ex-pro Audrey Cordon-Ragot on TNT Sports however, all this drama is the last thing Vollering needs whilst she attempts to reclaim the Maillot Jaune. "She is a very emotional rider, you could see yesterday in an interview pre-race, she was really on the edge, almost crying, I think she has been putting so much pressure on her shoulders," Cordon-Ragot said. "She was in the middle of this crash, but she was also positioning herself in the sprint when all the others were stepping back, letting the sprinters do their job and staying safe."

"No, she was there in the middle. Of course they are going to look at Demi, if they want to go, they go because it is a sprint, if it was the same crash, maybe after 20 kilometres in the middle of the race, I would have said, you know it is a pity, it happens," adds the Frenchwoman. "But when you know it is a sprint, the whole race has been so quiet, everyone is fresh, everyone wants to be there, step back, stay safe with one or two riders next to you."

British ex-pro turned analyst Dani Rowe also doesn't believe FDJ - Suez are helping Vollering by starting a war of words in the press. "I am sorry but there is absolutely no way the riders are going to be approaching that, three and a half km to go and say, 'you know what, I am going to cut up Demi Vollering, because she is the biggest threat to us'," Rowe explained. "I completely agree, to some respect, with Jos van Emden, because everyone deserves the right to be there, this is the Tour de France Femmes, so they are going to be fighting for position."

"I think it has got nothing to do with trying to cut Demi Vollering out to try and sacrifice her chances in this year’s tour, it is just to do with this being the biggest bike ride in the world and this is background noise that she just doesn’t need," Rowe concludes. "She has not asked for this here, ultimately they just need to focus on their performance and that is the DS’ job, to take all of that away from them and actually what they are doing is they are adding to that energy."