“She's never not finished on the podium... she mastered it all” – Demi Vollering hailed as second Tour de France Femmes win cements status at top of women's cycling
CyclingMonday, 10 August 2026 at 17:30
Demi Vollering's second Tour de France Femmes victory has added another major title to a Grand Tour record that is becoming increasingly difficult to match, with Ned Boulting and Lizzie Deignan hailing the Dutchwoman after she finished the job in emphatic fashion around Nice.
Vollering began the final stage only eight seconds ahead of Kasia Niewiadoma-Phinney, but any prospect of another nail-biting finish disappeared on the final ascent of the Col d'Eze. The FDJ United-Suez leader attacked near the summit, distanced her closest rival and rode into Nice alone, turning one of the smallest margins in Tour history into a final advantage of 1:18.
Reflecting on the finale on the For the Love of Cycling Podcast, Boulting described it as an "astonishing finish" before highlighting a Tour record that stretches well beyond Sunday's victory. "She's never not finished on the podium," he said. "I think she's finished second in every edition she hasn't won. I think that's right anyway."
It is. Since making her Tour de France Femmes debut in 2022, Vollering has finished second, first, second, second and first. Five starts have produced five podiums, including two yellow jerseys.
Grand Tour record stretches far beyond the Tour
The consistency becomes even more striking when her record across all three major stage races is considered. Vollering has now won the Tour de France Femmes twice, claimed back-to-back Vuelta Espana Femenina titles in 2024 and 2025, and added the Giro d'Italia Women to her palmares earlier this season. She has therefore won all three of women's cycling's Grand Tours, with five overall victories in total.
| Season | Grand Tour | GC Result | Best Stage Result |
| 2026 | Tour de France Femmes | 1st | 1st (3x) |
| 2026 | Giro d’Italia Women | 1st | 1st (2x) |
| 2025 | Tour de France Femmes | 2nd | 2nd |
| 2025 | Vuelta Espana Femenina | 1st | 1st (2x) |
| 2024 | Tour de France Femmes | 2nd | 1st (2x) |
| 2024 | Vuelta Espana Femenina | 1st | 1st (2x) |
| 2023 | Tour de France Femmes | 1st | 1st |
| 2023 | La Vuelta Femenina | 2nd | 1st (2x) |
| 2022 | Tour de France Femmes | 2nd | 2nd |
| 2021 | Giro d’Italia Internazionale Femminile | 3rd | 2nd |
| 2019 | Giro d’Italia Internazionale Femminile | 13th | 5th |
Her podium streak stretches back even further. Since finishing third at the 2021 Giro, Vollering has stood on the final podium at every Grand Tour she has entered: third at that Giro, second at both the 2022 Tour and Vuelta, second again at the 2023 Vuelta before winning the Tour, Vuelta victory and Tour runner-up in 2024, another Vuelta win and second place at the Tour in 2025, then the Giro-Tour double in 2026.
That makes 11 consecutive Grand Tour podiums since 2021, including five victories.
Boulting also pointed towards the breadth of Vollering's current season. "She's had a phenomenal year," he said, with Deignan immediately agreeing: "Phenomenal season. The Giro as well."
"And some Classics to boot," Boulting added.
Vollering arrived at the Tour having already won the Giro d'Italia Women during a campaign in which her one-day results had reinforced the same message. Her ability to win across the Classics and the biggest stage races has increasingly placed her in the same kind of all-terrain conversation occupied by Tadej Pogacar in the men's peloton.
Vollering sealed overall victory in style with a solo win on the final stage in Nice
'Masterclass' in Nice completes another statement Tour
Sunday's finale gave Vollering the chance to reinforce that status herself. Niewiadoma-Phinney had comprehensively beaten her on Mont Ventoux two days earlier and briefly appeared to have taken control of the Tour. Vollering responded by reclaiming yellow on Stage 8 and then settling the fight outright on the final climb of the race. "She mastered it all," Boulting said after watching the decisive attack.
Deignan was equally emphatic. "She did, yeah. She won by over a minute in the end. I'd say masterclass is exactly what she did today. For me, the right person won."
The victory also came after a less-than-ideal winter. Boulting revealed that Vollering had spoken for the first time about an injury which had largely remained private and forced her to spend around a month off the bike in December.
Six months later, she has completed the Giro-Tour double and added another Tour title to a Grand Tour record containing victories in France, Italy and Spain.
For all the attention generated by the individual performances along the way, Vollering's longer record is now every bit as significant as what happened in Nice. Five Tour starts have produced five podiums, while every Grand Tour she has raced since 2021 has ended with her inside the top three.
Kieran WoodDeputy Editor-in-Chief
Kieran Wood is a sports journalist based in Wales and has been active in journalism since 2022. He regularly contributes to DartsNews.com and CyclingUpToDate.com, where he covers professional cycling and darts. In cycling, his work includes liveblogs from major races, including the Tour de France, the Giro d’Italia, and La Vuelta a España, alongside race reports and analysis. He has also conducted interviews with professional riders.
His reporting spans the full racing calendar, from one-day classics to stage races, with a focus on accurate, real-time coverage and clear contextual analysis. For statistics, results, and historical context, he regularly uses resources such as ProCyclingStats. To support reporting on rider activity and training context where relevant, he also references Strava.
In his work, Kieran places strong emphasis on careful sourcing, editorial accuracy, and updating articles as new, verified information becomes available.
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- she didn't get death threats, and she's not a victim, bunch of crap that the useful idiots will believe. you don't want to be in the media's crosshairs, don't do stupid things like impeding a contender.whkman10-08-2026
- alot of pundits online especially twitter contributing to that. Riders dont deserve that. Alot of hate on twittermiguel10-08-2026
- death threats??? no one should have to deal with this. it was a dicey move, very aggressive perhaps. but wrong? well no one was relegated so it was ok. as Demi said, when she was in yellow, no one waited for her. Maybe Kasia should have taken the inside so the corner couldn’t have been removed by FDJ. I don’t like that she did this, I don’t agree with it. but it is within hard racing to many. death threats, and really any threats, are way out of line.mij10-08-2026
- hiring young guns instead of almost retired ex-stars. the right way to go!Ketterechts10-08-2026
- Poggi has been cloned, she`s called Demi Vollering.
Senna196010-08-2026 - The thing is for a young rider to not get into controversial positions at all. She did impede Kasia and that brings consequences. If Kasia had crashed, it would be even more. Avoid dirty tactics or be prepared to take the social media consequences in your stridesabstractengineer10-08-2026
- > If Kasia had gone straight to FDJ Suez DS instead, there would have been no death threats. You confuse the effect with the cause. If Gery hadn't been unfair, there wouldn't have been any threats. > And the message that you are sending out here, that a young cyclist deserves to have her life threatened for controversial positioning is extraordinary. What??? I'm not supporting any threats to anyone. So go and be an idiot somewhere else.averagecyclist10-08-2026
- Especially since Gery received death threats!onegear2910-08-2026
- If Kasia had gone straight to FDJ Suez DS instead, there would have been no death threats. And the message that you are sending out here, that a young cyclist deserves to have her life threatened for controversial positioning is extraordinary.Hills3310-08-2026
- Pogacar is uae been there all career without them he is not the best in history. Creds to them for that and their the best team now too, its impossible to beat that combo. Dont know whats hard to grasp by that. And they raising del toro too to become great rider its hard for other teams to keep up with that.miguel10-08-2026
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