"This is just how I am, take it or leave it" - Demi Vollering on how her personality clashed with SD Worx

Team SD Worx - ProTime for some time had in Demi Vollering, Lotte Kopecky and Lorena Wiebes all at their prime leading the team. Besides the internal clashes, Vollering still looked to improve despite the team's absolute dominance of the sport, and that was part of the reason why she left.

“In my feeling we had run into a wall. I often asked 'what is the plan to become even more successful?’ And then the answer from the team was ‘why? We are the best women’s team in the world.’ But that wasn’t the point for me. I wanted to take the next steps," Vollering said in an interview with AD.

Other instances also led to the demise of the relationships, most notably the 2024 Tour de France Femmes which the Dutch rider lost over a mere few seconds; whilst having lost significant time on one of the hilly stages after lacking team support following a crash.

That was a difficult situation to manage, but something that was always a possibility in a team with so many riders capable of winning, who had their own individual ambitions. “There was a certain image expected of me, that I had to be very cold," she explained.

"Lotte Kopecky and Anna van der Breggen are very different personalities from me. That’s fine, but I didn’t want to change who I am. I thought: maybe somewhere else I can be more myself.”

She is also open about her struggles, as has happened last year during the Vuelta Femenina. “Just before I left for Spain, I visited someone in my surroundings who was in a very bad place. During the Vuelta I had nightmares," she reveals.

"I worried so much about that person, while in a stage race you have zero time to deal with it. I could still perform, I could still win. But it also made me think about mental strength. I win races because I’m mentally strong, but there are also people who fight themselves so much that they simply can’t win anymore. I thought 'I’m the leader, I can’t show emotion', but actually that is also strength.”

It is a journey of navigation through the many ups and downs of being a pro rider, specially one at the top, who is constantly under immense pressure to perform, both from herself and from the team and sponsors that rely on her for the results and exposure.

Ultimately, Vollering has decided not to try and pass the image of a cold person. “This is just how I am, take it or leave it. As elite athletes we do so much physical work, but in the end the mental side is the biggest part. If things aren’t right up here, the results will never come.”

That is something which changed significantly after her move to FDJ United - Suez, where she was able to be herself more fully, contributing to her stability and consistency at the end of the day.

“When that online meeting (the first with the team before signing, ed.) finished, I closed my laptop and instantly felt that spark. That happiness. I suddenly had a big smile on my face and I didn’t even know where it came from. But I knew: this is it. It was the gut feeling I had been searching for and hadn’t found with other teams. I was so happy that I had waited.”