10 Aug 2023 at 05:21
Demi Vollering took a short break with her family to relax after her first overall victory in the Tour de France Femmes. That mini vacation was enough to recharge for her next goal: the World Time Trial Championships in Glasgow on Thursday.
It’s one of those details that you only learn when you experience it. After the Tour, a winner appears to get ‘only’ ten yellow jerseys to take home. “You have to buy the rest,” explains Vollering.
The 26-year-old from South Holland handed out all the souvenirs a week and a half ago after the best victory of her career. Her teammates got one, her team leaders, the main sponsor. “And then I came home and realized, shit, I don’t have one for myself.”
Vollering tells the story on Wednesday in the Dutch riders hotel just outside Glasgow with a big smile. She will get that extra yellow jersey from the Tour organization. And she may have an equally beautiful cycling shirt after this week. One in rainbow colors.
The SD Worx rider will have two chances to become world champion for the first time. On Sunday, she is one of the top favorites in the road race as the leader of the Dutch team. And on Thursday she is considered a dangerous outsider for the gold in the time trial.
“I expected it would be quite difficult to switch to the World Cup so soon after the Tour,” says Vollering. “But that was actually not too bad. These World Cups have of course always been an important goal for me. That made a difference.”
Photo: AFP
Wat deed Vollering na of Tour de France Women?
It has been barely ten days since Vollering saw her big dream come true in Pau. After the decisive time trial in the Tour, she said she needed to rest to believe she had won the greatest cycling race in the world.
She found that peace during a mini vacation with her family. Parents Germa and Kees with a camper, sister Nena with her boyfriend in the car and Vollering with her boyfriend Jan de Voogd in the Mercedes Sprinter that they converted into a camper.
“On the Monday morning after the Tour, Jan picked me up at the hotel and we first had breakfast with the whole family,” says Vollering. “Then we drove towards the Atlantic Ocean. Just lying on the beach. So I immediately got a kind of detox from all that madness in the Tour.”
The multi-winner did not touch her bicycle at all on the first day. On Tuesday she got on the gravel bike with dog Flo on her back for a very quiet ride to a restaurant. “We got a heavy shower on our heads, so we stood still for quite some time.” Smiling: “You can’t really call that cycling.”
Vollering had plenty of time to think about the significance of her Tour victory. Her conclusion? “I am very happy that I achieved this goal. But of course it is not the case that I suddenly have a completely different life. I am and will still be Demi.”
Daan de Ridder is a cycling reporter
Daan reports the ‘Super World Cup’ cycling for NU.nl from Glasgow. Read more stories from Dan here.
Vollering only really focuses on time trial this year
After the few days off, Vollering returned to her home in Switzerland, where she did “a few good training sessions” for the World Cup last weekend. “And that actually went pretty well.”
That promises a lot for her debut at the World Championship time trial. At the beginning of her career, individual discipline was secondary. Vollering has only won two pro chronoraces: the prologue of the Festival Elsy Jacobs in Luxembourg in 2019 and a stage in the British Women’s Tour in 2021.
“In the past I didn’t train much on the time trial. I thought: I can work hard with this, but for what? I wouldn’t be selected for a European Championship or World Cup, because in the Netherlands we had Annemiek van Vleuten and Ellen van Dijk had.”
This season Vollering has really focused on time trial, because the Tour ended with a chrono race. It earned her three places: in the Tour de Suisse, at the National Championships and in Pau.
“Of course that gave me a lot of confidence. I think I’d rather win the road race on Sunday. But I now also think time trial is a very nice discipline. Becoming world champion on that would of course also be great.”
Markus dreams of world title
Riejanne Markus is the second Dutch participant in the World Time Trial World Championship on Thursday. The 28-year-old Jumbo-Visma rider has focused mainly on this discipline since 2021.
“If you can become Dutch champion, you can also become world champion,” says Markus. “To ever achieve that is a very big goal of mine. It would be very exceptional if I succeeded immediately on my first attempt. But of course you have to dream of that.”
The time trial starts on Thursday at 2.55 pm (Dutch time). Vollering’s turn is just after 4.23 pm, while Markus is 86th and last to finish the 36.2 kilometer long course from 4.42 pm.
2023-08-10 03:21:36
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