Demi Vollering has signed a multi-year contract extension with FDJ United-Suez, keeping one of the defining riders of the modern women’s peloton at the centre of the French team’s long-term project.
The agreement, signed in the spring and announced on 29th May, is a major statement from FDJ United-Suez. Vollering joined the team in October 2024 and has since helped transform the squad into one of the dominant forces in women’s cycling, combining Grand Tour success, Classics victories and a wider leadership role within the team.
Vollering commits to FDJ United-Suez project
FDJ United-Suez described the renewal as a symbol of mutual trust and shared ambition, as well as a commitment to building a team that can inspire beyond results alone.
That language reflects how central Vollering has become to the team’s identity. She arrived with the experience and status of a Tour de France Femmes winner, but her impact at FDJ United-Suez has gone beyond simply adding a proven race leader. The team sees her as a sporting reference point, a cultural leader and a rider who can help shape the next stage of its development.
The extension also strengthens FDJ United-Suez’s long-term position at a time when the top of women’s cycling is becoming increasingly competitive. Securing a rider of Vollering’s status on a multi-year deal gives the French squad stability around its biggest targets, particularly the Grand Tours, Ardennes Classics and major stage races.
Delcourt: ‘She shows the way’
Stephen Delcourt, general manager of FDJ United-Suez, said Vollering’s influence could not be measured by victories alone.
“Demi is an extraordinary athlete at the peak of her game,” Delcourt said. “But what moves us and makes us proud goes far beyond her victories. Demi is a woman who is changing our sport.”
Delcourt highlighted Vollering’s standards, authenticity and ability to bring others with her as central to her role within the team.
“Through her high standards, her sensitivity, her authenticity, and her way of bringing others along with her, she redefines what a modern leader is,” he said. “She inspires her teammates, she inspires the fans, she inspires a generation of young girls and boys who see themselves in her way of being and living her sport, as much as in her performances. She doesn’t just win races: she shows the way.”
It is a strong endorsement, but one that fits the scale of Vollering’s contribution since joining. FDJ United-Suez finished top of the 2025 UCI Women’s WorldTeam ranking, while also leading the individual standings and collecting 23 victories across the season. The team’s depth and direction were already central themes in our FDJ United-SUEZ 2026 Women’s WorldTour team guide.
Vollering: ‘This environment has become home’
Vollering said the decision to continue came from both sporting belief and personal connection with the team.
“Over the last year and a half I have been part of an environment where everybody can truly grow, not just as an athlete, but also as a person, and I am very proud of that,” Vollering said. “This environment has become home. I was more than motivated to keep writing the next chapters of our story together.”
She pointed to the international ambition of the team, its French identity, the people around her and the fans who have supported her since she arrived.
“With FDJ United-Suez, an international project rooted in its beautiful French identity, all the incredible people around me, and the fans who have believed in me from day one, I am driven to keep building something far bigger than just victories,” she said.
That wider purpose was a recurring theme in the announcement. Vollering framed the renewal not only as a sporting decision, but as part of a responsibility to help shape women’s cycling.
“We want to inspire a whole generation of girls and boys, and move our sport forward as a whole,” she said. “Stephen and the entire team have built a very strong foundation for that, one I genuinely believe in, not just for results, but for what we’re trying to create for this sport.”
Grand Tour success and stage race dominance in 2025
Vollering’s first full season with FDJ United-Suez in 2025 delivered immediate validation for the partnership. She won La Vuelta Femenina, giving the team the first Grand Tour victory in its history.
That result alone would have made the move a success, but Vollering also won four other major stage races: Itzulia Women, the Tour de Suisse, Volta Ciclista a Catalunya and Setmana Ciclista Volta Femenina de la Comunitat Valenciana. She also added victory at Strade Bianche Donne.
The breadth of those results underlined her value. Vollering was not only winning on one type of course or targeting one narrow part of the season. She was carrying the team across the hilly Classics, mountainous stage races and major general classification objectives, while also raising the level of those around her.
That impact is why the extension feels like more than a contract announcement. It secures the rider around whom FDJ United-Suez’s current era has been built.
2026 confirms Vollering’s place among the greats
Vollering has carried that momentum into 2026, producing one of the strongest first halves of a season in recent women’s cycling history.
Her victories at Ronde van Vlaanderen, Liège-Bastogne-Liège, La Flèche Wallonne and Omloop Het Nieuwsblad have confirmed her status as one of the dominant riders of her era. Those wins show the full range of her ability: cobbled Classics, Ardennes climbs, hard one-day racing and the kind of repeated intensity that separates complete riders from specialists.
Her leadership has also contributed to the wider rise of FDJ United-Suez. The team has taken major victories at Paris-Roubaix and Strade Bianche Donne, showing that Vollering’s presence has helped create a structure capable of winning even when the final result is not hers personally.
That may be the most important part of the renewal. Vollering remains a serial winner, but FDJ United-Suez are also becoming a team that can win around her.
A long-term statement for women’s cycling
For FDJ United-Suez, extending Vollering is a sporting coup, but also a statement about where the team believes women’s cycling is heading. The announcement spoke repeatedly about values, leadership, ambition and breaking codes in an increasingly competitive sport.
At the practical level, the renewal gives the team clarity. Vollering remains the centre of its Grand Tour and Classics ambitions. The staff can build around her. Teammates know the long-term direction. Sponsors have a rider with global profile and proven impact. Young riders have a leader whose influence extends beyond results sheets.
For Vollering, the agreement provides the stability to keep building in an environment she clearly trusts.
“For me, everything starts with a dream,” she said. “And right now, that dream feels bigger than ever, on the bike, and beyond it. I can’t wait for what still lies ahead, and to keep building, together.”
FDJ United-Suez have already become one of the benchmark teams in the women’s peloton. By keeping Vollering, they have secured the rider most responsible for that rise and given themselves the foundation to chase an even bigger future.
