Bodine Vollering will step up to EF Education–Oatly for the 2027 season after signing a three-year contract with the American Women’s WorldTour team. The 23-year-old Dutch rider leaves VolkerWessels after two seasons and will remain with EF through the end of 2029, giving her time to develop in a new racing environment.
Vollering has spent much of her professional career balancing racing with university studies in tax law. She is now close to finishing her degree and expects to be able to concentrate on cycling full-time for the first time next year. That change, alongside the resources available at EF, is central to the team’s decision to recruit her.
The signing gives Vollering an opportunity to build on encouraging results in 2026, including sixth overall at the Festival Elsy Jacobs in Luxembourg. She is the younger sister of world champion Demi Vollering, but the move is based on her own progress and her willingness to take on a supporting role as she adjusts to higher-level racing.
Three-year EF deal offers room to develop
Vollering said she became interested in EF after watching how the team raced at the Classic Lorient Agglomération in Plouay. The strength of its collective performance caught her attention as she considered what sort of team would suit the next stage of her career.
“They were controlling the peloton. I saw how strong they were,” she said of EF’s riders. She was particularly impressed that they maintained their control throughout a long, demanding race and wanted to become part of a group that could race in that way.
Her discussions with general manager Esra Tromp reinforced that impression. Vollering said the team had presented a long-term vision rather than expecting a rider to produce immediate results or be replaced after a short spell. She also liked the balance between demanding racing and a relaxed atmosphere that she had seen in the team’s videos and other coverage.
Tromp believes EF can help Vollering discover the level she can reach with a full professional support structure. She praised the Dutch rider’s instincts and knowledge of racing, while noting that her education had previously limited the time she could dedicate to preparation and recovery. The length of the new deal reflects an intention to develop her over several seasons rather than judge her on the first few months.
From tax-law studies to full-time racing
Vollering’s route into professional cycling has been less direct than that of many riders who pass through national development programmes as teenagers. She began racing as a child, stopped while concentrating on school and later returned after following her sister Demi’s career.
At university she specialised in tax law, a course she started before it became clear that she could make a career in cycling. She has now reached the final thesis stage, leaving her in a position to make riding and training her main occupation in 2027.
The change should allow her to prepare for races more consistently, particularly when travelling to stage races and recovering between events. She has spoken about the difficulty of taking on long races during examination periods, when her attention was divided between competition and academic deadlines.
She moved from the Dutch club WV Schijndel to VolkerWessels for 2025, earning her first professional contract with the Dutch ProTeam. Two seasons there have provided the experience to make the next step, including exposure to bigger fields and more demanding race programmes.
Top-ten results and ambitions beyond 2027
Vollering’s sixth place at the 2026 Festival Elsy Jacobs was her most notable general classification result this season. She has also shown her ability to finish competitively in stages at the Tour de Feminin and previously came close to the podium at the Région Pays de la Loire Tour. These are promising results rather than established WorldTour victories, but they give EF a basis on which to work.
She enjoys hilly races and has expressed a particular interest in developing her abilities on long climbs. For now, she believes courses with shorter, sharper climbs may suit her better. The difference matters as she moves into a team that will be able to give her a wider range of racing opportunities and more structured preparation.
Vollering’s immediate target is to work for her team-mates and learn from more experienced riders. She has longer-term ambitions of racing the Tour de France Femmes and the Amstel Gold Race, her home country’s biggest one-day event. Neither is a confirmed part of her 2027 programme, and the three-year contract gives her room to approach those objectives gradually.
A different path from sister Demi
The Vollering surname is already one of the best known in women’s cycling. Bodine’s older sister Demi won the 2026 Tour de France Femmes and followed it by claiming the world road race title in Montréal, part of a season covered in ProCyclingUK’s women’s cycling year review.
Bodine has acknowledged that watching her sister compete was part of the reason she returned to racing after spending time away from the sport. Their career paths, however, remain quite different. She arrives at EF without the expectation of immediately leading Grand Tours or challenging for the biggest Classics, and with an emphasis on making the most of improved preparation and the chance to learn.
That approach should suit a team looking to develop younger riders alongside established names. EF Education–Oatly have had riders such as Noemi Rüegg and Magdeleine Vallieres competing in major one-day races, and Vollering’s interest in hard courses and helping team-mates could make her a useful part of its wider racing group.
Her three-year agreement begins in January 2027. The first season will be an opportunity to settle into full-time training, learn the team’s approach and discover how far her results can improve without the competing demands of university. At 23, there is time for her ambitions to grow alongside her experience.
