Demi Vollering has pulled out of the European Championships in Munich on Sunday. The Dutch broadcast NOS has confirmed that the 2nd-place finisher at the Tour de France Femmes will skip the continental championships. Thalita de Jong of Liv Racing Xstra will take her spot on the Dutch team.
Vollering fell during the Tour of Scandinavia and appeared to suffer a head injury, although confirmation from the team never really came. A late decision for Vollering not to start the following day confirmed that the Dutch rider wasn’t 100%. SD Worx said at the time that it was ‘as a precaution’. TV2 Norway said after the crash that in a conversation between Vollering and the medical staff that she could not remember a crash, normally a red flag and a sign of a concussion. That Vollering cannot race yet seems to come the closest we’ve seen to confirming that diagnosis. SD Worx will hope that their star GC rider will be fit and healthy again for the Ceratizit Challenge. If it is in fact a concussion, the quick recovery shown by Marlen Reusser from her own concussion at the Tour de France Femmes will be an ideal timeline for the team.
The rest of the Dutch team for the women’s European Championship road race is: Ellen van Dijk, Riejanne Markus, Charlotte Kool, Floortje Mackaij, Jeanne Korevaar, Anouska Koster and Lorena Wiebes. With a flat parcours, it is expected that sprint star Lorena Wiebes will get the full attention of the team. Against Elisa Balsamo of Italy, the Netherlands will hopefully be well drilled and a repeat of their failures at the Olympics and World Championships last year can be avoided. The course doesn’t suit Tour de France Femmes winner Annemiek van Vleuten and Marianne Vos has chosen to take on a training block rather than vie for leadership duties here. Van Vleuten should return for the Ceratizit Challenge.
