Demi Vollering’s bid to reclaim the yellow jersey at the Tour de France Femmes unravelled on the Col de la Madeleine, where the Dutchwoman lost over three minutes to stage winner Pauline Ferrand-Prévot and more than a minute to Sarah Gigante. The FDJ-Suez leader now faces a final-stage fight to retain her GC podium place after slipping to third overall.
The eighth stage to the Madeleine was always expected to be decisive, but Vollering, winner in 2023 and runner-up last year, had no response when Ferrand-Prévot launched a long-range move with Gigante 11.7km from the summit. As riders like Pauliena Rooijakkers and Kasia Niewiadoma-Phinney attempted to limit their losses, Vollering slid out of contention. Within two kilometres she’d dropped a minute, by the summit the deficit to Ferrand-Prévot had grown to over three.
Speaking at the finish, Vollering didn’t search for excuses. “I just feel not really myself. I just miss some power in the legs,” she said. “My heart and lungs were OK, but my legs were just finished today. Actually, I felt good in the beginning, but I didn’t have an answer to Sarah Gigante’s attack. Normally, I should be able to follow, but I’m very disappointed, of course. I just couldn’t keep up. It’s as simple as that. Cycling is very simple for once.”
Photo Credit: GettyFDJ-Suez had Évita Muzic up the road in the day’s break, giving the team some options once their leader began to struggle. Vollering confirmed that Muzic’s move had been part of the plan. “Yes, definitely. I told Evita that she should just keep going. I thought maybe she could stay with the rider in front, and then it would be a waste if she waited for me. But in the end, they did wait for me and still managed to bring me back very nicely. And take a bit on Kasia.”
Though her GC chances took a serious blow, Vollering did rally late. She caught and passed Niewiadoma-Phinney and Rooijakkers, and managed to finish alongside Yara Kastelijn, gaining time on several key rivals in the final two kilometres. “I rode flat out to the finish in the final kilometre. I didn’t have much left, but it was at least enough to drop Kasia,” she added. “Maybe I can get a podium finish in the GC, but we’ll see. At the moment, I feel pretty rotten. Let’s recover first, then look at tomorrow.”
Her directeur sportif Lars Boom remained pragmatic. “We had Évita, who was still in a good position in the standings, up front. That was good for us,” he said. “It shows we’re doing really well as a team this week. But Pauline and Gigante looked very strong, that’s just the way it is.”
Vollering now sits third overall, 1:18 behind Gigante and holding a 22-second lead over Niewiadoma-Phinney. It’s not what FDJ-Suez had hoped for at the start of the day, but with one hard stage remaining, the team are still aiming to come away with a place on the podium. “She’s third now, about 20 seconds ahead of Kasia. That’s good. We’ll try to maintain that lead,” Boom concluded. “Tomorrow is another very tough stage, and hopefully, she’ll have better legs then.”
