With an attack of no less than 54 kilometres from the top of the Col du Glandon, Demi Vollering managed to win the heroic stage to l’Alpe d’Huez on the final day of the Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift on Sunday. On the Avenue du Rif Nel, however, she fell four seconds too short of Kasia Niewiadoma to miss out on the win in the Tour de France Femmes for the second consecutive time. “That feels very sour at the moment,” Vollering said disappointedly after the final stage.
“Losing by just four seconds definitely hurts with the knowledge in the back of my mind that the yellow jersey was safely around my shoulders before that stupid fall in stage five. That’s where I lost everything… It’s hugely painful to know that my performance in the final stage was not enough.”
In the final stage with the two hors category cols in the Alps, the Team SD Worx – Protime leading lady was still suffering from the injury in her lower back that she sustained in the crash on the way to Amnéville. “Without that injury, I should have been able to win the classification after all. I was suffering a lot from my lower back. On the Glandon I was already suffering and tried to stretch it out. I didn’t succeed. It was then a big fight with myself on Alpe d’Huez. But I’m proud of what I showed.”
One and a half kilometres below the summit of the Glandon, Vollering posted a splitting attack with which she unloaded Niewiadoma. “That was also the plan. It still looked really good there. It’s a pity that in the valley to the foot of l’Alpe d’Huez there were quite a few other girls in Niewiadoma’s group and they rode full speed ahead. I was in the front with Pauliena Rooijakkers, but she didn’t want to take over either. Then you’re on your own against the wind. That may have cost me…” she analysed.
During the climb, Vollering thought of all those people who climb the ‘Dutch Alp’ every year during Alp d’HuZes to raise money for the cancer foundation. “All those people fight their way up here for a good cause. I was never allowed to give up. That’s what I did. I gave 100 per cent everything, but it wasn’t enough.”
“Of course then you start thinking about where did I lose those four seconds? Because of that crash in the fifth stage? If I had won the sprint from Puck Pieterse in Liège? You start thinking about everything. I could have taken those four seconds anywhere. Maybe even on the way to Le Grand Bornand. But I can’t change anything anymore.”
With two stage wins, second place in the overall classification, the prize of combativeness over the whole Tour and a second and third place in the stage results, Vollering rode a very strong Tour. Certainly the stage win on l’Alpe d’Huez is a wonderful victory on her palmares. “At the moment, however, I am dwelling more on losing the Tour. Although I am super proud how I rode in this tough final stage of the Tour. I rode as if I had nothing to lose. However, the sour of those four seconds I fell short still prevails now.”
