There were only 6.3 kilometres of technical, hot tarmac on which Demi Vollering could make a difference on stage three of the Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift. She wasn’t supposed to win the short, flat time trial which many assumed would be contested by the sprinters in the peloton. Even she didn’t really believe she could. But this is Demi Vollering. A rider so good she wins when she doesn’t even mean to.
In just under seven and a half minutes on her time trial bike, the Dutch rider put over five seconds into time trial specialist Chloe Dygert of Canyon//SRAM and over 30 seconds into Kasia Niewiadoma, the rider who has finished in third place on the general classification in the last two editions of the Tour de France Femmes. It raises the question: if this is what Vollering can do against her rivals in a just short time trial, what can she do when the terrain gets even tougher?
“I thought this was something for the sprinters and the punchy time trialists, I thought it was too short for me,” an emotional Vollering admitted after the race. “It’s special, it is crazy because I didn't expect it. I asked my soigneur a few times what the result was at the finish and wanted to know if she was sure. I didn't see this win coming.”
Vollering’s victory on stage three is another confirmation – if anyone needed it – that she is the standout favourite to win a second consecutive Tour in a row. Her performance in today’s time trial can, somewhat, be compared to the performances of Tadej Pogačar in the men’s Tour de France. Like Vollering, the Slovenian rider can win on stages that aren’t even particularly suited to his strengths, and it’s looking likely that the SD Worx-Protime rider will dominate the Tour de France Femmes in the same fashion that Pogačar did in the men’s race a few weeks ago.
It’s not only in their physical abilities that the two riders are similar. Vollering spoke after her win about how relaxed she has been in this Tour so far, having two power naps during today’s double-stage day. She joked about her teammates having to knock on her hotel room door to wake her up this afternoon. Likewise during the men’s race, Pogačar cut a calm, breezy, carefree figure throughout – it seems that this is crucial to both rider’s respective successes.
“Today I was so relaxed that I thought it wouldn’t be good because I was too relaxed and I knew I had to be awake for a short time trial,” Vollering laughed. “But I was there, so apparently the power naps are very good for me.”
The Dutchwoman also spoke about how she likes to race on “feeling”, using her passion for the sport and her emotion to fuel her, rather than focusing strictly on power numbers or marginal gains. Pogačar, the winner of the men’s Tour, sings a similar tune, constantly racing on attacking instinct and feeling rather than following strict race plans.
“I go in the moment and do everything on feeling. I always say that my emotion is my power. I put all my emotion into the sport and train and race with my feelings,” Vollering explained. “I tried in the past to put it away because there are people who don’t like to see it as you have to show you’re strong in sport, but sport is emotion for me.”
In a sport so focused on incremental gains, science and new technologies, both Vollering and Pogačar serve as proof that bike racing is, and always will be, about much more than that. These aren’t robotic winners who dissect races with clinical accuracy, but athletes with feeling and personality, who aren’t afraid to show it. On both the men’s and women’s sides of the sport, the dominant riders are making a point of the fact that riders don’t need to have a particular personality type to win. It’s possible to get to the top when you’re fuelled by gut feeling, instinct and genuine affection for your sport. And, in fact, that might be the thing that helps you stay there.
