The yellow jersey wearer was riding alone along a D-road on the outskirts of Amnéville, a quiet town in Northeastern France. Her head was down and there were rips in her yellow shorts revealing shiny patches of red, broken skin. Her mouth was set into a grimace and she winced as she touched her lower back to assess the damage that had been caused from hitting the ground at 50kmp/h just a few moments before. There were no teammates around her checking if she was ok. Her team car wasn’t in sight. Demi Vollering was on her own, and the dream of Tour de France Femmes victory was disappearing as the peloton sped away from her towards the finish of stage five.
It’s unusual to see the leader of the Tour, especially the stand-out favourite for overall victory, in this sort of position. The most basic tactics in professional bike racing state that if your general classification rider suffers a fall or mishap, at least some teammates should immediately wait to assist in bringing that rider back to the peloton. It seems, however, that SD Worx-Protime do not follow the status quo when it comes to protecting their leader and defending Tour de France Femmes champion.
Up the road ahead of a battered and bruised Vollering, Blanka Vas sprinted to stage victory for SD Worx and Canyon//SRAM’s Kasia Niewiadoma finished second on the stage, taking the maillot jaune from Vollering’s shoulders. Eventually, European champion Mischa Bredewold dropped back and pulled some short turns to help Vollering limit her time losses, but she was the only SD Worx rider to help.
“I was riding at the front of the bunch. It was such a rollercoaster because I’m really happy for Blanka to win but for Demi it’s really shit. She went full gas on the final climb so I think she limited the losses but it’s not nice,” Bredewold said after the stage. “I stopped and waited for Demi, I heard so much on the radio that I didn’t not hear her crash until they said again that Demi crashed and Mischa should drop back.”
While stage winner Vas stated that her radio was broken so she didn’t know Vollering had crashed at all, other members of SD Worx admitted that they knew the incident had happened, yet decided to continue riding regardless.
"I really have no idea what happened. Luckily I was able to stay on the bike. I did see something yellow on the ground, so that's really disappointing,” Lorena Wiebes commented to NOS after the stage.
This isn’t the first time that SD Worx-Protime’s decision making has come into question. There have been multiple instances where it has seemed like there is a lack of cohesion in the team (think that famous Strade Bianche sprint between Lotte Kopecky and Demi Vollering last year, for example.) SD Worx's long-time sports director Danny Stam defended their choice to leave Vollering to do the majority of chasing on her own today, however, arguing that it made sense to allow the rest of the team to remain in front and still have a shot at a stage win.
“I don’t think it would have made a difference to make the whole group wait. In the last four or five kilometres if Blanka or Demi went full gas, they would be alone anyway so we let Demi ride her way as much as possible and got the best out of it,” Stam said. “We know the last two days of this Tour are very hard, first let’s see how big the damage is with the body and then I think we need to go to see where we can find time back.”
Bredewold sung the same tune as her sports director when questioned about whether she was surprised to be the only rider assisting Vollering in her chase back to the peloton: “Blanka was in the winning position so obviously she still needs to be there. It was so short that it wouldn’t have made a difference if there were more people because Demi is the fastest climber of the whole bunch. It was only three kilometres full gas for me on the flat and she went on the climb herself so I think it’s ok she was like this.”
It has been speculated that Vollering’s departure from the team at the end of this year and the controversy that has surrounded her contract negotiations earlier this season is playing a part in how much SD Worx are willing to sacrifice for her to win a second Tour de France. Team staff enthusiastically celebrated Vas’ victory at the finish line in Amnéville, despite the fact that Vollering was still out on the road, pedalling with her injured body as quickly as possible to avoid losing time.
Still, speaking to the media after the race, SD Worx seemed certain that Vollering’s time loss today doesn’t mean the end of her campaign to try and win yellow. The team has not yet confirmed the extent of her injuries, but if they aren’t severe, there’s every chance the Dutch rider can make up the 1:19 time gap in the Alps this weekend. She’s shown impressive form already in this race and is widely regarded as the best climber in the women’s peloton. The time gaps are expected to be big in the mountains.
“The Tour is not finished. On the last day it will be minutes and minutes,” Bredewold stated after the race.
Stage winner Vas was in agreement with her teammate: “I have faith she can come back, she is very strong and we will do everything to get the yellow jersey back. I will give 100 percent. We will fight.”
