While Demi Vollering (SD Worx-Protime) only reduced her deficit to Tour de France Femmes race leader Kasia Niewiadoma (Canyon-SRAM) by four seconds up Le Grand-Bornand on stage 7, her team are confident that heading into the queen stage, she can wrest back her 1:15 and reclaim the yellow jersey.
Vollering tried several short bursts up the final 7km climb to Chinaillon but without much success due to the climb’s relatively shallow 5.1% average gradient. After a cagey approach to the line, Vollering jumped on the back of a Niewiadoma surge and outsprinted her for the remaining bonus seconds behind stage winner Justine Ghekiere (AG Insurance-Soudal) and Maëva Squiban (Arkéa - B&B Hotels Women).
Key domestique Mischa Bredewold had great faith in her compatriot taking back the remaining time tomorrow required to get yellow and defend her title, and she knows Vollering very well having three weeks at altitude camp together in Bride-les-Bains before the Tour.
“Yeah I’m confident about that,” said Bredewold to Cyclingnews with no hesitation when asked if Vollering was capable of bringing back the over one-minute deficit. “I mean Demi is so strong and I think she got a few seconds back so that gives a lot of confidence for her and we go for it tomorrow.”
Vollering was more cautious about how she presented any confidence heading into the queen stage, not wanting to put the pressure too much on herself or underestimate the capabilities of a two-time podium finisher at the Tour, Niewiadoma.
“It’s hard to say how strong Kasia is. It wasn’t possible to make the difference on this climb. She didn’t dare to try it herself. It gives me a good feeling that she’s insecure,” said Vollering to Dutch newspaper Algemeen Dagblad.
“But we still have to see if I’m good enough to close the gap with her in GC. If I’m saying now that I will easily make it and I don’t, the media will kill me. And that’s not something I fancy.”
With the brutal hors categorie duo of the Col du Glandon (19.7km at 7.2%) and Alpe d’Huez (13.8km at 8.1%) set to decide the stage, Vollering’s key climbing domestique Niamh Fisher-Black also believes there is more than enough hard terrain to gain big time back on rivals.
“Kasia is a strong rider, we cannot forget that. But on these climbs, minutes can be made within a few kilometres so we will see how it goes and it's going to be about reading the race and seeing how Demi goes. I hope we can make something special,” said the Kiwi at the finish line.
“I think fireworks already on Glandon, you see how steep the slopes are and I think we have a really strong team climbing-wise. I mean we already saw today that Canyon was isolated on this climb so I think some teams and us will not be afraid to start it."
Vollering also believes that Niewiadoma felt stressed as she was isolated without the likes of Neve Bradbury able to hang on and help her up Le Grand-Bornand.
"I wanted to make Kasia nervous and I think I did. She was nervously watching over her shoulder all the time," Vollering said, "I feel like she was scared for me to attack her. That felt nice. That I was able to create a small gap in the end."
With the perfect terrain for Vollering, her body feeling better after her stage 5 crash and a possible one-on-one showdown set to unfold up the fabled 21 turns of Alpe d’Huez, it all looks set for the Dutch star to light things up right from when they reach Le Bourg d’Oisans and start to climb.
“My hopes are for tomorrow, now. Then we get more real climbs and that will hopefully be enough for me,” said Vollering to Dutch TV.
“My body survived it well today. It’s the end of the Tour de France, so nobody’s feeling great anymore. Now I have to make sure that I recover quickly and focus on tomorrow. Whether I make it or not, we’ll see. I don’t want to be very obsessed with it and put myself under the pressure that I have to do it.”
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