As one of the overwhelming favourites at the Tour de France Femmes, Demi Vollering's job in the opening six stages was to remain calm and focused on SD Worx's one goal - to win the yellow jersey.
Vollering's task was made exponentially more challenging given the controversial circumstances surrounding her team, where she was docked 20 seconds for drafting following a flat tire and her director Danny Stam was kicked off Tour for dangerous driving, two days before the GC-deciding summit of the Tourmalet.
All was forgotten as Vollering crested a rain-soaked and foggy summit of the iconic ascent with a commanding victory, securing the yellow jersey at 1:50 ahead of Katarzyna Niewiadoma (Canyon-SRAM Racing) and 2:28 ahead of Annemiek van Vleuten (Movistar).
"It was sometimes a bit hard. In the end, the team said let's not talk about seconds but about minutes. I tried to gain as much time as possible, and I'm happy that I could do it for the team," Vollering told the media assembled at the top of the Tourmalet," Vollering said.
"They kept saying to me that [the 20-second penalty] doesn't matter and that I would gain more than that on the Tourmalet. Sometimes, I said to them, 'I also need to do it. It's nice when you say it, but in the end, I'm the one who has to do it.'
"It made me a little bit nervous, but also, I know they say this because they believe in me, and that gives me strength."
The general mood at the SD Worx camp over the previous days has been somewhat subdued, with seemingly little to celebrate, all despite Lotte Kopecky leading the race for six days following her solo victory on stage 1 in Clermont-Ferrand. The team had been accused, right from the start, of using blocking tactics and not taking up the chasing responsibilities while in yellow.
Then on stage 4 into Rodez, Vollering crossed the line in second place but thought she had won. Shortly after crossing the line and raising her arms in a somewhat hesitant victory salute, officials informed her that breakaway rider Yara Kastelijn (Fenix-Deceuninck) had already won the race over a minute earlier. The silver lining was that she had gained eight seconds on rival Van Vleuten, only to lose 12 the following day after for drafting.
At the start line in Lannemezan, Vollering lined up with an ice vest on to help keep her body cool in the 35 degrees Celcius heat. As the race settled in, the peloton seemed to sense the two looming ascents.
"I was a bit nervous this morning and my team kept telling me to keep calm. That's what I did, and it worked out so that's very nice," Vollering said.
Van Vleuten was the first to attack over the Col d'Aspin, but Vollering and Niewiadoma were on her wheel, and they descended together. Niewiadoma opened a gap and rode alone into the base of the Tourmalet.
Van Vleuten and Vollering did not chase, and after an exchange of words, the pair were caught by the next selection that included Kopecky and Marlen Reusser, Ashleigh Moolman-Pasio (AG Insurance-Soudal-QuickStep), and Juliette Labous (Team dsm-firmenich).
"Niewiadoma got a gap and I said to Annemiek that it was not up to me to ride because I had my teammates in the back. She said, 'We ride together or we don't ride together, and we both lose.' I said, 'Ok, it's fine, I will wait for my team.' That was our communication, and luckily my teammates came back, and Marlen [Reusser] moved up front to close the gap, but then it became bigger again," Vollering said.
"It wasn't in our interest to ride at that moment because we also had Lotte [Kopecky], and we didn't want to drop her. It was up to the other riders to drop her first."
Partway up the Tourmalet, Vollering jumped from the select chase group and immediately opened a gap. She caught and passed Niewiadoma with five kilometres to go on the foggy upper slopes of the hors categorie climb, all at the encouragement from director Anna van der Breggen from the team car.
"At one point, Anna [van der Breggen] said, 'OK, Demi, keep drinking and make yourself ready to go.' I thought, 'OK, I will go now' because it was a feed there, and some girls had a bidon in their hands, and it was a good moment to go," Vollering said.
"It was so foggy there and I knew that if I made a gap fast, they could not see me anymore. That is also nice when they don't see you anymore. I went full gas, and I never looked behind."
"I was surprised when Anna said, 'Now you are only two, now you are alone, keep pushing to make the gap as big as possible and then you can go more steady.' So, that is exactly what I did."
Vollering went on to take the third win for SD Worx and the yellow jersey at the Tour de France Femmes. She celebrated her success with family and friends who came out early on the Tourmalet to watch her race.
"It was super nice. We knew that they would be there, and to see them on the side of the road made me emotional and very happy. They gave me a lot of strength to keep fighting, and it's nice that they were all here today for me."
