After the disappointment of crashing and losing the yellow just 24 hours ago, Demi Vollering (SD Worx-Protime) bounced back with a strong showing on stage 6 of the Tour de France Femmes, marking key moves and not losing any time en route to Morteau with her legs feeling back to normal.
Vollering went down in a mass crash after the exit of a roundabout on stage 5 and lost 1:53 to new race leader Kasia Niewiadoma (Canyon-SRAM), with the team later confirming that while she had sustained “minor bruising and superficial abrasions to her lower back and buttock”, she would likely start the sixth stage.
With the unknown severity of her injuries, Vollering started the day in Remiremont with a desire to rest and recover but also not add to the 1:19 deficit she currently has on the Polish rider.
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“Today I just wanted to have a good day, survive a bit, relax a bit and recover towards tomorrow,” Vollering told Cyclingnews and Velo.
“I’m very motivated to get yellow back so today I tried to stay calm as much as possible and to give the legs a little bit of rest for the coming two days.”
With Niamh Fisher-Black and Christine Majerus away in the 18-rider breakaway, Vollering was allowed to rest in the safe bubble of her remaining teammates’ company until the tough-fought final, with SD Worx not being looked at to pace.
“Today was nice to not have yellow so that they are not looking to us when something goes and you don’t need to close anything,” said DS Anna van der Breggen to Cyclingnews and TV2.
“After yesterday’s stage, we needed to see how Demi was doing and how she was riding. So we didn’t put any pressure on her today. It was a stage that we needed to come through and I must say, it looked good, Demi was feeling quite OK after yesterday.”
Vollering shared a similar sentiment at the job Fisher-Black had done in the break, albeit with the Kiwi missing out on victory after she and Grace Brown were reeled in over the final climb.
“We hoped that Niamh could make it to the finish with Grace Brown and then she could go for the win of course,” Vollering said. “It was sad that they didn't stay out but it was nice because then you don’t have to do anything behind so it was a perfect day for us actually.”
The Dutch GC star confirmed she slept well – “Quite okay actually” – on Thursday, despite the large road rash on the back of her left leg, with her responses to moves made by Juliette Labous (DSM-Firmenich PostNL) and Puck Pieterse (Fenix-Deceuninck) in the final coming without hesitation.
“I think the legs were still fine so I’m happy,” said Vollering, who confirmed what an emotional “rollercoaster” the past 24 hours had been after the panic of the crash and the disastrous day SD Worx-Protime endured.
“Sometimes [they are] a bit of a rollercoaster, like I’m super motivated and then of course you feel some insecurities,” said Vollering as she described her feelings.
“You’re angry about what happened and disappointed, so emotions go all the way. But mostly, me and my team are motivated for the coming two days to try to get yellow back.”
She’ll hope to have everything in check heading into the final weekend of stages, a duo of brutal summit finishes up Le Grand-Bornand and Alpe d’Huez. But Van der Breggen is still confident that defending her title is possible.
“Of course I am, yes!,” said Van der Breggen when asked if she was optimistic for yellow. “You know what two stages are still coming up and if Demi can recover well, then we know when it’s really hard uphill and she has energy then a lot can happen. So you never give up.
“We need to see how Demi recovers today, I think that will say a lot - if you can handle a stage like this and then recover well, then for sure she’s up to the fight.”
While both Vollering and Van der Breggen were similarly spurred on by the former’s strong day out in the Vosges and Jura mountains on Friday, the prospect of over 3,000m of elevation gain and a Grand Bornand summit finale is much more daunting - even for the best climber in the world.
“I think I know it pretty well. It’s a really hard stage so I’m also a bit scared for it,” said Vollering having done two recons of the 7.1km climb pre-race. “But If I am scared for it, then I’m sure much more are scared for it.”
