‘I should have stayed home’ – Demi Vollering avoids serious injury in crash at Dutch nationals

FDJ-Suez’s Demi Vollering appears to have escaped serious injury after crashing in the women’s road race at the Dutch national championships on Saturday, though admitted she did briefly worry about her upcoming goals this summer.

Vollering is targeting the Tour de France Femmes next month, and has sometimes missed Dutch nationals to focus on stage racing goals, but chose to race in Ede this weekend ahead of her next block of altitude training.

The FDJ-Suez rider was active in the attacking race, but then hit the deck in the final 7km, when a crash in the peloton took out several riders, including Marianne Vos (Visma-Lease a Bike),

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Vollering finished the race, unable to contest the finale – won by Lorena Wiebes (SD Worx-Protime) in a sprint – and appeared uninjured, but was cautious about her condition.

“I don’t think I suffered any consequences. I do have a very sore arm, neck and shoulder, but I think everything is still intact,” she told NOS. “I can still move it, but I never trust myself. My pain threshold is quite good, so I am always a bit careful. I have often said that everything was fine and then afterwards I had broken things.”

Asked by NOS whether she regretted starting the race, she replied honestly: “At this moment I think ‘damn, I should have stayed home’.”

With many riders and teams trying to avoid a sprint, the women’s road race was an attacking affair, including from Vollering, and ultimately the tension in the peloton led to the late crash.

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“It’s never chill,” she told Wielerflits of the race. “They went down in front of me, and there was no escape at 50 kilometers per hour. I think it was not that bad, I managed to save myself and lay myself down neatly on the floor.”

Vollering admitted to Wielerflits that when she crashed, she did briefly worry about the Tour, but quickly realised she had not done any serious damage.

“But once I was on the ground, I thought ‘I think I’m okay’. Then it’s more like a sigh and you think ‘okay, luckily everything is fine’,” she said. “I was lying at the bottom and tried to protect my head a bit. I hoped that nothing sharp would come at me.”

As long as post-race examinations don’t reveal any further injuries, Vollering is set to head to altitude training camp shortly, as she builds up towards trying to win a second Tour de France title.

“Fortunately, the first week at altitude is always mainly about adapting and taking it easy. It will be fine and it will not get in the way of the program too much,” she said to NOS. “The body has to recover and that costs extra energy, but that is sometimes part of it.”