{"id":1123642,"date":"2026-08-01T07:03:19","date_gmt":"2026-08-01T07:03:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/1123642\/"},"modified":"2026-08-01T07:03:19","modified_gmt":"2026-08-01T07:03:19","slug":"vollerings-new-mindset-poses-a-threat-to-the-tour-de-france","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/1123642\/","title":{"rendered":"Vollering’s New Mindset Poses a Threat to the Tour de France"},"content":{"rendered":"

Demi Vollering<\/a> appeared relaxed and smiling during Friday\u2019s media sessions ahead of the Tour de France Femmes<\/a>. The 29-year-old FDJ United-SUEZ leader looked remarkably calm, yet remained as eager as ever whenever she spoke. She is one of the leading favourites for the overall victory<\/a>, having won the race once and finished second in each of the other three editions she has contested. Her new mindset heading into this Tour could make her even more dangerous.It should come as no surprise that Vollering believes she is in the best form of her career. She was already outstanding during the spring, while a long training block ahead of the Tour de France Femmes passed without any setbacks. \u201cThe first goal I write down every year is the Tour de France,\u201d she told<\/p>\n

NOS<\/a>, referring to how she dreams about the Tour throughout the year.<\/p>\n

That was also evident during Friday\u2019s press conference, when Vollering received considerably more questions than the other team leaders sitting alongside her. One subject kept returning: what is going on inside the mind of a rider who has sometimes found it difficult to deal with pressure in recent seasons, especially the unique pressure surrounding the Tour de France Femmes?<\/p>\n

\u201cI am approaching this Tour feeling quite calm,\u201d Vollering said matter-of-factly. \u201cThat is because I do not feel as though I have to save my season by achieving a result here. I have already won so many wonderful races this year. I genuinely enjoyed the first half of the season with the team, during which we performed extremely well. This season is already a success, and that certainly helps.\u201d<\/p>\n

Continue reading below the photo<\/p>\n

\"demi-vollering\"\/<\/p>\n

Demi Vollering won the Giro d’Italia just this past June, one of her many victories in 2026<\/p>\n

Vollering has already won plenty, but she wants more<\/p>\n

Vollering has collected ten victories in 2026, almost all of them in major races. She won two stages and the overall classification in Valencia, Omloop Het Nieuwsblad, the Tour of Flanders, La Fl\u00e8che Wallonne and Li\u00e8ge-Bastogne-Li\u00e8ge. In June, she also secured the Giro d\u2019Italia Women. On the final day, outstanding teamwork from FDJ United-SUEZ helped her complete a dramatic comeback and take the pink jersey.<\/p>\n

It was one of several examples of a different Vollering: a rider capable of remaining patient because she knows how much groundwork her team can do before she needs to act. \u201cI am also another year older, which has made me calmer,\u201d she explained. \u201cI have learned a great deal and put all those lessons into my backpack. I think that, in this way, you grow into a slightly more mature version of yourself every year.\u201d<\/p>\n

Pressure is therefore not dominating her thoughts, even though Vollering would dearly love to win the yellow jersey in her second season with the French FDJ United-SUEZ team. \u201cI always think pressure is a privilege, because it is there for a reason,\u201d she said. \u201cIt is good to have it. Of course, winning the yellow jersey for a French team is a huge motivation for me. That would be a wonderful story.\u201d<\/p>\n

Continue reading below the photo<\/p>\n

\"demi-vollering\"\/<\/p>\n

Vollering on track for a win in Li\u00e8ge.<\/p>\n

Vollering expects nine days of war at Tour de France Femmes<\/p>\n

To make that story a reality, Vollering will need to be ready from the very first day. She is not even ruling out taking the yellow jersey on the opening uphill finish. \u201cIt is better to be at the front straight away,\u201d she said with a smile. \u201cEvery day in this Tour is so difficult that opportunities can appear every day. We saw at the Giro that everything can change right up to the final stage, so you should never give up. We will fight until the very last moment.\u201d<\/p>\n

Although Vollering believes the Tour is \u201cdifficult to predict,\u201d she knows that waiting too long could be punished. Mont Ventoux on stage seven will be crucial, but there are many other stages on which major differences could emerge. \u201cIt is great that the time trial is back,\u201d she said of the 21-kilometre test on stage four. \u201cA proper Grand Tour should have a time trial. It is a beautiful discipline, but also a demanding one. It is difficult to make sure everything comes together at that one specific moment.\u201d<\/p>\n

Overall victory cannot simply be calculated in advance. Vollering knows that every element will need to fall into place during the nine-day race. \u201cIt is difficult to predict this year because all the riders are competing at such a high level, and we can challenge each other enormously,\u201d she concluded. \u201cThat makes it interesting. During the opening days, the yellow jersey could easily change shoulders every day.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Demi Vollering appeared relaxed and smiling during Friday\u2019s media sessions ahead of the Tour de France Femmes. The…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1123643,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5309],"tags":[4230,202185,2000,299,283789,36,11185,7282],"class_list":["post-1123642","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-france","tag-cycling","tag-demi-vollering","tag-eu","tag-europe","tag-fdj-suez","tag-france","tag-tour-de-france-femmes","tag-womens-cycling"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/117018979738844040","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1123642","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1123642"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1123642\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1123643"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1123642"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1123642"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1123642"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}