{"id":291578,"date":"2025-07-25T21:25:16","date_gmt":"2025-07-25T21:25:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/291578\/"},"modified":"2025-07-25T21:25:16","modified_gmt":"2025-07-25T21:25:16","slug":"i-never-suffered-as-much-as-last-year-demi-vollering-returns-to-tour-de-france-femmes-with-deep-will-to-win","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/291578\/","title":{"rendered":"‘I never suffered as much as last year’ – Demi Vollering returns to Tour de France Femmes with deep will to win"},"content":{"rendered":"

They were four seconds that changed everything. At the summit of Alpe d\u2019Huez, as Kasia Niewiadoma<\/a> pushed herself across the line, the clock stopped with moments to spare. The narrowest winning margin in the history of the Tour de France<\/a> had fallen in the favour of the Canyon<\/a>-SRAM rider. She lifted her bike above her head in glory. Sat on the floor up the road, Demi Vollering<\/a>, the stage winner and second overall, burst into tears.<\/p>\n

Those four seconds have been spoken about a lot since. For Niewiadoma, they\u2019ve been precious \u2013 life-changing even \u2013 while, for almost a year, the ticking clock has haunted Vollering. To the surprise of neither, as they sat together in a joint press conference on the eve of this year\u2019s Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift<\/a>, those seconds were the topic of conversation again.<\/p>\n

It was the smallest of gaps that separated last year. Now, in an exhibition hall in Vannes, all that sat between them was EF Education-EasyPost<\/a>\u2019s C\u00e9drine Kerbaol, a local Breton rider, plonked in the middle of the top riders\u2019 roundtable.<\/p>\n

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Asked what she thinks of the duo beside her, Vollering begins to laugh. \u201cI can only say good things now, I think\u201d the FDJ-SUEZ<\/a> rider smiles. But there\u2019s no masking her desire to reclaim the yellow jersey she earned in 2023<\/a>. \u201cIt\u2019s a really big goal for me, so I want to win it, of course, very, very much,\u201d she says firmly.<\/p>\n

The Dutchwoman\u2019s challenge last year unravelled on day five, when she crashed inside 7km to go, and lost almost two minutes to Niewiadoma. Vollering later revealed that she broke her tailbone on impact. Over the next few stages she\u2019d claw back time, but would ultimately, and famously, fall four seconds short.<\/p>\n

Does the heartbreak give her extra motivation this time round? \u201cI don\u2019t know if it\u2019s a motivation, really. But of course it\u2019s something that can help me, maybe, if I\u2019m really suffering this year,\u201d Vollering says. \u201cI think I never suffered as much as last year with a broken back. Of course, when I\u2019m suffering this year I can always think back on this that it can always be worse.<\/p>\n

Still, she adds, \u201cI\u2019m more living in the now at the moment. It\u2019s just something I really want to do now, and I\u2019m focused on now, not so much thinking about last year.\u201d<\/p>\n

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It\u2019s this same attitude that Niewiadoma is taking into her title defence.<\/p>\n

\u201cI feel like I\u2019ve been asked about that day so many times,\u201d the Canyon-SRAM zondacrypto rider says of 2024\u2019s finale. \u201cIt was a great memory we made, it was a great celebration for the whole team, but it\u2019s a new year, a new beginning. To be honest, in a couple of days, everyone will forget last year\u2019s edition. It only matters what\u2019s ahead and what\u2019s now.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Demi<\/p>\n

(Image credit: Getty Images)<\/p>\n

All three riders, Kerbaol included, are expecting a tough edition this year. At nine days and 1,165km, the race is longer than any of the previous three vintages; it opens with a punchy weekend in Brittany, and closes with two dizzying days in the Alps. There’s little space for let-up in the middle.<\/p>\n

The spread of talent across the peloton has reached a new level, too. Alongside the two previous yellow jerseys on the start list are the recent Giro d\u2019Italia Women<\/a> winner Elisa Longo Borghini (UAE Team ADQ), former world champions Pauline Ferrand-Pr\u00e9vot (Visma-Lease a Bike<\/a>) and Anna van der Breggen (SD Worx<\/a>-Protime), as well as last year\u2019s third-placed rider Pauliena Rooijakkers (Fenix-Deceuninck), Marlen Reusser (Movistar), and Kerbaol, France\u2019s new GC hope, wedged between the two favourites.<\/p>\n

\u201cI do believe that this year\u2019s edition will be the hardest,\u201d says Niewiadoma. \u201cIt\u2019s going to be hard because of the course, but also there are a lot of teams that are able to stay in the front and make everything hard for others.\u201d<\/p>\n

With a smile on her face, Vollering says she\u2019s \u201clooking forward to a battle\u201d.<\/p>\n

Four seconds made the difference last year. It might not be so close come next Sunday, but there will have to be a winning margin. Niewiadoma, Vollering, and all of their rivals will do their best to make it swing for them.<\/p>\n

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Demi Vollering<\/a>
\nTour de France Femmes<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"They were four seconds that changed everything. At the summit of Alpe d\u2019Huez, as Kasia Niewiadoma pushed herself…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":291579,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4104],"tags":[4230,79,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-291578","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-cycling","8":"tag-cycling","9":"tag-sports","10":"tag-uk","11":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114915988092330754","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/291578","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=291578"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/291578\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/291579"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=291578"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=291578"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=291578"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}