"Demi Vollering falls short in the eighth stage of Tour de France Femmes: expressions detached frustration"
Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift: Demi Vollering Loses Ground on Queen Stage
Demi Vollering, the defending champion of the Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift, struggled on the queen stage of the race, losing significant time to her rivals. The Dutch rider cracked on the early slopes of the Col de la Madeleine, losing over three minutes to the leaders.
Vollering described feeling a lack of power in her legs, despite her heart and lungs feeling fine. This left her unable to respond to key attacks, such as that of Sarah Gigante, who finished second in stage nine. Vollering attempted to attack with 7km to go on the final climbs, but was unable to make headway.
Meanwhile, Pauline Ferrand-Prevéot took advantage of the fading group to launch a decisive winning attack. Vollering's loss was marked by her visible physical exhaustion crossing the summit, showing how much she gave in the moment but ultimately could not sustain the effort necessary for victory.
Entering the race, Vollering was expected to take flight on stage seven, but instead found herself chasing. She had been close to her GC rivals throughout the first week of racing, with seconds separating them. However, the extraordinary difficulty of the queen stage with multiple categorized climbs and a heavy pace wore down Vollering and others.
As a result, the gaps have blown out significantly. Pauline Ferrand-Prevéot leads the race by 2:37, with Gigante in second place and Vollering in third, 3:18 behind yellow. Vollering managed to drop Kasia Niewiadoma in the final kilometre of stage nine, finishing fourth in a two-up sprint against Yara Kastelijn at the summit of the Col de la Madeleine.
The road to Châtel for stage ten is mountainous, with almost 3,000m of climbing. Vollering will have to dig deep to regain lost ground, but the time difference between her and Ferrand-Prevéot is significant and may be difficult to overcome on the final day.
Ferrand-Prevéot was already recovering with drinks by the finish of stage nine, while Vollering was forced to chase by herself. Gigante made an attack inside 12km to go during stage nine, but Ferrand-Prevéot was dragged by her move but managed to finish the stage.
The GC battle has finally opened up, leaving room for last-minute changes. Vollering could only get so far with her engine during stage nine, and she will need to find an extra gear if she wants to regain the yellow jersey she lost last year.
- Vollering, initially projected to excel in the seventh stage, found herself struggling and eventually losing ground on the queen stage of the Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift.
- Despite the challenging terrain of the queen stage, Pauline Ferrand-Prevéot, leader of the race, managed to maintain her pace, further widening the gap between her and Vollering, the defending champion.
