Demi Vollering hits back at angry Kasia Niewiadoma: ‘I haven’t forgotten what she did two years ago’

Demi Vollering impressively took control of the Tour de France Femmes on Saturday. The victory for the Dutch FDJ United-SUEZ rider was partly overshadowed by an angry Kasia Niewiadoma, who confronted Vollering’s teammate Célia Gery afterwards. Vollering has now come to Gery’s defence.

Niewiadoma went to confront Gery after stage eight, believing the Frenchwoman had impeded her, and said she had lost all respect for FDJ United-SUEZ. One day later, she stood by her position. “I was right. I’ve been racing for years. I know what is right and what isn’t. It’s not like I’m making things up. I expressed how I felt, and nothing has changed since then.”

The Polish rider stressed that she has nothing against Vollering. “Demi was extremely strong. It’s an honour to fight against her. I don’t want to take anything away from her performance. I just want to race fairly against her,” Niewiadoma said before the start.

Vollering also spoke to NOS about the incident and its aftermath, with sports director Lars Boom saying Gery had even received death threats. “We live in a sick world. It’s just too sad for words. It makes me incredibly angry.”

“She is still so young and we have to do everything we can to protect her. It’s incredibly sad,” Vollering said of her 20-year-old teammate.

Speaking to Eurosport, Vollering added that she was disappointed by Niewiadoma’s reaction. “I have a lot of respect for Kasia, but I was a little disappointed when I heard her interview yesterday because she attacked my teammate.”

“I haven’t forgotten what Kasia did when I was on the ground two years ago,” said the Dutch rider, who lost the 2024 Tour to Niewiadoma by just four seconds after crashing earlier in the race. “So if she wants to talk about fair play, I don’t think she is really the person to do that.”