'I thought: No, now it's mine'; Vollering forced to go on the attack and the counterattack in a thrilling race

The winner’s emotions were clearly visible. “I still can’t believe it,” she said with a trembling voice during the flash interview. “I believed this dream was in my heart for a reason. I’ve worked so hard toward this goal. It takes courage to truly believe in it, and to build a strong team around you that’s willing to make sacrifices.”

Because the Dutch team was incredibly strong in Montreal. From the start, the orange jerseys were at the front, and about forty kilometers from the finish, Vollering was launched. “They might have a chance too, but they’re going all out for me. It’s a lot to ask, but they’ve controlled the entire race. Puck did a great lead-out, but I couldn’t finish it off.”

Because Vollering attacked, but couldn’t capitalize on it right away. Elisa Longo Borghini, Kasia Niewiadoma, and Juliette Berthet caught up with one lap to go. “There were so many moments when I thought I’d gone too early. I didn’t dare look back because it felt like they were already on my wheel. It was 20, 22, 15 seconds… When they came back, I thought, ‘Shit.’ But it wasn’t over yet.”

Longo Borghini countered immediately, and Niewiadoma stayed on Vollering’s wheel. But the Dutch rider knew what she had to do to stay in the race. “I had to believe in it—it just came naturally.” After catching up to and shaking off Longo Borghini, it became a two-way battle. “I kept believing and tried again. I didn’t give up until the very finish.”

It turned into a nail-biting finish, with Vollering and Niewiadoma battling it out in the sprint, while Longo Borghini and Reusser also came agonizingly close. “I had no intention of letting it slip away. I thought: No, now it’s mine,” she said with determination. “It must have been a great race to watch, and I’m proud of that. I can’t wait to watch it again.”

It was really tough in the solo, which eventually went wrong. ‘It was nerve-wracking,’ Vollering told the NOS. ‘Normally, you’ve got the coach shouting at the top of his voice in your ear, telling you: “Stay on that side of the road”, “go full throttle here”, and that sort of thing. Now you’re completely on your own. It’s actually dead boring, really. You’re really struggling, but I’m so proud that I managed it.’

When Longo Borghini went off, she knew it was dangerous. ‘I knew we had to get her back on that little climb, otherwise it would be a disaster afterwards. Then you start looking at each other, then comes the section with a headwind, and she might just stay away. I knew I had to go all out on the climb. I went full throttle up it, but Kasia managed to stay on my wheel. It was nail-biting again.’

The sprint then went according to plan. ‘There was a slight headwind, which wasn’t to my advantage. But I had to think back to Het Nieuwsblad, where it was also slightly uphill and I’d done the same thing. I knew that the moment I made my move, I mustn’t do it too early. The moment Kasia went for it, I knew I’d got her. I said out loud: ‘This one’s mine, I think. Not today. They’re not taking this one away from me now.’

And so Vollering rounds off an almost perfect year, in which she won almost everything. ‘Now it’s on to the Olympics, then, isn’t it?’, she says, half-jokingly. ‘After 2023, I didn’t think it could get any better, but apparently it could.’