Lance Armstrong amazed by Demi Vollering’s flat Dutch roots: ‘No flatter place on earth’

The Tour de France Femmes came to an end on Sunday with a spectacular overall victory for Demi Vollering. Lance Armstrong discussed the race on his THEMOVE podcast, alongside former world time trial champion and Olympic silver medalist Mari Holden. Vollering’s performance earned plenty of praise on the show, with Armstrong describing what she had produced as a “complete masterclass.”

During the podcast, Armstrong was told more about Vollering’s background, including the fact that her family grows hydrangeas in greenhouses and that Vollering herself trained as a florist. Ahead of last year’s Tour de France Femmes, the Dutch rider reflected on that part of her life in a post on social media, looking back on the period before professional cycling became her full-time career.

“Around this time, on days like these, I would have been working incredibly hard in the greenhouses, surrounded by flowers. It was there that I knew I had more to offer the world. It was there that I promised myself I wanted to give everything I had to sport. That memory reminds me just how badly I wanted to find out how far I could go if I simply followed my dream,” Vollering wrote alongside a photo of herself working in the greenhouses.

“I’ve spent a lot of time in that part of the Netherlands. It’s basically all greenhouses,” Armstrong said while discussing Vollering’s roots. “If you were flying over it and looked down, as far as the eye could see, you would just see those greenhouses. All those beautiful flowers are shipped all over the world. I didn’t know she had grown up in a family involved in that business, but it’s big business.”

“It’s interesting to know that, because when you think about the best climbers in the world, you always assume they were born and raised somewhere like Colorado or Utah, or over in Europe in the Alps or the Pyrenees,” Armstrong continued. “Then you look at where Demi grew up... you really couldn’t find a flatter place on earth. I was born in Dallas and grew up in Plano. It’s not quite as flat as where she comes from, but it’s flat as well. There’s basically just wind.”

“So, kids: you don’t have to be born in the mountains to eventually become a climber. The places where you learn to ride when you’re young don’t necessarily determine what your specialty will be later in life,” Armstrong added. “Now she lives in Switzerland, which is the perfect place for her to train and live.”

Of course, there was also talk of the final stage of the Tour Femmes, which Armstrong called an “absolute masterclass.” “She’s quickly establishing herself as one of the GOATs in women’s cycling. We Naturally, the final stage of the Tour de France Femmes was also discussed, with Armstrong calling Vollering’s ride an “absolute masterclass.” The Dutch rider did not simply defend her yellow jersey on the final day in Nice, but underlined her superiority by distancing Kasia Niewiadoma on the decisive final ascent and securing both the stage and overall victory. “She’s quickly establishing herself as one of the GOATs in women’s cycling,” Armstrong said. “We thought she was in the perfect position just to control things and make sure she didn’t crash... but she clearly wanted to make a statement. She’s a deserving winner.”she was in a perfect position to control the race and avoid a crash… but she clearly wanted to make a point. She’s the deserving winner.”

Armstrong also spotted another detail: Vollering did not complete the stage on the yellow Specialized that was brought out immediately afterwards for the celebrations. Instead, she raced on the bike she had already been using throughout the week. “This might seem like a small detail, but it isn’t,” Armstrong explained. “She’s so comfortable on that bike... Kids, don’t change anything on such an incredibly crucial day. Stick with the equipment that has been working for you.”

“You can set everything up exactly the same, but it never feels exactly the same. She chose to stay on her own bike, which I think was super, super smart,” said the American, who also rated this year’s Tour de France Femmes more highly as a spectacle than the men’s Tour de France.

“When you’ve got somebody who is that good, there really isn’t much anyone else can do about it,” Armstrong said, referring to Tadej Pogačar’s dominance. “Fortunately, we don’t have that situation at the Tour de France Femmes, and that’s what makes it so exciting. It was incredibly entertaining.”