Vollering had bizarre prep for Dutch National Championships: "We arrived at the campsite at 3:30 AM, my boyfriend drove all night"

"Last night (Tuesday to Wednesday night, ed.), around 3:30 or 4:00 AM, we arrived at the campsite in Elspeet. Luckily, my boyfriend drove all night," Vollering laughs while talking to the media, including IDLProCycling.com. "He was completely messed up, but I managed to get some sleep in the camper. When he's driving, you don't sleep as comfortably as in a bed, but I was able to catch up on sleep a bit, due to the late start. Towards the end of the morning, I explored the course, and then I rested and enjoyed the moment."

Around 5:30 PM, she then rolled off the starting podium in Elspeet, about a kilometer and a half away from the campsite. She secured an impressive second place finish, 55 seconds behind winner Riejanne Markus, but eighteen seconds ahead of Annemiek van Vleuten. "I was able to enjoy it a bit more. In the Tour de Suisse, I also did a time trial, but I hit a wall quite early. This time I paced myself a bit better and maybe could have gone even harder."

For Vollering, the fact that she didn't suffer for 42 kilometers was a boost. "Especially in such a long time trial of over forty kilometers, it's important to enjoy it. I've never done something like this before. My last real time trial before Switzerland was in 2021, as part of the Women's Tour, so it was new again, and I had to figure out how to pace myself, how fast I could go... I experimented with that. I'm very happy with my effort. I actually grew into it, and it turned out better than expected. The result doesn't matter that much, but it was nice to experience such a distance for once."

The gap to Markus was nevertheless significant, although Vollering did have some mitigating circumstances. However, even with a perfect preparation, she doesn't think she could have beaten Markus. "It's no surprise to me that Riejanne won. She is the absolute favorite in time trials, she's really a powerhouse on the time trial bike and spends lots of time training for it. I think it's great that all the time and energy she has invested is now paying off with such a big lead. I secretly cheered her on along the way."

Vollering can put it all into perspective, especially because second place feels a bit like a victory. Being eighteen seconds ahead of specialist Van Vleuten - she would have signed up for that beforehand. "I don't think I've ever really raced against Annemiek in a time trial, so I was curious about that. I'm happy that I stayed ahead of her. It's a great boost going into the Tour de France. However, the Tour is still far away, so anything can happen. I hope to further finetune my form. She won't do anything differently, so I never underestimate her. It's satisfying and I'm happy that I beat her in her own discipline."

Now, the Tour awaits for Vollering. She won't participate in the Giro Donne (if that even ends up taking place) and after the Tour de Suisse (where she finished second as a teammate of Marlen Reusser's), she is opting for a different preparation. "I hope I can continue to build on my form. Ultimately, each season is a new season, but if I look at last year, I was in peak form in the Tour de France. I hope to do the same this year. After the Dutch National Championships on Saturday, I will explore the Tour route by camper, and then I'll head to Andorra for altitude training, to get that short high altitude stimulus. After that, I'll go back home to Switzerland and prepare there for another week and a half. By then, I hope to be fresh and ready for the Tour."

Bram van der Ploeg (Twitter: @BvdPloegg)