Vollering’s double strike overshadowed by angry Niewiadoma: ‘She would never do that on purpose’

Demi Vollering came off the podium with a huge smile after making a surprising grab for control in Stage 8 of the Tour de France Femmes. She won the stage, took 17 seconds out of yellow jersey Kasia Niewiadoma and, as a result, moved into the race lead. But the mood changed in the mixed zone and at the press conference, where Vollering was confronted with questions about comments made by Niewiadoma.

Wearing her new yellow jersey, Vollering entered the mixed zone on Saturday evening beaming, but her expression changed when she reached Dutch broadcaster NOS. The reporter warned that he had a less pleasant question to ask — one that was not about Vollering’s victory, but about Niewiadoma, who had accused FDJ United-SUEZ rider Célia Gery of unsportsmanlike conduct.

“At the start of the climb, I was deliberately blocked by Gery. I was forced toward the barriers, so I had to stop pedaling. If they want to compete, they should do it fairly. It’s so childish, I’ve lost all respect for them,” said the furious CANYON//SRAM rider. At that point, it was impossible to check what had happened because television pictures of the incident had not been shown.

However, footage of the moment later emerged, which can be seen below. Read Vollering’s response further down...

In the mixed zone at the NOS, Vollering was not at all pleased with the question about Gery. “All I saw was black before my eyes, so I didn’t see anything,” she said, smiling through gritted teeth and with fire in her eyes. “Then I’ll have to review the footage, because I only saw what was in front of me, and Kasia was behind me at that moment.”

In an attempt to explain the situation—which she hadn’t seen—Vollering said: “I can imagine that Celia also saw black, after she’d worked so hard for me. In a moment like that, you don’t always see who’s behind you. If Celia makes a move and Kasia is there, that’s just part of racing. I know Celia only as a great teammate who wouldn’t do something like that on purpose. But I need to see the footage.”

Vollering didn’t like that her double victory in the Tour de France Femmes was overshadowed by the drama involving Niewiadoma and her teammate. And she pointed that out to the reporter as well. “The funny thing is that Dutch television always asks these kinds of questions; we in the Netherlands can also be very happy that we’re back with a yellow jersey on our shoulders.”