Vollering’s reaction confirms Visma warning over ‘unique talent’ Femke de Vries
CyclingMonday, 03 August 2026 at 12:59
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Follow us on GoogleAt Visma | Lease a Bike, all eyes during this Tour de France Femmes are naturally focused on Pauline Ferrand-Prévot. Even before the women’s Tour had started, however, it was already clear that the Dutch team had several other cards it could play. One of those is Femke de Vries, who could take on a particularly dangerous tactical role during the race this week.
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De Vries is not going to win the Tour de France, and everyone at Visma | Lease a Bike is well aware of that. Nevertheless, the 32-year-old has made extraordinary progress since suddenly stepping up from the Continental circuit to one of the leading Women’s WorldTour teams midway through 2024. Her performances during the 2026 season have provided further confirmation of how far she has come in such a short period.
De Vries finished third at the UAE Tour at the beginning of the year, placed sixth at the Giro d’Italia Women and then claimed her first professional—and WorldTour—victory in Stage 1 of the Tour de Suisse. She also finished fifth in the general classification in Switzerland. Ahead of the Tour de France Femmes, however, De Vries was rarely mentioned as a major part of Visma’s plan around Ferrand-Prévot. That changed during the team’s pre-race media session.
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Femke de Vries won Stage 1 in Switzerland.
Ferrand-Prévot praises Femke de Vries as a teammate
“Femke has taken such a big step forward, which was really good to see during the Giro and the Tour de Suisse,” Ferrand-Prévot said, full of praise for her teammate and close friend. “She is going to be a very important support rider—and hopefully she doesn’t drop me,” the Frenchwoman joked, knowing exactly how strong De Vries can be. “She is ready and motivated to perform well.”
De Vries is not Visma’s only alternative card, because the team also has Marion Bunel waiting in the wings. The 21-year-old Frenchwoman finished third overall at La Vuelta Femenina earlier this year. “We have a strong team. That motivates me even more to do my best,” Ferrand-Prévot said. “I am the leader and I will have to prove myself, especially now that the rest of the team is performing at such a high level.”
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Pauline Ferrant-Prévot
Visma | Lease a Bike can play the De Vries and Bunel cards
Team manager Rutger Tijssen was also highly complimentary about De Vries during that same media session. “Femke is a unique talent. She is extremely dedicated and very intelligent. She has only been doing this for a few years, so she is still very fresh. She might be slightly older, but as an athlete she is still very young. That also explains her development and the big steps she continues to make. Everything we add to her programme immediately provides another stimulus.”
“Femke’s role will primarily be to stay around Pauline, but she will also be too dangerous for the other teams to simply let her ride away,” Tijssen predicted. “When necessary, we can play that card. We have two or three riders who could potentially achieve a good general-classification result.” The opening stage on Saturday immediately showed that Tijssen’s assessment had been correct.
When De Vries attempted to attack during stage one, Demi Vollering herself immediately moved onto her wheel. “A group went clear and, had it remained out front, we probably would have had to chase it down,” the FDJ-SUEZ leader explained to NOS. Vollering knew that the general-classification contenders could not afford to give De Vries that freedom. “I didn’t want that, so I simply closed the gap myself.”
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Bram van der PloegEditor-in-chief
Bram van der Ploeg (35) is the proud founder of In de Leiderstrui, IDL Pro Cycling's parent site, launched in 2018. Finally, he could create stories about the sport he had followed since childhood. He is the editor-in-chief on paper, but prefers to be with his recorder next to a rider, a team bus, or in the mud at a cyclocross race. Every year, from February to the end of May, Bram follows the entire Italian cycling season, from the Trofeo Laigueglia to the Giro d'Italia, with the grand finale in October in Lombardy. During that time, he lives in Tuscany, where he has since come to call Italy his 'home'.
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