Vollering speaks out on 'drama queen' stigma, Ferrand-Prévot’s weight loss, and winning the Tour in 2026
Women's Cycling
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Follow us on GoogleNo overall victory and no stage victory: that was the disappointing conclusion after the Tour de France Femmes for Demi Vollering. The rider from FDJ-Suez traveled to France to compete for the yellow jersey, but saw another rider stand out from the pack. Nevertheless, Vollering looked back with satisfaction on a tough week of racing and discussed several sensitive issues at length in the press conference after the finish, such as the weight of Tour winner Pauline Ferrand-Prévot and the much-discussed statements by Jos van Emden.
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Because, as she confirmed an hour later in the press conference, the crash obviously had a big impact on Vollering. “I didn't really suffer from the crash this weekend, but of course, your body has to recover from a crash like that, while it's already recovering from the stages. The recovery undoubtedly took energy that you'd rather use to recover your legs.” And so there was a kind of resignation. “We are here to win races, and we failed, because we finished second in the GC. But that's also great,” emphasized sports director Lars Boom on NOS.
The fact that Ferrand-Prévot took the last stage victory just ahead of Vollering was analyzed just as objectively. "We fought with everything we had, and at this moment, I am very proud of my team. Today we rode another great race as a team. I also enjoyed the battle for another place in the GC and the stage victory. We didn't manage to win the stage, but we did secure our place in the rankings,“ said Vollering, who actually set up Ferrand-Prévot for the win with an attack in the final. ”I had to try something," she said.
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Vollering saw Ferrand-Prévot fly, but questioned weight loss
The French rider from Visma | Lease a Bike simply stood head and shoulders above the rest. “Pauline flew yesterday and made the difference again today. She had the advantage of not having to work while we were all riding at the front, so that was a big advantage for her, but she was incredibly strong again,” said Vollering, who was unable to follow her in stage 9. “I wanted to give it my all, but my attack created the perfect moment for her to counterattack. Looking back, it wasn't very well planned, but that's cycling.”
Compliments for the overall winner, but when Vollering was asked in the press room about Ferrand-Prévot's weight loss ahead of the Tour, she responded firmly: "I could lose weight too, but I don't want to be extremely thin. Besides, I'm a lot taller than Pauline and Sarah (Gigante, ed.), so I could never weigh the same. We did talk about losing some weight, but when I got sick in the Tour de Suisse, the most important thing was to get healthy again.“
Vollering, who jokingly called herself a ”heavyweight,“ thinks her current weight is just right. ”But I can't do much about the fact that I'm taller. Questions about weight aren't that difficult for me because I'm mentally strong and healthy. I'm proud of my weight and want to set a good example. I hope that in the future I can win again with my weight and show girls that you don't have to be super skinny, but that you can also win with hard work and power. I know that many others struggle with this, so I hope that young girls don't think they have to be super skinny to ride in the mountains."
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Vollering also responds to remarks made by Jos van Emden
Let's stay with Visma | Lease a Bike for a moment, because in addition to Ferrand-Prévot's weight, the final day of the Tour was also finally the moment to ask Vollering about Van Emden's remarks. Ferrand-Prévot's team leader briefly called Vollering a drama queen after her team leader, Stephen Delcourt, complained about a lack of respect in the peloton. The Frenchman was referring to a few women who rode very aggressively when Vollering crashed on day 3.
Vollering took her time to give a good answer: "I feel that, especially in the Netherlands, I have a stigma of being a drama queen, or whatever you want to call it. But if you ask my teammates, they will say something different. It's often people who don't know me who say things like that. I can't blame him because he doesn't know me, so he's judging me based on appearances."
Vollering was much happier to talk about what comes next, because Boom's pride after a tumultuous week was also evident in the leader. "On Saturday, when I couldn't keep up, I didn't really believe in the yellow jersey anymore. However, I still wanted to try to win a stage and move up in the GC. Now we have to recover, rest, and then we'll go back to the drawing board. We'll see what we can do better in the coming years. Maybe the 2026 Tour will have a bunch sprint stage, or a time trial... Ultimately, you have to be good at everything, and this Tour was perhaps more suited to pure climbers."
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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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