Earlier this month, on the final climb of the Strade Bianche, Demi Vollering flew past Anna van der Breggen, her former coach and renewed rival, handily winning by 18 seconds. As the first spring classic of the year, the Italian race is renowned for its white gravel roads and regarded as a barometer of early season fitness. Vollering, already one of her sport’s best riders, showed she was capable of an even higher level.
“The whole team was motivated, so I wanted to win for them,” says Vollering, “but I didn’t feel a lot of pressure before the race, because everything is new with the team.”
After losing the 2024 Tour de France Femmes by just four seconds, the smallest margin ever, Vollering switched teams and signed with FDJ-SUEZ in the offseason. Despite four successful years with SD Worx, during which she won the Tour de France, La Vuelta Femenina, and the overall UCI Title, the Dutch rider knew a fresh start was necessary to return to the top of the podium. Early results are optimistic, with a dominant win at Setmana Ciclista Valenciana followed by the decisive victory at Strade Bianche.
“It’s the start of a new journey,” says Vollering, downplaying her results while excited for the new energy. “We’re just figuring it out as a team. I’m focused on getting everyone involved, getting everyone to their top level. It changes a lot when the team is riding for a win together and everyone wants to be a part of it.”
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While Vollering’s biggest goal is reclaiming the Tour de France crown she won in 2023, she knows doing so will require helping everyone on the team get stronger. “Our goal for the early races is to learn how to work together. Our preseason training camps were focused on team efforts and getting to know each other. We know this will benefit us later on, so I don’t feel too much pressure in races right now.”
FDJ-SUEZ plans to use the spring to practice teamwork and positioning, which will be implemented in the Tour. Vollering says this has helped her on a individual level.
“I’ve always lived by, ‘it all starts with dreaming,’” she says. In high school, it helped Vollering believe becoming a pro athlete was possible. Later on, while working in her father’s flower shop, it helped her keep the idea of being in a professional peloton alive, even when doubts crept in. “Without female riders to look up to, the dream would almost disappear at times, but I’m happy I kept searching for it.”
Now at the sharpest end of the sport, Vollering continues to push the envelope. “Big dreams help me stay in the process. When I’m having hard times, a clear vision keeps me going,” she says. “When nothing is working out, I keep fighting. I dared to dream of the biggest results and because of that they came. That’s the message I want to give the world.”
Dreams, she admits, don’t always come true. Despite winning La Vuelta, Tour de Suisse, and two stages of the Tour last season, she failed in her ultimate goal at the Tour de Fance by the finest of margins. “It was part of the process, a year I needed to go through. It was a really big lesson for me. Losing showed me how much I love this sport,” she says. “Some parts of last year I want to forget, but it gives me a lot of motivation to work harder.”
FDJ-SUEZ enter the season with an entirely different mindset than her last squad, something that originates from the team’s humble beginnings. “Everyone is respectful and calm. Everything feels really natural,” she says. “They weren’t always successful and they’ve worked really hard for where they are, which keeps them grounded and down to earth. We have big dreams that help us feel united for the season.”
In the offseason, Vollering also switched coaches and added new mental exercises, like solving puzzles to test her brain when her body is stressed to the max. Still, for the most part, her program is similar to last year, including yoga practice at the start of every day.
Consistency is part of every elite athlete’s strategy, including Vollering, whose early lessons came from her father. “He would say, ‘every human is just flesh and blood. If you realize it, you’ll be a step ahead.’ Which just means you just have to work hard. My dad will die in the greenhouses, because it is his passion. From a young age I saw how important it was to find your passion and work for it.”
Vollering’s mother taught her to always look inwards before judging anyone else. “This made my sisters and me people pleasers, but also taught us to observe people and see what they need,” she says. “I often blame myself first, but this pushes me to be at the top of my game, which you have to do at the top of the sport.”
When Vollering was just two years old, her grandmother found a kids bike at a secondhand market and gave it to her. “I was lucky to get it. That began a love of bikes that has never left,” she says. “I have so many memories on a bike, playing with other kids on the streets, riding laps on a BMX track for a whole day, and riding on vacation. We even made a little cyclocross track in the back garden.”
In the summers, Vollering’s parents would take her and her sisters camping, an experience that proved formative. “We would take a caravan or trailer around the Netherlands or Belgium and go camping. It was so much fun sleeping outdoors with my cousins,” she says. “Something about moving in the fresh air is freeing. I let go of everything and go back to feeling like a kid again, which is the goal of being an adult.”
Last year, Vollering signed a deal with Nike, making her one of the most recognized faces in women’s cycling. That recognition means Vollering’s voice carries more weight. Last season when she spoke up about the lack of TV coverage for women’s cycling, criticizing broadcasters prioritizing the early stages of the men’s Vuelta over the queen stage of the women’s Tour, it spawned an industry-wide discussion on equity, ultimately driving more interest towards women’s cycling.
“Live broadcasts are very important, not just the last 30 minutes of races, which are often over by then,” Vollering says. “Broadcasting from the beginning shows how important positioning is and how teams work together. With more live broadcasting, we’re starting to see more money and sponsors coming into the sport. It’s changing, but still has a long way to go.”
Vollering hopes the growth in women’s cycling continues. “The next step for us is a Under-23 category. That would create a stepping stone for girls coming into the sport who don’t have the top level yet. It would give them a place to grow, get the bike skills, and learn what type of rider they are.”
The U23 category would probably create a cleaner development process and a deeper field on the highest level, driving more interest in the sport as a whole. However, to create a new category would require even more girls getting into the sport, which was one of the big reasons Vollering wanted to partner with Nike.
“Girls are often pulled away from their dreams because of expectations from people around them,” says Vollering. “I want to give them a role model to look up to. I want to do what Sernea Williams did for tennis. She’s much more than a tennis player. Everyone knows her. She transcended the sport and showed so many young girls that they could dream bigger.”
