Demi Vollering has taken off on vacation in a camper van – to the route of the Tour de France Femmes.
The SD Worx-Protime rider, who was travelling together with her boyfriend and their canine Flo, has explored each stage of the race from Liège to Alpe d’Huez, Dutch outlet NOS.nl reported.
With the defending champion hailing from simply north of Rotterdam, the town that hosts the primary three phases of the race, Vollering and her entourage made straight for Belgium, trying out the end of stage 4 in Liège earlier than persevering with due south, through the Jura mountain vary after which onwards to the Alps and the race’s last vacation spot – Alpe d’Huez.
The Tour de France Femmes begins on Monday August 12, having been pushed again from its ordinary late July spot to accommodate the Paris Olympic Video games. It runs till Sunday August 18 over eight phases (together with a break up day on August 13).
Vollering and co stayed in easy tenting grounds, NOS studies – with or with out scorching showers. Not that it was a difficulty for the reigning TDFF champion.
“There’s something concerning the rigidity of whether or not or not you will have a scorching bathe on the campsite,” she mentioned, “I like the journey.”
And no bathe, no downside, she added: “Washing in a pleasant, clear stream can be fantastic. It offers plenty of power. Nothing to fret about. Again to fundamentals. Pure life.”
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The second half of the race, which options the large mountains and is prone to be the place the GC is performed out, is especially necessary for Vollering to discover.
She mentioned: “Stage 5, six, seven and eight have been explored. Very totally different than we’ve ever skilled. Lengthy phases, many elevation metres. A troublesome end to the Tour.”
Alpe d’Huez – the ultimate climb of the race – is very key for the GC hopefuls. Vollering did after all discover the climb, and it took her unexpectedly.
“It was steeper than I believed,” she mentioned. “We simply received to know one another. You should not overestimate your self, as a result of you then’ll stumble upon your self.”
Vollering’s profession has been within the highlight this season. ‘Will she go away SD Worx?’ grew to become ‘the place will she go after SD Worx?’. The rumours are actually FDJ-SUEZ, with the French crew hinting on the arrival of a giant cash rider and administration at SD Worx speculating the identical.
“It is good to see that there’s a lot hypothesis about it,” Vollering insisted to NOS. “It exhibits how a lot consideration girls’s biking receives. For me it is crucial that the races are seen, that’s how we obtain essentially the most development.”
Regardless of beginning the yr with a disappointing Classics season by her personal requirements, Vollering has come good with three consecutive WorldTour stage race wins in Could, together with the Vuelta España Femenina.
It stays to be seen whether or not she will be able to maintain that kind till August 18, however one factor is for certain – she’ll know the roads effectively.
