First Race, a Trio of Wins: Demi Vollering Leaves Rivals for Dust in Valencia

The Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift is still over five months away but Demi Vollering ends the week with a big morale boost following an inspired showing in recent days.

The FDJ United-Suez rider pummeled the opposition in the Setmana Ciclista – Volta Femenina Valenciana, sealing the overall win with a second stage win on Sunday.

Vollering went into Saturday with a 56 second advantage over closest rival Maeva Squiban. The UAE Team ADQ rider had hoped to reduce that gap on the mountainous roads to La Nucía but the stage was cancelled due to dangerous winds.

That meant that the GC came down to Sunday’s concluder, a 117km race to Valencia featuring a second category climb 31km from the finish.

All eyes were on Squiban and she made a big move on the Alt de l’Oronent. However Vollering contained the surge and then kicked hard herself just over one kilometer from the summit to forge clear with Antonia Niedermaier (Canyon-SRAM zondacrypto).

Squiban, Liane Lippert (Movistar) and Mie Bjørndal Ottestad (Uno-X Mobility) chased for a long time and eventually caught Vollering and Niedermaier with 15km remaining. They were 27 seconds clear of the chasing group with 3km to go and, in the final sprint, Vollering launched and easily held off Lippert.

That left her an assured 1:02 ahead of Squiban in the overall classification, and also with a clear victory in the points competition.

Sending out a strong message

Vollering’s success came three days after a even more impressive display on the opening stage. The European champ snapped the elastic with a huge surge on the Alt de Barx, attacking with 20.4km to go and in almost the same place where she made her winning move last year.

Niedermaier initially held her rival, but had no answer when Vollering kicked again 18.9km from the line. She powered on from there to the finish in Gandia, ending the stage a cool 52 seconds ahead of Squiban plus eight other chasers.

It’s been a hugely impressive season opener for Vollering. Two stage wins out of three days of racing plus the overall title will certainly increase her confidence.

Next up is on her schedule is the Omloop Nieuwsblad on February 28.