Demi Vollering took her first win in the rainbow jersey on Saturday, the Dutch rider defending her women’s road race title at the European Championships in Slovenia, proving her status as the dominant rider in the women’s sport.

Attacking on the final climb, with 14.km to go, the Dutch rider quickly took a 20-second lead on two riders, which included one of her Dutch teammates, inevitably growing that advantage in the closing kilometres.

Initially Kasia Niewiadoma-Phinney (Poland) was left to chase on her own, Puck Pieterse rightly sitting on, but even when they were joined by Elisa Longo-Borghini (Italy), Antonia Niedermaier (Germany) and world time trial champion Marlen Reusser (Switzerland), a coordinated pursuit took time to materialise.

While the chase did begin to cut the deficit, Vollering had done enough to take a second title of her career and extend the Dutch dominance in the event, which had only one winner from outside the country in the championship’s 11 editions.

With Pieterse able to sit on in the chasing group, she was able to win the sprint for second place, making for a Dutch one-two, crossing the line five seconds behind her compatriot, while Reusser took the final podium place. Niewiadoma-Phinney’s bid for a medal was brought to an unfortunate end with a crash on the final corner.

Vollering’s win came not just off the back of her own efforts, but with the benefit of brilliant teamwork for the Dutch. With a two-woman break up the road, they did the lion’s share of the chasing, before executing the perfect tactical plan on the closing circuit, which included the brutal climb to Možjanca.

“It’s crazy, and also a beautiful second place for Puck today. So I think we can be very proud of her effort again,” Vollering said when asked about the Dutch dominance in the event.

“I just really love winning, and it never gets boring for me. So I think also it’s not only the winning for me, but just improving yourself and getting better every day, working on yourself every day, and see what’s still possible for the future. I think that’s what I love most about this about this job.”

Vollering will close her season at the European time trial on Wednesday.

The Dutch tighten their orange stranglehold

In only its 11th edition, the Elite women’s road race at the 2026 European Championships took on a 130km route, starting in the Slovenian capital, Ljubljana and finishing in Šenčur. With a long, looping opening leg north, the race then tackled two laps of a 22km clockwise circuit around the finish town, and though each included the tough climb to Možjanca, the top came 14km from the line, allowing opportunities for a regrouping on the plateau, descent and flat run in.

After a long neutralised opening, the attacks came the moment the flag dropped, though the Dutch team quickly brought them to heel. However, Carina Schrempf (Austria) and Margot Vanpachtenbeke (Belgium) soon got away and were allowed their leads, though they were soon chased by home rider Nika Bobnar. She was unable to make an impact, though the French team were particularly keen to get up the road, but their aggression was stymied when one of their number crashed on a right-hand bend.

This calmed the action in the bunch and the leading duo were allowed to extend their advantage, taking almost two minutes into the closing 100km, the Dutch team, containing newly crowned World Champion Demi Vollering, taking control. With Lorena Wiebes working on the front of the pack, the gap was gently whittled away, dropping to less than 1:20 with 70km to go.

It was here that Kristýna Burlová (Czechia) made a move to bridge the gap, the peloton dropping back and the gap increasing. However, as the circuit approached, the peloton naturally sped up, especially with the Italians, Swiss and Polish all upping the pace, and not only was Burlová caught, but the break was also tagged before the first ascent of the climb to Možjanca began.

Femke de Vries set a blistering pace for much of the climb, and by the time she was dropped close to the top, only seven riders remained at the front with 36km to go. On the plateau, Marlen Reusser (Switzerland) put in a speculative attack, but when that was closed by Vollering, the leading group settled until the descent, where Kasia Niewiadoma-Phinney attacked.

Reusser had another go when the Polish rider was brought back, but it was the chasing group who had the biggest impact, Cecilie Uttrup Ludwig (Denmark) and Franziska Koch (Germany) going straight past and building an advantage. However, the favourites’ group had, by then, swollen to 17 riders, including five Dutch women in that bunch.

Uttrup Ludwig and Koch led by 20 seconds as they crossed the finish line with one 22km lap to go, but the Dutch squad had other ideas and began to drag them back again. With the two leaders back in the pack shortly afterwards, the Germans played another card, this time Liane Lippert attacking, but with Noemi Rüegg and De Vries on her wheel working for Reusser and Vollering respectively, she received little help.

They were caught at the bottom of the climb, and it was a case of deja vu, De Vries setting the pace for Vollering, in a group of five, from which Reusser had been dropped. With Puck Pieterse taking De Vries’s place and lifting the speed even more, only Vollering and Niewiadoma-Phinney remained. But both were dropped when Vollering made her move with 14.5km left to race.

Results

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