{"id":2085460,"date":"2026-08-08T19:21:17","date_gmt":"2026-08-08T16:21:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=2085460"},"modified":"2026-08-08T19:21:17","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T16:21:17","slug":"vollering-hits-back-at-niewiadoma-claim-about-teammate-thats-bike-racing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=2085460","title":{"rendered":"Vollering Hits Back at Niewiadoma Claim About Teammate: That\u2019s Bike Racing"},"content":{"rendered":"
Advantage Demi Vollering in this Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift of twists and turns.<\/p>\n
Fifteen seconds down Saturday morning on Kasia Niewiadoma-Phinney (Canoyon-SRAM) after making her move too late on Mont Ventoux, FDJ United-Suez\u2019s frontwoman ends the day eight seconds in front.<\/p>\n
Her ferocious attack on a short, sharp unclassified climb through Villefranche-sur-Mer on stage 8 into Nice shook up the race yet again.<\/p>\n
The explosive action continued beyond the finish as Kasia Niewiadoma-Phinney alleged that Vollering\u2019s FDJ United-Suez teammate C\u00e9lia Gery blocked her as she peeled off the front moments before the decisive acceleration with 6.5 kilometers left to race.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t know what happened, I didn\u2019t see anything,\u201d Vollering said in her post-race press conference. \u201cI just saw what was in front of me, which was nothing.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cShe\u2019s such a strong and amazing teammate, and I\u2019m sure the moment she went off, she probably didn\u2019t see Kasia,\u201d she added about the 20-year-old French national champion.<\/p>\n
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\u201cI\u2019m sure she didn\u2019t do it on purpose. I\u2019m sure Kasia knows deep in her heart that kind of thing just happens sometimes in racing. It\u2019s the shit, tricky part of racing.\u201d<\/p>\n
There has been no penalty or punishment relating to the allegations from the race jury of commissaires.<\/p>\n
Dutch dynamo appreciates yellow jersey more now<\/h2>\nVollering was in disbelief after her first Tour win three years ago.<\/span> (Photo: Alex Broadway\/Getty Images)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
2023 champion Vollering accelerated with her all out of the left corner up the kicker on the Nice outskirts and distanced Niewiadoma-Phinney and Elisa Longo Borghini by the top, gaining 17 seconds on them by the line.<\/p>\n
Her second stage win brings her 24 hours from triumph.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s very special to be back in yellow because that\u2019s first of all already one of my biggest dreams [to do that],\u201d she said. \u201cAnd at the moment, we\u2019re living the dream: we\u2019ve won two stages already \u2026 And I will do everything in my power to keep that yellow, of course.\u201d<\/p>\n
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\u201cBut last year I tried also very hard, and the body didn\u2019t want to. So also, I think I appreciate it even more now \u2013 to feel that your body is healthy and that you can really go over the limit for your dreams.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s not always that that happens. You need to be lucky as well with your health and everything that\u2019s going around\u201d<\/p>\n
Rebuilding after Ventoux pain<\/h2>\nVollering clawed back time on Mont Ventoux with a late surge. <\/span> (Photo: Tim de Waele\/Getty Images)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
Vollering had done the recon and knew the steep unclassified kicker was very difficult. There was no indecision this time on her part, unlike the race\u2019s HC showcase mountain 24 hours ago.<\/p>\n
On Mont Ventoux, she threw away a big opportunity to move into the maillot jaune<\/i>.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was super disappointed and the girls said to me, \u2018Demi, don\u2019t be too hard on yourself, you can do it. We\u2019re going to do it.\u2019 It gave me a lot of confidence, today they did the perfect leadout how we planned.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYesterday, I didn\u2019t really have doubts but more big disappointment for myself because, first of all, I really wanted to win the stage on Mont Ventoux.\u201d<\/p>\n
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Vollering made the \u201cmistake\u201d of thinking it was better to ride the headwind section together, not realising how good her legs were.<\/p>\n
\u201cI should have tried earlier,\u201d she reflected.<\/p>\n
\u201cI hesitated maybe a bit too much and gambled a bit too much with Marlen [Reusser], especially because of the headwind part.\u201d<\/p>\n
FDJ team manager: Attack still best form of defense<\/b><\/h2>\n
The mood was jubilant at the FDJ United-Suez team bus on the Promenade des Anglais, minutes after Vollering\u2019s Tour turn-around.<\/p>\n
\u201cOf course we were looking yesterday for 15 seconds. But I think the best defense is still attack, with legs like that,\u201d her sports director Lars Boom said.<\/p>\n
He was speaking to Velo <\/i>and other Anglophone media minutes before news of Niewiadoma-Phinney\u2019s allegation about Celia G\u00e9ry emerged.<\/p>\n
Boom was not surprised Niewiadoma-Phinney could not follow Vollering. \u201cShe\u2019s so strong on a climb like this, that was the goal but you never know what\u2019s going to happen. Demi showed she\u2019s the best in the world in a moment like this.\u201d<\/p>\n
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The Dutch sports director was calm, professional and put-together as he talked to Velo <\/i>and media.<\/p>\n
However, his exclamation of \u201cC\u2019mon!\u201d to fellow staffers celebrating seconds later showed his true emotions.<\/p>\n
D-day on Col d\u2019\u00c8ze<\/h2>\n
Maybe there is room for one more twist in this terrific Tour tale.<\/p>\n
Stage nine will be defined by four ascents \u2013 and technical descents \u2013 of the 6-kilometer, 7.6 per cent Col d\u2019\u00c8ze, the climb on the north-east edge of Nice which has often been a kingmaker in Paris-Nice.<\/p>\n
\u201cI said already, long before we went to the Tour, that tomorrow\u2019s stage nine it\u2019s gonna be the strongest team who will win there.<\/p>\n
\u201cI really need them as sharp as possible on the last stage because it is really about teamwork as well,\u201d Vollering said.<\/p>\n
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\u201cI think they they always had stage nine in their back of their minds as well that they need to be good there and I\u2019m sure that they\u2019re gonna be somewhere to get to to fight for the yellow.\u201d<\/p>\n
Nice has been nice for Vollering<\/h2>\n
The new race leader knows the Col d\u2019\u00c8ze well. She went to Nice in January 2026 to escape the winter cold in Switzerland after weeks of knee problems which stopped her from riding.<\/p>\n
The tactics Sunday might appear simple: stick to Niewiadoma-Phinney like glue. Easier said than done.<\/p>\n
\u201cTo hold the wheel of Kasia and also to stay safe. So much can happen, it\u2019s still a big fight,\u201d the 29-year-old said.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn this heat, you don\u2019t know what the body will do. It\u2019s just being very focused and survive with everything I had.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
[analyse_image type=”featured” src=”https:\/\/velo-cdn.outsideonline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Z8A_9873-1.jpg”] Andy McGrath Updated August 9, 2026 03:11AM Advantage Demi Vollering in this Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift of twists and turns. Fifteen seconds down Saturday morning on Kasia Niewiadoma-Phinney (Canoyon-SRAM) after making her move too late on Mont Ventoux, FDJ United-Suez\u2019s frontwoman ends the day eight seconds in front. Her ferocious […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[226,71],"class_list":["post-2085460","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-politics","tag-crawlmanager","tag-velo-outsideonline-com"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2085460","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2085460"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2085460\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2085460"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2085460"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2085460"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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