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Demi Vollering all but wrapped up the 2023 Tour de France Femmes overall victory with a stunning ride on the Col du Tourmalet to take a dominant stage win.
The Dutchwoman made her move with six kilometres remaining and powered her way over to escaped rider Kasia Niewiadoma (Canyon-SRAM), before dropping her and continuing to surge to an impressive win, that was all the more so because of the final 1'57 margin to second place.
"In the team, we said: ‘Let’s not talk about seconds, let’s make it minutes.’ I wanted to take as much time as possible and I’m happy I did it for my team,"s said Vollering. "They kept saying: ‘You’ll set things straight on the Tourmalet.’ But I told them, it’s one thing to say it but I need to do it, and I was a bit nervous.
"I know they said it because they truly believe in me and that gives me a lot of strength. I told Annemiek [van Vleuten] it was not up to me to ride with her because I had teammates behind, and if the girls wanted to drop Lotte [Kopecky], then it was up to them.
"At one point, I felt it and I just went. With the mist, I knew that if I opened a gap quickly, then they wouldn’t be able to see me. I went full gas and never looked back.
"When I crossed the line, I was just happy that it was over, that I had made it happen."
The early, largely flat kilometres of the stage saw the majority of the action neutralised with most teams looking to get key riders into the breakaway to potentially contest the stage win.
The race stayed together despite many attacks from riders looking to make the early breakaway and the peloton hit the base of the Col d’Aspin together. There, Movistar sought to make the race hard for Annemiek van Vleuten, and she duly launched an attack with five kilometres left to the summit of the climb.
Her acceleration was a powerful one, with only Kasia Niewiadoma (Canyon-SRAM) and Demi Vollering (SD Worx) able to follow, and the trio forging a lead clear at the front of the race. Only van Vleuten and Niewiadoma contributed to the pace, with Vollering sitting on, and they had a 50-second lead over a group containing the other favourites, including Australian Amanda Spratt (Lidl-Trek) and yellow-jersey holder Lotte Kopecky (SD Worx).
On the descent, Niewiadoma went to the front, and quickly put a gap into the other two riders. Then, there was a moment of drama van Vleuten refused to chase the Polish star alone, signally for Vollering to come through and even braking to force her rival to the front.
The pair didn’t get working again, and they were absorbed by the chasing group of the yellow jersey and other contenders, with Niewiadoma hitting the base of the Col de Tourmalet with a minute’s lead.
The lower slopes of the infamously tough climb of 17.2 kilometres at 7.3 per cent average saw Marlen Reusser set a very high tempo that nearly dragged Niewiadoma back into the fold, slashing her advantage down to just five seconds with 12 kilometres left to race. At that point, Reusser dropped off and without a committed pace-setter, the gap for Niewiadoma began to grow again.
The Polish rider took her lead back out to 45 seconds, with the chase mainly falling to Juliette Labous (DSM-firmenich) who put in repeated attacks. With 6 kilometres left to the top, Vollering put in her decisive attack, grinding van Vleuten off her wheel and setting off in pursuit of Niewiadoma.
She crossed the gap to Niewiadoma in a kilometre, passing her and setting off to the finish line alone.
The fog swallowed up the riders as they fought solo battles to the summit of the climb, but the standout was Vollering by the top, winning the stage by a minute and 58 seconds and moving into the yellow jersey.
Niewiadoma was next over the line, with van Vleuten trailing in 2’34 behind her rival. Lotte Kopecky (SD Worx) ceded the yellow jersey to her teammate, but she stayed in touch with a potential podium finish with her finish 3’32 off Vollering seeing her just seven seconds behind van Vleuten, who holds third overall.
Vollering has a 1’50 gap as the new leader of the Tour de France Femmes, and will head into the final 22-kilometre time trial in Pau as the unbackable favourite.
Australia’s top performer was Amanda Spratt, who rode her way into the top ten overall after finishing 12th on the day, 7’12 down.
Watch the action from the Tour de France Femmes' final stage, the 22-kilometre time trial in Pau, LIVE from 11.00pm AEST on SBS and SBS On Demand.
