Jul 30, 2023 at 5:30 PMUpdate: a minute ago
Demi Vollering was crowned overall winner of the Tour de France on Sunday. The Dutch, who won the yellow jersey on Saturday, held on convincingly in the final time trial, while Lotte Kopecky knocked Annemiek van Vleuten off the podium.
The time trial, which covered 22.6 kilometers around Pau, was won by Switzerland’s Marlen Reusser. She clocked 29.15 and Vollering was second in 29.25.
The Belgian Kopecky came in third in 29.53, moving her up from fourth to second place in the general classification. That was at the expense of Van Vleuten, who drops from third to fourth place. With Vollering, Kopecky and the Polish Katarzyna Niewiadoma, the entire final podium of this Tour consists of riders from SD Worx.
With her overall victory, Vollering puts an end to Van Vleuten’s series of victories in major rounds. Forty-year-old Van Vleuten, who is in the last season of her cycling career, won the Tour last year and was also the fastest in the Giro d’Italia and the Vuelta a España. This year she triumphed again in the Giro and the Vuelta, but she had to leave the Tour victory to Vollering. The reigning world champion did not even manage to reach the podium.
The last meters of Demi Vollering of this Tour de France. Photo: Getty Images
Vollering’s first overall victory in the Grand Tour
For the 26-year-old Vollering it is her first overall victory in a grand tour. She made an impression on Saturday in the seventh stage, a mountain stage with a finish on the Tourmalet, by soloing to a stage win and thus taking over the yellow jersey from Kopecky.
Vollering’s lead in the general classification was so great that she could enter the final time trial with confidence and she simply held on. She even almost managed to win the time trial, but Reusser was just a little faster.
Vollering also won the Amstel Gold Race, Liège-Bastogne-Liège, the Walloon Arrow and the Strade Bianche this year. The Tour Win is her biggest victory so far in her career.
2023-07-30 15:30:35
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