Dutchwoman Demi Vollering won the Women’s Tour de France for the first time at the end of the 8th and final stage, a 22-kilometre time trial which went to Swiss Marlen Reusser on Sunday July 30 in Pau. At 26, the rider from the SD Worx team succeeds her compatriot Annemiek van Vleuten (Movistar), 40, who has reigned over women’s cycling for several seasons and announced her retirement at the end of the season.
Demi Vollering had taken an option on the final victory by winning alone, the day before, during the 7th stage at the top of the Col du Tourmalet in the Pyrenees. She then took the yellow jersey at the expense of her Belgian teammate Lotte Kopecky, who finally took second place in the general classification in Pau, 3 minutes and 3 seconds behind. The final podium is completed by the Polish Katarzyna Niewiadoma, who finishes in the same second as Lotte Kopecky.
Annemiek van Vleuten, who had let go in the Pyrenees, is fourth. The highest ranked Frenchwoman, Juliette Labous, is fifth. His compatriot Cédrine Kerbaol, twelfth, wins the white jersey of best young person.
The exceptional season of Demi Vollering
World number 1, Demi Vollering has had an exceptional season. In the spring, she won the three Ardennes classics (Flèche wallonne, Liège-Bastogne-Liège and Amstel Gold Race), a hat-trick that only another Dutchwoman, Anna van der Breggen, had achieved before her. Second in the Tour last year behind Annemiek Van Vleuten, she took her revenge on her compatriot, who had dominated her last May in the Tour of Spain.
The Spanish race had given rise to a controversy between the two riders: during the penultimate stage, Annemiek Van Vleuten had taken advantage of a pee stop by his opponent to place an attack giving him victory. Since then, the tension was at its peak between the two riders.
