Demi Vollering had the final say after she was accused of living in a 'gilded cage' during the Tour de France Femmes, refuting suggestions she is 'a drama queen' and that the criticism comes from those who do not know her.
Vollering crashed hard during stage 3 but fought back to finish an emotional second overall and on the final podium alongside a dominant Pauline Ferrand-Prévot (Visma-Lease a Bike) and 2024 winner Kasia Niewiadoma-Phinney (Canyon-SRAM zondacrypto), who was third overall.
Vollering's FDJ-Suez team manager, Stephen Delcourt, complained of a lack of respect in the peloton when Vollering crashed, apparently taken out by other riders as the road narrowed, but that irked Visma-Lease a Bike directeur sportif, Jos van Emden.
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"Demi really thinks she's in a gilded cage. Yes, she's the best cyclist. But that doesn't mean everyone should make way for her," he told Nieuwsblad.
Despite talks to end their spat, Delcourt went on to describe Van Emden as a "stupid man."
Vollering has been involved in a number of fallouts in the Netherlands national team and left SD Worx-Protime for FDJ-Suez after a series of issues in 2024, including the polemics after her crash during the Tour de France Femmes.
She managed to overcome the impact of her stage 3 crash in this year's race, but didn't seem to be at her best in the high mountains. She was unable to stay with Ferrand-Prévot on Saturday's mountain stage to the summit of the Col de la Madeleine but then distanced Sarah Gigante (AG Insurance-Soudal) during the final stage to secure second overall.
She was emotional after another second place and an intense race, but stood her ground when again asked about Van Emden's comments in the final moments of her post-race press conference.
"I’m being hunted for this, I think a little bit, especially in the Netherlands," Vollering said.
"I have the feeling I have this stigma around me that I’m a little bit of a drama queen, or how you want to put it. But in the end, I think, if you ask my teammates, they will always say different.
"I think it’s also someone who doesn’t know me who says something like this. I cannot blame him [Van Emden], because he doesn’t know me, so he can say that from the outside."
Vollering finished 3:42 behind Pauline Ferrand-Prévot. She will now take a break, but she promised to work to improve for the 2026 Tour.
"Now we need to recover and rest, and then we go back to the drawing board and see what we can do better for the coming year," Vollering said.
"It's not only being a good climber that makes you a good rider. You need to have every kind of skill, and this Tour de France was maybe more for the pure, pure climbers. We don't know what's next year, so never say never."
"Everything went really well as a team, so I'm really proud of that, and at this moment, that makes me very happy."
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