Yellow jersey Demi Vollering put a star next to stage 4 at the Tour de France Femmes, which combined the best parts of the Amstel Gold Race and Liège-Bastogne-Liège, both races she had won in previous years. But when officials confirmed that the victory went to Puck Pieterse (Fenix-Deceuninck) after a photo-finish sprint, Vollering said she had "no regrets".
"It's a good day for me and for the whole team. My teammates did a good job with keeping me safe today and in the front. It was a nice day for us," the SD Worx-Protime rider told the press at the rain-soaked finish line in Liège.
Vollering, currently leading the overall classification after winning the previous day's stage 3 time trial in Rotterdam, was part of a three-rider breakaway that sprinted for the win in Liège.
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She, along with Pieterse and Kasia Niewiadoma (Canyon-SRAM), broke away from what was left of the field with 13.4km to go on the Côte de la Roche-aux-Faucons. Niewiadoma attacked on the final run-in, but Vollering closed the gap just as Pieterse launched her sprint from the third wheel. Vollering responded and the pair reached the finish line at the same time, with officials later confirming Pieterse's victory.
"I hoped first Puck would close [the gap to Niewiadoma], but she didn't directly, so I did it myself because I didn't want to give Kasia too much space, because when she's gone, she's gone. Then I closed it on my own speed, so that I didn't empty myself there and that I knew that Kasia would leave a little bit for the last few hundred metres, and that was kind of a lead-out for us. I hoped she kept going, and luckily she did," Vollering explained how the final few hundred metres of the stage played out.
"Puck started to sprint first. I thought for a few seconds that I would make it, but on the line I had the feeling that it was not enough, and Puck won. It's nice because Puck is a talented rider, and she really deserves it."
Vollering said that she wasn't surprised to see Pieterse win the sprint because of her success in the sport in multiple disciplines, and because she felt that Pieterse played a better tactical game in the final kilometre.
"I know that Puck is a good rider, and I know that she has a good sprint. I got the feeling that in the last few kilometres she was holding back a little bit. She could do more. I said, 'I think you can still do more', but she was saving a little bit, and she attacked at the end. It was between me and Kasia for the GC, so it was OK. It was a good day for us," Vollering said.
Vollering said she was disappointed after finishing third place at Liège-Bastogne-Liège in April but had the opposite feeling when finishing second on stage 4 at the Tour on a similar course.
"First, it was nice to have a new opportunity here in the middle of the season, after the disappointment in the spring, so I was motivated to go for the win," she said.
"Also, I just wanted to race here today without regrets, and that is what I did. I can't have regrets after the finish line, so I don't think about that. I was second and I need to remember that I was going for the GC also today, so I'm really happy about that."
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