Demi Vollering (FDJ United-Suez) finished third in the Amstel Gold Race Ladies but was left wondering what could have been.
She and Kasia Niewiadoma-Phinney (Canyon-SRAM zondacrypto) were the strongest on the final ascent of the Cauberg, leaving everyone else behind, and sprinted for the line – but Paula Blasi (UAE Team ADQ) was still ahead after a long-range attack.
FDJ United-Suez had been the team pushing the pace all day, trying to set up Vollering to continue their winning streak of the Tour of Flanders, Paris-Roubaix and Friday's Brabantse Pijl, plus Omloop Het Nieuwsblad and Strade Bianche earlier in the spring.
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But in the finale, they gambled on forcing other teams to chase Blasi, and they lost.
"I have mixed feelings. It is a bit of a shame, especially when you can make the difference on the climb in the end and there’s still a solo rider in front. But we got everything out of it as a team today. And ultimately, you cannot jump after everything. At some point, you choose to let somebody ride. And that turned out to be the wrong choice," Vollering told Dutch TV channel NOS after the race.
FDJ had been shutting down moves all day, but Nienke Vinke (SD Worx-Protime) was let go with 26km to go. Blasi jumped after her and ended up winning with a 21-kilometre solo, having dropped Vinke on the penultimate ascent of the Cauberg.
Just before the decisive moves by Vinke and Blasi, there had been a flurry of attacks where Vollering closed gaps herself.
"On the one hand, it is a hard circuit, but on the other hand, it’s also not quite hard enough. It is hard to go earlier; if you fire your arrows too early, you might fall short on the Cauberg," Vollering pointed out the conundrum that teams face on the women’s Amstel Gold Race route.
On the final lap, FDJ United-Suez eventually committed to the chase, but Vollering had only Juliette Berthet and Elise Chabbey left with her. The European champion explained that she had been hoping for other teams to join the chase earlier.
"Lidl-Trek were also still there with a lot of riders. I was kind of gambling on Lidl-Trek starting to chase a bit earlier and us working together to keep the gap smaller. But in the end, Blasi was really strong today because my teammates were really riding hard. She could simply not be brought back," Vollering admitted.
Despite not adding to the team's and her already very successful spring on Sunday, Vollering chose to look at the positives of a strong team performance.
"I am also very happy with how we raced the whole day as a team, taking control of the race from early on, riding at the front and doing some damage, I am proud of that," she said.
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