FDJ-SUEZ Draws Clear Conclusions After Demi Vollering’s Time Loss on Madeleine

At the summit of the Col de la Madeleine, Demi Vollering and the FDJ-SUEZ team management could not yet pinpoint the reason for the time loss to winner Pauline Ferrand-Prévot. A day later, team director Lars Boom told WielerFlits that there is now an overarching conclusion. "Demi was very good, but it just wasn’t her best day," he said in front of our camera.

"Calling it a cause is a bit exaggerated, I think. Demi was very good, but she didn’t have her best day. There are two riders who simply stand out right now, and you have to accept that for the moment," Boom explained, referring to leader Ferrand-Prévot and second-placed Sarah Gigante. Behind them, Vollering sits third in the overall standings.

Did Vollering still feel the effects of the crash at the start of this Tour Femmes? "That has always played a role," said her FDJ-SUEZ team director. "If you don’t have to waste energy recovering but instead have to spend a lot of energy just to feel ‘normal’ again, that always costs energy. You need that energy now, so it can definitely play a role."

After the stage, there was some negativity on the team bus, Boom admits, During the long bus ride, the focus was initially on recovery, "and at a certain point they came around and started to have fun with each other again," he reflected.