Women’s Tour: Demi Vollering obliterates TT, takes overall lead

ATHERSTONE, UK (VN) — Demi Vollering (SD Worx) obliterated the competition on stage 3 of the Women’s Tour, winning the Atherstone time trial by over one minute.

New hour record holder Joss Lowden had to settle for second place at 1:04 behind Vollering with Leah Kirchmann just a second further back in third.

After starting the day just nine seconds down on the overall standings, Vollering has leaped into the race lead with a 1:09 advantage over Team DSM rider, and fellow stage 2 escapee, Juliette Labous. Meanwhile, Clara Capponi (FDJ Nouvelle Aquitaine Futuroscope) slipped out of the leader’s jersey but still hangs onto third place.

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“It was painful, of course, but it was also fun. I’m really enjoying the time trial, I’m improving a lot and today was, again, a really good one. It was really nice to feel that I’m still making a lot of steps,” Vollering said after the stage.

“This year I did a lot of things. I think I can do more, of course. Every year, I’m doing a little bit more and more and this year I’ve also done a lot of time trials in races, which makes a big difference because with a time trial you practice best in a race because you go all out.”

Blistering pace

The stage lead changed several times during the day as more riders crossed the finish line. Lowden, who broke the hour record last week, then set a strong benchmark time of 24.22 over the twisting 16.6k course.

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It would be a long wait for the British rider with over 30 riders still to filter through as she took her place on the hotseat. There was a tense wait as Kirchmann missed Lowden’s time by a single second after beating her at the first intermediate, but she must have known what was coming as Vollering roared back into town.

The Dutch rider had gone 46 seconds quicker than Lowden at the first check and added an extra 18 seconds in the latter part of her ride.

While Vollering’s lead looks fairly comfortable with three stages remaining, the race will move to the east coast of England for its final stretch and the SD Worx team will have to be wary of the conditions with crosswinds a very big possibility.

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“We need to keep it together and we like hard races also. We have a really good team here to control the bunch a bit,” Vollering said. “We can maybe make moves again to split it up again with three more hard days. We tried to split the race in the first two days, but it wasn’t working but who knows for the next few days.

“Of course, it’s really important to have a happy head and to enjoy the races that you go to but I’m always looking to get the best out of every race. At every race, I’m really motivated to get the best out of myself.”