Tour de France Femmes 2024 (August 12th-18th)

[Armchair Cyclist]

I agree, this was one of the best GTs I have watched in a long time, BUT Eurosport clearly did not think it was worth giving it coverage from the start of every stage. I was genuinely shocked when the coverage only started halfway through the final stage, "Home of Cycling", my arse. I have written to them.

Not EuroSport's fault: they can't broadcast what the content providers do not record.

But by all means blame them for Kirby and Blythe, and for not retaining Dan Lloyd.

 

[awavey]

Reads like ‚I always give everything for my leaders but if my teammates don‘t do this I tell them to never change because I just want to be on good terms with everyone.‘ Just sounds like office politics and not having principles.

Understandably, she's not yet signed for next season yet, it makes the point about sacrifice for the team, whilst not ruffling too many feathers in the present camp.

Demi describes her as the perfect teammate on/off the bike in on of her latest posts about the gilet handover.

 

[Izzyeviel]

That's the point that sticks least well with me -- imagine if Rooijakkers had ended up in yellow.

It would mean she won by putting in the performance of her life to win. That's how it should be. & It would be utterly glorious to see the experts have eggs on their faces. Everyone would've been delighted (once we've stopped going 'who' & 'her? Seriously?')

 

[Samu Cuenca]

It would mean she won by putting in the performance of her life to win. That's how it should be. & It would be utterly glorious to see the experts have eggs on their faces. Everyone would've been delighted (once we've stopped going 'who' & 'her? Seriously?')

In retrospect, she could possibly have won the race, if the team had made Pieterse work for her (without dropping her), on stage 4. Not that you can fault them for pursuing a stage win, which they ultimately got, rather than fully backing what at the time seemed to be a top 5 bid at best.

Actually I also forgot, that Roijakkers managed to lose 5 seconds to the group with Pieterse at the end of stage 5. They could certainly have switched the dynamic between her and Vollering yesterday as well.

 

[Sciatic]

It's difficult to judge, as from the outside, Demi comes across as the perfect teamie to have.

yes shes driven, yes shes focussed, most winners and top athletes have to be, and yes she keeps herself away from others alot of the time and does her own thing.

In terms of whether fans have warmed to her or not ( I don’t know enough about teammates) in the past: if she was one of the absolute best male riders on a man’s team, these things wouldn’t matter a whit.

 

[Libertine Seguros]

I agree, this was one of the best GTs I have watched in a long time, BUT Eurosport clearly did not think it was worth giving it coverage from the start of every stage. I was genuinely shocked when the coverage only started halfway through the final stage, "Home of Cycling", my arse. I have written to them.

TBF, this is what all cycling coverage used to be like, a cold open for the last 60-90 minutes of each stage. We missed huge parts of some of the most exciting stages in memory because of this - 2005 Heras exploit to Pajáres and 2012 Contador on Fuente Dé being particularly noteworthy. The Tour de France spoils us (and sometimes punishes us) with start to finish coverage of every stage and while the TDFF is the women's version, it is a week-long stage race in its infancy and as such, ASO's coverage expectations and provisions are more akin to what we get from e.g. Paris-Nice or the Dauphiné.

They may well push for full coverage in future but with the race being in its infancy and many broadcasters still unsure of the audience outreach of women's cycling (something a stage like yesterday's can surely only help), providing 1-2 hours of any given stage is not bad. After all, we were live well before Demi and Pauliena attacked and that was 1h 46 minutes before they crossed the line, and then we had aftermath and post-race punditry for a while as well. That's really not too bad considering we're only a decade removed from an era where the best coverage available of La Flèche Wallonne was Sporza's commentators hanging their mobile phones out the window of the commentary booth to film the women arrive because God forbid we miss some of the important action 95km from home in the men's race.

To be honest, though, the fact that we're at a point where two hours of live coverage is provided and people are still dissatisfied because they want to see more is absolutely phenomenal and I am stoked to see it.

As we all know, Cycling is a team sport; the real question is, WHY didn't Vollering's teammates back her up? We know they can do it. It seems to me there maybe another reason for her leaving SD Works?

There are a lot of reasons, some of which very simple and some of which quite conspiratorial. Certainly the fact that van der Breggen is climbing out of the team car to restart her career in the role that Demi is in now makes those conspiracy theories easier to believe. I mean, imagine if in 2008 Astana, Lance Armstrong joined the DS committee and then undermined Alberto Contador at every turn after announcing he's returning in 2009 - you'd think it fishy, right?

When it comes to Wiebes, it's just that she's selfish and ungrateful and your value to her is only inasmuch as you can help her maximise her earning potential.

Either way, though, with Kopecky expanding her repertoire and van der Breggen returning, there's just no place for Demi at the team anymore. I did laugh at some people on Twitter suggesting the team would have been better united if they brought Kopecky though. Yes, they'd have probably got on the front and helped Dygert up the pace when Demi crashed.

Reads like ‚I always give everything for my leaders but if my teammates don‘t do this I tell them to never change because I just want to be on good terms with everyone.‘ Just sounds like office politics and not having principles.

Hard to blame her when she's out of contract too, though. She wants her team to know she still has their back in the hope she can be renewed, but she also wants Demi to know she still has her back too in case she can put a good word in for her. Guarischi is legit a very hard working rouleuse domestique and will find a spot, but while this post is an epic of fence-sitting I don't blame her for it.

I still can't believe Kasia actually won. All these years I've been cheering her on whilst despairing at her 'tactics' I honestly believed she was past it. And shes only gone and won the big race. I don't think I'm going to stop buzzing anytime soon.

To be fair, her tactics have always been predicated on the fact she's had to be racing from behind. We've seldom seen her racing from a lead, and it's something that kind of forces you to defend a bit, something that she's never really done, well, any of. It's part of why she's such a popular character, but it is part of why her palmarès has never quite matched up to her talent. She doesn't win much, but she puts you through the ringer when she does. You will never be bored following Kasia, at the very least.

It would mean she won by putting in the performance of her life to win. That's how it should be. & It would be utterly glorious to see the experts have eggs on their faces. Everyone would've been delighted (once we've stopped going 'who' & 'her? Seriously?')

In all honesty, it would actually be awesome for Rooijakkers to win in many respects. We haven't had races where a one-dimensional climber can win very often in women's cycling since Luperini's heyday, and often the only one-dimensional climbers that won anything big have been when they are stupendous outliers like Mara Abbott who would take minutes out of people on the few monster climbs of the season, only to then lose it all going back downhill again. Rooijakkers is a one-dimensional climber, but she's also not a total outlier, she's not dropping the likes of Vollering, but she can contend for GCs based off of that now, something that was always denied her previously.

To follow on from men's cycling, the one-dimensional climber should be able to feel that they can win a GT, but the courses should ensure that it's possible only if they are that crazy outlying talent, like a Lucho Herrera, a José Manuel Fuente, a Federico Bahamontes.

For years, women's cycling had far too much of the calendar in the same kind of vein of parcours, which only exacerbated the haves and have-nots divide. To an extent a super-mountain stage with two legit HCs like this may overbalance slightly in terms of a single stage, but the fact that you now have a whole section of the calendar where people like Pauliena Rooijakkers, who isn't going to be contending in flat to rolling stage races, can legitimately target and believe that she can win or podium, is in and of itself a fantastic sign for women's racing.

In retrospect, she could possibly have won the race, if the team had made Pieterse work for her (without dropping her), on stage 4. Not that you can fault them for pursuing a stage win, which they ultimately got, rather than fully backing what at the time seemed to be a top 5 bid at best.

Actually I also forgot, that Roijakkers managed to lose 5 seconds to the group with Pieterse at the end of stage 5. They could certainly have switched the dynamic between her and Vollering yesterday as well.

Unfortunately this is also a Pauliena Rooijakkers thing. As I mentioned before, she is a bit like David Moncoutié, she can often be espied hanging on at the very back of the péloton as she doesn't really like the hustle and bustle in the middle of the pack, and so she will often lose time when there are splits in the bunch or miss moves in rolling kinds of stages. If I was to give a contemporary equivalent to her in the men's péloton I'd probably say Enric Mas. She's not especially explosive but she is an elite climber on her day. She won't win you much but she's always there or thereabouts in the mountains. But she will lose time in descents and is a prime candidate for the GC riders most likely to lose time in unexpected places on the flat.

 

[Samu Cuenca]

TBF, this is what all cycling coverage used to be like, a cold open for the last 60-90 minutes of each stage. We missed huge parts of some of the most exciting stages in memory because of this - 2005 Heras exploit to Pajáres and 2012 Contador on Fuente Dé being particularly noteworthy. The Tour de France spoils us (and sometimes punishes us) with start to finish coverage of every stage and while the TDFF is the women's version, it is a week-long stage race in its infancy and as such, ASO's coverage expectations and provisions are more akin to what we get from e.g. Paris-Nice or the Dauphiné.

They may well push for full coverage in future but with the race being in its infancy and many broadcasters still unsure of the audience outreach of women's cycling (something a stage like yesterday's can surely only help), providing 1-2 hours of any given stage is not bad. After all, we were live well before Demi and Pauliena attacked and that was 1h 46 minutes before they crossed the line, and then we had aftermath and post-race punditry for a while as well. That's really not too bad considering we're only a decade removed from an era where the best coverage available of La Flèche Wallonne was Sporza's commentators hanging their mobile phones out the window of the commentary booth to film the women arrive because God forbid we miss some of the important action 95km from home in the men's race.

To be honest, though, the fact that we're at a point where two hours of live coverage is provided and people are still dissatisfied because they want to see more is absolutely phenomenal and I am stoked to see it.

There are a lot of reasons, some of which very simple and some of which quite conspiratorial. Certainly the fact that van der Breggen is climbing out of the team car to restart her career in the role that Demi is in now makes those conspiracy theories easier to believe. I mean, imagine if in 2008 Astana, Lance Armstrong joined the DS committee and then undermined Alberto Contador at every turn after announcing he's returning in 2009 - you'd think it fishy, right?

When it comes to Wiebes, it's just that she's selfish and ungrateful and your value to her is only inasmuch as you can help her maximise her earning potential.

Either way, though, with Kopecky expanding her repertoire and van der Breggen returning, there's just no place for Demi at the team anymore. I did laugh at some people on Twitter suggesting the team would have been better united if they brought Kopecky though. Yes, they'd have probably got on the front and helped Dygert up the pace when Demi crashed.

Hard to blame her when she's out of contract too, though. She wants her team to know she still has their back in the hope she can be renewed, but she also wants Demi to know she still has her back too in case she can put a good word in for her. Guarischi is legit a very hard working rouleuse domestique and will find a spot, but while this post is an epic of fence-sitting I don't blame her for it.

To be fair, her tactics have always been predicated on the fact she's had to be racing from behind. We've seldom seen her racing from a lead, and it's something that kind of forces you to defend a bit, something that she's never really done, well, any of. It's part of why she's such a popular character, but it is part of why her palmarès has never quite matched up to her talent. She doesn't win much, but she puts you through the ringer when she does. You will never be bored following Kasia, at the very least.

In all honesty, it would actually be awesome for Rooijakkers to win in many respects. We haven't had races where a one-dimensional climber can win very often in women's cycling since Luperini's heyday, and often the only one-dimensional climbers that won anything big have been when they are stupendous outliers like Mara Abbott who would take minutes out of people on the few monster climbs of the season, only to then lose it all going back downhill again. Rooijakkers is a one-dimensional climber, but she's also not a total outlier, she's not dropping the likes of Vollering, but she can contend for GCs based off of that now, something that was always denied her previously.

To follow on from men's cycling, the one-dimensional climber should be able to feel that they can win a GT, but the courses should ensure that it's possible only if they are that crazy outlying talent, like a Lucho Herrera, a José Manuel Fuente, a Federico Bahamontes.

For years, women's cycling had far too much of the calendar in the same kind of vein of parcours, which only exacerbated the haves and have-nots divide. To an extent a super-mountain stage with two legit HCs like this may overbalance slightly in terms of a single stage, but the fact that you now have a whole section of the calendar where people like Pauliena Rooijakkers, who isn't going to be contending in flat to rolling stage races, can legitimately target and believe that she can win or podium, is in and of itself a fantastic sign for women's racing.

Unfortunately this is also a Pauliena Rooijakkers thing. As I mentioned before, she is a bit like David Moncoutié, she can often be espied hanging on at the very back of the péloton as she doesn't really like the hustle and bustle in the middle of the pack, and so she will often lose time when there are splits in the bunch or miss moves in rolling kinds of stages. If I was to give a contemporary equivalent to her in the men's péloton I'd probably say Enric Mas. She's not especially explosive but she is an elite climber on her day. She won't win you much but she's always there or thereabouts in the mountains. But she will lose time in descents and is a prime candidate for the GC riders most likely to lose time in unexpected places on the flat.

Due to the limited coverage yesterday, we did completely miss the fact that Muzic had been caught behind the peloton for almost 20 km before Glandon after a pee break. That is also one explanation for why she decided to sprint for third even though it had no affect on her GC position. If Demi joins FDJ, it would look pretty bad, if those bonifications had ended up deciding the race in her favour.

 

[xo 1]

It would mean she won by putting in the performance of her life to win. That's how it should be. & It would be utterly glorious to see the experts have eggs on their faces. Everyone would've been delighted (once we've stopped going 'who' & 'her? Seriously?')

We would have reacted differently.

I would have been quite disappointed to see her in yellow, but I certainly can appreciate that some may feel differently.

 

[Oldermanish]

And its fallout could be long as well. Have SD Worx just "Contadored" Vollering? I think it's very possible. I know that my readings of the SD Worx situation have largely been sympathetic to Vollering over the last two years, possibly too much, and I've taken some flak for it, but I've read Wiebes and Kopecky as the most selfish riders there, and that Vollering has only really had issues with the team where her and Kopecky's aims and actions have intertwined, such as Kopecky's antics at last year's Tour and Strade Bianche. However, many had fired back that Demi was similarly selfish and unlikable, but you'd expect a fair bit of "you reap what you sow" kind of response to this if that were the case, and you certainly wouldn't have expected her to handle the defeat with the kind of dignity that she has done. A lot of people who have been either indifferent to or even disliked Vollering have viewed her in a sympathetic light as a result of this race and her treatment by the team, and the fact that the response to the team's posts about it have been so universal seems like it's created a groundswell of support for her in the same way as Contador probably never grows to become as popular as he was if it weren't for the Hog's core's deliberate marginalisation and ostracisation of him in the 2009 Tour.

One thing that this does raise as a noteworthy question is the role of Anna van der Breggen in all of this. While SD Worx' top-heaviness has resulted in a lot of conflicts of goals over the years, the disunity has really accelerated in recent years. Anna and Demi worked very well together back in 2021, with a kind of retiring master-understudy relationship. But I don't think it's earth-shattering news to say that a lot of people have viewed Anna's time in the team car as having been disastrous; I don't know if it's that she is unwilling to check any egos and offend anybody, or that tactics on the fly and the strength to respond to moves came so easily and naturally for her that she doesn't offer enough guidance, or what, but the team's tactics have been questionable at best lately. The fact Vollering has been the one to get shafted by most of the worst decisions could be coincidental, but with the coterminous announcement of van der Breggen's return to the bike, it lends it a sinister overtone; with Wiebes reinventing herself for durability and Kopecky's realm extending ever further into the mountains with her win at the UAE Tour and her performance at Blockhaus, the area of the calendar where the team would be solely behind Vollering has already been cut down significantly, but adding van der Breggen to the mix would erode this entirely. Anna VDB has been with the team since 2017 and her coming across from Rabobank was almost a watershed moment that earmarked the end of the transition period through 2015 and 2016 from Rabobank being the dominant force in the sport to Boels-Dolmans/SD Worx taking up that mantle. With the end of Guarnier's peak years, the retirement of Evelyn Stevens, and then a year later Lizzie Deignan taking her first year out for motherhood, it swiftly became van der Breggen's team... it seems inconceivable that she would be coming back if she didn't think she could win things, but it seems like in order for the team to be working for her when she's been off the bike for three years, she needs to not be a secondary option, and in the races where her skillset would allow for her goals not to be subsumed to those of Kopecky or Wiebes, there is a big Demi Vollering-shaped obstacle. Kopecky is under contract for a few years yet. Wiebes - assuming she's on a deal big enough that nobody offers her more money entitling her to walk as per contract stipulations - is under contract for a while too. Vollering's contract was due, and conspiratorially, you could read the actions of the team car in the last 12 months or so as giving her a helping hand out the door.

I mean, Nike care enough about Vollering to decorate the side of a Paris building for her at the Olympics. Specialized care enough about Vollering to want to go with her when she moves team. SD Worx care enough about Vollering to let their riders go to the press and announce that they saw "something yellow on the floor" and that their team leader - in yellow - was no longer with them, but was either so monumentally stupid that she couldn't connect the dots, or so monumentally selfish that she thought coming 8th in a stage - a stage! - was more important to the team than winning the GC of the Tour de France.

Think about that. It was more important not to hurt Lorena's pride by telling her she couldn't sprint for 8th place than to expend a domestique to help limit the losses of the strongest stage racer in women's cycling because they're so used to being totally overpowered that they figured, hey, they can take it. But that's not on Anna van der Breggen. That's on Danny Stam. He's managed this s**t-show for several years and he has a key role here too: this is the man that said that he and his team don't view Niewiadoma as a threat because she'll always overwork herself and burn herself out. And I mean, he's not necessarily wrong, as somebody who's followed Kasia's career for a decade, she does do that, but it's an assumption that could - and did - come back and bite them, because they figured they could afford to abandon Demi to her fate in pursuit of that illustrious 8th place in the sprint behind the front group, because they can just take that time back whenever they want. Again, the team are used to being overpowered and think that they can just brute force their way out of any problem, so they don't need to work as a team. And all too often in recent years other teams have helped them out time and time again, enabling them to continue to hold this attitude. The ascent of Alpe d'Huez was like Danny Stam being hit in the face with a sledgehammer of hubris for his arrogance and disrespectfulness. And by and large, public opinion appears to agree - sympathising with Vollering as the victim of the team's arrogance and dysfunction, and largely laughing in the faces of those responsible.

Thanks for this needed this history update; I suspected the situation that allowed Demi's time loss wasn't a new feature.
As a recent viewer with little knowledge and no opinion prior to Stage 5, the actions were so obviously out of character for the usual GT courtesy and sporting behaviour touted (or Liggetted, if you wish) in the Mens' Tours it was hard to ignore.
That her team has likely shown zero courtesy to others also makes the indifference shown by other teams understandable as well. If Womens' racing wants parity for income and exposure they probably want to reflect rather than revel too much on the "epic" drama.

 

[xo 1]

Yes, her team could and should have done a better job but none of that would have even mattered if showed any sense of urgency at all, which she certainly recognized.

I hear, but in reviewing footage and Demi's comments post-Tour, we need to consider just how out of sorts Demi felt at the time of the crash. It's the best explanation, in my mind, for her otherwise baffling lack of urgency to get back underway.

 

[Izzyeviel]

Anyway, if anyone's into conspiracy theories....AVDB & Kasia are great friends. They've been pretty close for years.

 

[awavey]

Anyway, if anyone's into conspiracy theories....AVDB & Kasia are great friends. They've been pretty close for years.

she was the first to publicly welcome AvdB back to racing, before she signed for CanyonSRAM again there were rumours SDWorx were pondering it, inspite of Dannys views of her

anyway everyone is great friends with everyone else in the teams, except with Demi apparently, who is Demi no mates

 

[Hugh Januss]

So Vas and Wiebes stayed in front, but there were 3 other teammates around at that time Majerus, Bredewold and Fisher-Black. The only report I saw about what part they played was Fisher-Black saying that she tried to help but couldn't even hold Vollering's wheel. I feel like the reality is that a pissy Demi burned through her helpers in short order and was then left on her own to continue the chase. Who's to say Wiebes and Vas would not have suffered the same consequences had they waited back to help?

 

[Sciatic]

So Vas and Wiebes stayed in front, but there were 3 other teammates around at that time Majerus, Bredewold and Fisher-Black. The only report I saw about what part they played was Fisher-Black saying that she tried to help but couldn't even hold Vollering's wheel. I feel like the reality is that a pissy Demi burned through her helpers in short order and was then left on her own to continue the chase. Who's to say Wiebes and Vas would not have suffered the same consequences had they waited back to help?

That is a strange take on what happened. It’s the yellow jersey wearer and race favorite in the Tour de France. Who cares if maybe someone’s not strong enough to help—you still go back and try. If you have two riders on a lead group sure maybe leave one there with a shot at a stage win. Don’t know why you say “helpers” when Fischer-Black was the only one.

 

[Black Betsy]

she was the first to publicly welcome AvdB back to racing, before she signed for CanyonSRAM again there were rumours SDWorx were pondering it, inspite of Dannys views of her

anyway everyone is great friends with everyone else in the teams, except with Demi apparently, who is Demi no mates

Please guide me to a link 'bout the jersey Princess Demi won in TdF, because I didn't see any in PCS.

Yeah, this is the narrative in this forum as well: as long as Princess Demi lost the race, everything is great.

 

[Libertine Seguros]

So Vas and Wiebes stayed in front, but there were 3 other teammates around at that time Majerus, Bredewold and Fisher-Black. The only report I saw about what part they played was Fisher-Black saying that she tried to help but couldn't even hold Vollering's wheel. I feel like the reality is that a pissy Demi burned through her helpers in short order and was then left on her own to continue the chase. Who's to say Wiebes and Vas would not have suffered the same consequences had they waited back to help?

NFB was also caught up in the crash, you can see her on the helicam, but she disappears in the opposite direction from Demi early on in the shot and is never seen again. Demi sets off on her own with Niamh nowhere to be seen, nor is she seen or checked by the team car. Bredewold is the one that we see Demi catch later, but then she is second wheel behind Demi and eventually tailed off. She was where she was on the road because she'd been dropped anyway after doing her job for Wiebes so it was always likely she wouldn't have all that much left in the tank when Vollering caught her. Wiebes or Vas would still have had something in the tank to assist had they been called back.

Hell, if they said they wanted to hedge their bets leaving one of them up and calling the other back, there'd be nothing like the criticism. Vas took bonus seconds away from Niewiadoma, after all, albeit only 2 as Lippert would have taken the 10 if Blanka hadn't been there. If only one rider was saying they had no radio, it might be more believable. If it hadn't been Wiebes that took her leader out and then told the press that she saw "something yellow" on the floor but was so monumentally selfish that she didn't check if the person she just crashed into that was in yellow might be her team leader (but she wouldn't, because she's the epitome of "I'm all right, Jack"), then there'd be a lot less criticism, there'd still be questions about why Vollering was left alone but the debate wouldn't have the same accusatory tone if SD Worx had been less culpable and if Wiebes hadn't come across so poorly (and if she hadn't done this after Vollering just expended energy to lead her out two stages in a row only for her to fail the sprint, and hadn't ridden for her at the Olympics only to get completely shafted as soon as the roles are reveresed).

Please guide me to a link 'bout the jersey Princess Demi won in TdF, because I didn't see any in PCS.

Yeah, this is the narrative in this forum as well: as long as Princess Demi lost the race, everything is great.

Demi didn't win a jersey but she did still have to go back to the podium after, to accept the Super-Combativité award.

 

[Kaptain Kool]

Vollering went onto the podium 5 times after Stage 8, I believe. Stage winner, Stage Combative, Super-Combative, Final GC podium and WWT jersey (to which awavey referred). Her TdFFaS performance jumped her past Kopecky.

Interesting to note that Kopecky had also Van Aerted her way into the WWT jersey by finishing 2nd in the Giro by a handful of seconds. Kopecky would've won, too, if Wiebes didn't refuse to lead out the sprint on the final stage. IIRC Wiebes's excuse was that she "wasn't on the start list."

 

[RedheadDane]

Yeah, this is the narrative in this forum as well: as long as Princess Demi lost the race, everything is great.

Not entirely sure what you mean. The primary opinion I've seen expressed is that Vollering got screwed over, and that people are hoping she'll come back and get her revenge next year.
The thing is, it's possible to at the same time also be happy for Niewiadoma.

 

[awavey]

Please guide me to a link 'bout the jersey Princess Demi won in TdF, because I didn't see any in PCS.

It's not a jersey you win as such at the race, so PCS wont record it like that, it's a season long jersey the WWT award to the leader of the tour rankings. If they're in the race they wear it, but theres no thing like the 2nd place gets it instead if the rankings leader isnt in the race or gets another jersey during the race, its the leaders only jersey, but at the end of the race or last stage of a race, they award it to the current tour rankings leader. Kopecky was top ranked coming into this race but Demi scored enough points in the race to go top. and its purple.

Road

Road cycling latest news, details, rankings, calendar, results

www.uci.org

They also do an youth jersey which is blue and which Shirin van Anrooij basically owns

 

[Keldergoat]

I am still in awe of how cool this TDFF was. The last stage was the summum, Vollering going all out on 55km to the finish line, three riders who could still win the Tour in the last kilometers, the suffering that you could see on the faces, the raw emotion. I felt bad for Vollering, but at the same time happy for Niewadoma who is such a cool rider and deservedly won.

Advertisement for women's cycling and their protagonists.

 

[awavey]

there'd still be questions about why Vollering was left alone but the debate wouldn't have the same accusatory tone if SD Worx had been less culpable and if Wiebes hadn't come across so poorly (and if she hadn't done this after Vollering just expended energy to lead her out two stages in a row only for her to fail the sprint, and hadn't ridden for her at the Olympics only to get completely shafted as soon as the roles are reveresed).

And the irony being the only reason Demi & the team were spread like they were because Demi was expecting to do a 3rd stage lead out for Wiebes, which actually just makes it more clownfest because where did Wiebes think her lead out had gone ? It wasn't just oh where's the GC leader nah sure she's fine it was wait wheres my lead out gone, oh well carry on regardless.

My working theory on the radios now is they were working fine, but the team were paralysed by both indecisiveness and hadn't a clue where anyone was on the road anymore, so literally just said nothing to the riders. Hence the riders post stage thinking out loud, well my radio can't have worked because why wouldn't they say something in that situation?

By the time they'd figured it out, or they needed to do more than just let it solve itself, it was too late. And I'm not sure the bonus seconds were even a consideration to Vas at that point, that had turned in to I can win this stage.

 

[awavey]

Not entirely sure what you mean. The primary opinion I've seen expressed is that Vollering got screwed over, and that people are hoping she'll come back and get her revenge next year.
The thing is, it's possible to at the same time also be happy for Niewiadoma.

I'm still working on the happy part

 

[Black Betsy]

Not entirely sure what you mean. The primary opinion I've seen expressed is that Vollering got screwed over, and that people are hoping she'll come back and get her revenge next year.
The thing is, it's possible to at the same time also be happy for Niewiadoma.

This is one of the very very very rare cases where you can't be happy for both riders, imo.

 

[RedheadDane]

This is one of the very very very rare cases where you can't be happy for both riders, imo.

I don't think anyone is being happy for Vollering... everyone is fully aware that the situation sucked for her.
But that still doesn't mean you can't be happy for Niewiadoma.

 

[Izzyeviel]

Demi has been very dignified in defeat, shes going to win many, many big races & Grand Tours in her career. & they will all be the more sweeter & meaningful when she does. Sad now, a lot happier later.