With one stage to go at La Vuelta Femenina SD Worx has thrown down the gauntlet after Demi Vollering finished just over a minute behind Annemiek van Vleuten and Gaia Realini on stage 6.
The Dutch rider, who went into the day in the race lead, claims that Van Vleuten and her Movistar team took advantage of her and her teammates stopping for a nature break ahead of a crosswind section before the first climb of the day.
Movistar’s efforts left Vollering and her teammates chasing to close a gap of 1’25 at a crucial point in the race. While Blanka Vas and Niamh Fisher Black attempted to pace Vollering back to the front, Liane Lippert, Floortje Mackaij, and Paula Patiño worked to keep the pace high on the front of the lead group, setting Van Vleuten up to eventually launch an attack which only Trek-Segafredo’s Gaia Realini could follow.
When Vollering did eventually make her way back to the peloton, Van Vleuten and Realini were already long gone, leaving her to merely mitigate the time loss from the group behind. The former race leader finished the day at 1:11 behind Van Vleuten with one stage – a summit finish to Lagos de Covadonga – to go.
After the stage, Vollering made no bones about her disappointment with Movistar’s tactics.
“At 70 kilometres from the finish, me and some other riders on my team had to pee. Femke Markus also just had a puncture. It was just before a town. Nothing seemed to be happening. At that moment the peloton was riding at a slow pace,” she said.
“That Annemiek van Vleuten claims it was the plan to accelerate there anyway makes sense. It’s all very coincidental though. They did everything they could to ride me out of the red jersey. This is top sport. I don’t expect to get anything as a gift, but if you want to do it this way… A shame. So I’m really bummed. Yesterday, Niamh Fisher-Black lost time after a judges’ barrage. It’s already the second day in a row that we don’t have luck on our side in that,” she added.
Vollering concluded by stating her intentions for “revenge” on the final stage: “My legs were very good today. Hopefully, that will still be the case tomorrow. I am hungry for revenge. I hope to put things right tomorrow.” The 26-year-old went even further on her personal Instagram page, posting a carousel of photos from the day with the caption “Stage 6 – “deception [disappointment -ed].”
Van Vleuten and her Movistar team were quick to defend their actions and assert that their move was premeditated. Team boss Sebastián Unzué Tweeted:
“We had a very clear plan this morning. We knew it was an unprotected area with a big bridge and with a strong crosswind. We had Jurgen Roelandts in front of the race informing us of the wind conditions where we wanted to make the acceleration. We know this [sic] roads perfectly because we live close to the area and we’ve been racing here all our lives and we knew that some GC riders wouldn’t expect it so we went for it.
“They made a huge mistake stopping in the worst possible moment for a pee. We made the same mistake yesterday with Liane stopping for a pee just before a climb and she was caught up behind. We had to chase all day. But we accepted our mistake and didn’t complain about other teams accelerating when she was peeing. It’s racing.”
Van Vleuten echoed Unzué’s claims telling the media post-race: “It was a super good moment, super good timing also, on the bridge, only it was unfortunate for some girls they went to stop to pee. But we already made the plan, and for them, it’s not the best moment if they see we go on the right-hand side and wind is coming up. That’s also a bit not so nice for them but it’s also part of the race that you need to stop in a good moment and not with crosswinds coming up.
“Super proud of my team because it was today a team effort and I had to finish it off when the climbs were coming so I went full gas there with bonus seconds coming up I really wanted the bonus seconds and then I was suddenly alone, only Gaia Realini could follow me.”
The world champion then took a swipe at Realini, her breakaway companion and eventual winner of stage saying: “She has probably the freshest legs for tomorrow because she had a free ride to the finish with me.”
With two climbs of 12.3 km and 13.3 km, the final stage is the perfect setting for Vollering and Van Vleuten to go head-to-head in a final showdown for the red jersey. Vollering’s 1:11 deficit is a significant margin to try and recuperate in one stage but her fighting talk suggests that she and her SD Worx team have not given up on the race lead. Whatever the truth behind Movistar’s tactics, the ensuing race situation should make for a thrilling final stage.
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