‘’The team was so strong and they really believed in me, so the only thing I could do was making it a good ending story by giving it all.’’ – Demi Vollering
A great start of the 2020 season with a 3rd place in general classification for Demi Vollering after four days of solid teamwork. The team, consisting of Karlijn Swinkels, Anouska Koster, Demi Vollering, Nina Buijsman, Hanna Nilsson, Marit Raaijmakers and Romy Kasper, started off strong in the first stage during the race and into the final. Karlijn raced to an 8th place within a group of 13 leaders sprinting for victory. Emma Norsgaard took victory. Unfortunately, Romy and Marit were part of a big crash at 4km from the finish but were able to start in stage 2.
Stage 2 consisted of several mountain climbs which caused to break up the peloton early on. Marlen Reuser was the first one to attack followed by Anna van der Breggen who closed the gap and overtook Reuser. With only 30 kilometers to go Demi started the pursue together with Clara Koppenburg. After a long chase the gap only remained 20 seconds and Demi sprinted to a 2nd place in an uphill final of the ‘’Queen’s Stage’’.
During stage 3 the whole team put in great effort to make it an easy ride for Demi in order to defend her 3rdplace in GC and help her gain more points on the mountain climbs. Meanwhile the stage was won by Yarely Salazar.
On the last day Karlijn and Anouska weren’t able to start due to illness. In the final stage, which counted 4 climbs, a group of 5 leaders got away. In the pursuing group Demi and Van der Breggen cooperated to defend their GC but were unable to catch up with the leaders. The final sprint was won by Leah Thomas. However, due to great teamwork over the past four days, Demi was able to defend her 3rd place in GC and made it to the podium in the first race of the season.
GC results:
3 Demi Vollering
19 Hanna Nilsson
30 Nina Buijsman
52 Romy Kasper
73 Marit Raaijmakers
Photo by Cor Vos © 2020