On the floor, stage 2 of the Tour de Romandie Féminin was an important day for SD Worx-Protime: They took a 1-2 as Demi Vollering gained the stage forward of Lotte Kopecky who’s the brand new general chief going into Sunday’s last stage. Nevertheless, the duty of managing the 2 stars’ race packages and characters is changing into more durable and more durable with solely months left till Vollering leaves the workforce.
“I don’t know. It’s an odd state of affairs as a result of I’ll go away the workforce, so I hope my workforce shall be impartial on this. We are going to see tomorrow,” Vollering stated when requested concerning the plans for stage 3. She then requested the interviewer for affirmation that Kopecky was forward of her in GC earlier than persevering with: “Most likely they may go for her.”
In such a state of affairs, riders often use the pronoun “we” to seek advice from the workforce. It’s potential, even seemingly, that Vollering was referring to the game administrators, Danny Stam and Anna van der Breggen, who make the selections on workforce ways, however the poignant phrasing nonetheless raised eyebrows.
When different groups get a 1-2, their riders will typically cross the end line celebrating collectively, however Vollering and Kopecky sprinted towards one another for the victory – and never for the primary time. Within the 2023 Strade Bianche, they fought for victory amongst themselves on the final 400 metres within the slim streets of Siena after catching and dropping Kristen Faulkner. Then as now, Vollering gained the dash.
Vollering’s departure on the finish of 2024 was introduced through the spring season, and within the stage races that adopted, the workforce was criticised for not supporting their GC chief in addition to they might have, each within the Vuelta Femenina (which Vollering gained) and the Tour de France Femmes (which Vollering misplaced by 4 seconds after shedding time after a stage 5 crash).
“Our plan was to attract the opposite groups out and allow them to attempt to drop us. They tried to do this, however they didn’t handle to drop us. In the long run, 5 riders remained, three of them from our workforce. Niamh Fisher-Black was the primary to assault, she tried once more, then Realini took the initiative. Demi countered that assault, then Lotte fought her manner again. In the long run, Lotte and Demi had been the one ones left,” Stam defined the plan the workforce had laid earlier than the stage.
The Tour de Romandie Féminin is without doubt one of the races the place the UCI is testing how races do if groups aren’t allowed to make use of radio communication between the riders and the game administrators. This meant that no choice may very well be made within the workforce automotive on who ought to win the stage.
As Vollering remarked, two riders from the identical workforce sprinting towards one another will deliver the fairest consequence, however mixed with previous incidents, it does paint an image of a soon-to-end relationship that will not be adversarial as such however isn’t that amicable anymore both.
