Demi Vollering in Dream Land with Second Tour de France Femmes Title

Demi Vollering became the first woman to win two Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift titles in style.

Attack was the best form of defense Sunday on stage 9.

She stomped on the pedals and pulled clear of race-long rival Kasia Niewiadoma-Phinney on the last 800 meters of the final ascent of the Col d’Èze after the two broke away.

The title, finishing 1:18 ahead of the Canyon-SRAM captain and 4:19 up on third-placed Elisa Longo Borghini (Team UAE L’IMAD) is another crowning moment in her victory-filled career.

“It’s not only the dream to win in yellow here, to win a second Tour de France, but it’s the dream to live this life, to work hard together with people with a lot of passion. I think that’s the whole dream, you know,” Vollering said post-race.

Paying tribute to her accused teammate Géry

As she raced into Nice, thoughts were racing through her mind.

“I thought, ‘I’ve never won in the yellow jersey before’, I thought about my team. I thought about Célia [Gery], who had a really, really rough night,” she said, referring to the teammate who Niewiadoma-Phinney accused of blocking her moments before Vollering’s pivotal moment of attack on Saturday’s stage 8.

“I thought about all the work I did before this. I thought about all the people who are standing behind me, working together with Specialized on the new bike.”

Not wanting ‘Kasia Corner’ incident to decide the Tour

Vollering put to bed a back-and-forth battle with Kasia Niewiadoma-Phinney as well as a war of words that erupted after the Pole’s allegation of a block on stage 8.

“I was like I have to try to attack, I go alone because I want to make it clear that we didn’t win because of an incident yesterday,” she said.

“That’s not what I believe and I wanted to make it clear that we as a team deserve to win a beautiful Tour de France Femmes with humility and with pride.

Vollering: It’s easiest when you attack

Vollering saved her best for last, with back-to-back stage wins in Nice. She suggested that even on the Mont Ventoux stage, where Niewiadoma-Phinney took the yellow jersey, she did not have doubts about her level.

“I think it was just I gambled a bit too much. That’s sport, you know, sometimes you win, sometimes you lose, sometimes you make the right decisions, sometimes you make mistakes,” she said.

“It’s just the easiest when you go attack, and that’s what Kasia did on the Ventoux. She won a beautiful stage there, and that’s what I did today.”

The 29-year-old is not slowing down any time soon. She has the Tour of Flanders and Liège-Bastogne-Liège on her palmares, as well as a Giro and a second Tour title.

“I still have a lot of dreams on and off the bike,” she said.

Dreams can come true

She practises what she preaches too. With microphone on hand in the Place Massena,  Vollering said:

“I really believe it all starts with dreaming, and if you want to dream big, you have to move your body to be free in your mind and to really get those big dreams.

“Go chase the dreams and don’t let anybody stop you. Really believe in them. Get the good people around you, and do all you can to achieve them.”