The mountains are calling. They loom ominously over a nervous Tour de France Femmes peloton, who have been thinking about this weekend since everything began in Rotterdam five days ago. Winding switchbacks and snow-capped summits will be the stage on which the winner of the biggest bike race in the world is decided. On Le Grand-Bornand and then Alpe d’Huez, dreams will be made, and dreams will be crushed.
There has rarely been so much tension and uncertainty heading into the final weekend of the Tour. On Thursday, the outstanding pre-race favourite and yellow jersey wearer crashed on what should have been a simple, smooth run-in to the finish. Demi Vollering lost the maillot jaune to Canyon//SRAM’s Kasia Niewiadoma, who now has a lead of over one minute on the SD Worx rider. But Vollering is the better climber – or so we think – so the time gap is bridgeable when the Dutch rider gets on her favoured terrain. But Niewiadoma has never won the Tour and she’s hungry and motivated. Then, young talents like stage six winner Cédrine Kerbaol of Ceratizit-WNT and stage five winner Puck Pieterse of Fenix-Deceuninck must be considered. Their GC positions are strong, and no one quite knows what they are capable of. It is still all to play for.
In order to win this bike race, SD Worx-Protime need a plan to drop Niewiadoma, and they need to be brave with it. According to former world champion and the team’s sports director, Anna van der Breggen, the Dutch outfit have something up their sleeves. An angry and vengeful Vollering is something that should, and will, instil fear in her rivals.
“The only thing we could do after Demi’s crash was keep positive. The crash wasn’t nice and actually we were happy that Demi was relatively okay and the fighting spirit was still there for her and all the girls,” Van der Breggen told Rouleur after stage six.
“Today she also said she was feeling good. If you know what kind of stages are still coming then it can be a really hard fight for minutes, not seconds. I think for Demi and the rest of the team, surviving today was the goal and they did that good. Then it is trying to recover as much as possible because then big gaps can really be made this weekend. We need to see but we will go for it.”
The key for a rider like Niewiadoma is to avoid being intimidated by the prestige and palmarès of a rider like Vollering. If you were to bet, the smart money is on the SD Worx rider to win this Tour based on her previous performances on long climbs, but Canyon//SRAM will be looking to exploit any weaknesses. One of these, according to yellow jersey wearer Niewiadoma, is the strength of the SD Worx team in the mountains.
“I think that they have a strong team but also on the climb today, Demi was left only with Niamh Fisher-Black with her,” Niewiadoma said after stage six. “So let's see what they plan on doing tomorrow.”
The importance of the upcoming weekend is not lost on the Polish rider: she has the chance to write herself into the history books if she performs well and could pull off the biggest surprise of them all by winning this Tour.
“I think today I felt the whole peloton focusing on the last two stages as they are the most crucial and the hardest,” Niewiadoma said after stage six when questioned about what to expect from the coming days.
It’s well known that mindset and mental strength is as crucial as physical strength when it comes to stage racing, and this is undoubtedly going to play a part in the final weekend of what has been a taxing Tour so far. Vollering may have had her confidence knocked when she came face to face with the tarmac on Thursday, but Van der Breggen insists that the defending champion remains confident. And a confident Demi Vollering is a daunting prospect for those who have to race her.
“It’s a hard stage and we will sit with the girls tonight and make a plan about exactly the key points. Of course, we have something in mind but we also need to agree with them as well and make a good plan for it,” Van der Breggen explained.
“If Demi recovers well she knows she is good. It’s going to hurt but there’s a sort of excitement. It’s a lot of feelings and pressure at the same time. This is the most important race. If in the end, if trying one hundred percent isn't enough then at least we tried everything. I think we need to keep that mindset. Then I really believe that everything is still possible.”
