One month ago, Demi Vollering held her first press conference as a rider for FDJ-Suez and insisted that her season was not about revenge. Vollering, arguably the peloton's best rider, had spent four increasingly antagonistic seasons with SD Worx, inarguably the peloton's best team, so no matter what she says, everyone involved in last year's Tour de France Femmes debacle is necessarily going to be in conflict with each other. This presents a fascinating dynamic; this past weekend, it made for some fantastic racing.
Vollering claimed her second Strade Bianche on Saturday, destroying Anna van der Breggen on the run into Siena's Piazza del Campo and winning by 18 seconds. The men's race was fun, though all it taught us is that Tadej Pogacar is truly blessed by God; the women's race showed that Vollering versus her old team is going to be fun as hell to watch all year, and that Vollering might have the upper hand. FDJ was incredible, setting the pace alongside Jumbo with such authority that not even an obviously doomed breakaway was allowed to form (maybe they learned their lesson after the disaster at Omloop). Vollering's fellow FDJ newcomer Juliette Labous was tremendous in keeping her team leader at the front of the race and eventually helping her take part in what would turn out to be the winning move. When van der Breggen attacked just ahead of a foreboding 18-percent gradient, Vollering was fresh enough to follow her countrywoman, then destroy her on the famed run-up into town.
No matter what Vollering says, beating van der Breggen of all riders had to have felt incredible, as van der Breggen was Vollering's manager for three seasons at SD Worx before returning to racing. Vollering finished four agonizing seconds behind Kasia Niewiadoma at the Tour de France last year, a loss largely attributable to SD Worx failing to protect or ride for Vollering after a crash on Stage 5: Vollering fell at the worst possible time, and instead of dropping back to help the team leader who had set her up for a ton of high-profile wins, Lorena Wiebes prioritized winning the bunch sprint for eighth place. "I was very lucky that I stayed on my bike," she said afterwards. "When I looked back, I saw something yellow on the ground. That really sucks." Great.
The disaster at the Tour was months in the making. SD Worx announced last March that Vollering was leaving the team, before Vollering had made up her mind to go. Vollering and her teammate Lotte Kopecky are the two best riders in cycling, and the team made its choice of Kopecky extremely clear, icing out Vollering even before her title defense. She said the team announcing her departure while they were still negotiating a new contract was "a slap in the face." In July, van der Breggen announced her surprise return to racing, though nobody told Vollering; she found out online with the rest of the world. "I was also a bit frustrated and angry about that," she said. "I know how Anna is, I don't think she ever thought about that."
The season ended with Vollering and Kopecky riding against each other at the Tour of Romandie, and Vollering said Kopecky "tried to avoid me a bit," as "she was more focused on herself." The Belgian responded, saying, "I think Demi should remember that this team has given her a lot. Demi is a really good rider, but this team has brought her to where she is now and I hope she is very grateful for that and then she should show a bit more respect for that."
So whether or not Vollering wants to call it a rivalry, that's clearly what this is. There's so much to look forward to this coming season—mountain biking superstar Pauline Ferrand-Prévot returning the peloton after six years, Movistar retooling around Marlen Reusser, the first women's edition of Milan-San Remo in years—but everything revolves around the FDJ–Sd Worx battle for supremacy. Kopecky and Vollering are targeting many of the same races and will be in contention against each other all year. All I want is for them to admit they're trying to destroy each other.
