Demi Vollering faces the unknown in Kigali: 'It makes it exciting'

“I feel good. What’s possible? That’s hard to say,” she told NOS. “It’s basically my first time trial of the year. I only rode a team time trial in the Vuelta, and that was just a short one.”

That lack of reference makes her challenge harder to gauge, but also more intriguing. “In that respect, it makes it exciting. I think Marlen [Reusser] is the favourite in every time trial, but Anna [van der Breggen] can also set a strong time on a course like this.”

The course in Kigali is a 31.2km test that blends beauty with brutality. Vollering, runner-up in Zürich last year, sees opportunity in its climbs but also its traps. “It’s a tough but very beautiful circuit,” she said. “There’s quite a lot of climbing, and that’s where the differences will be made, because otherwise you’re descending a lot. On some sections, you can hardly pedal anymore.”

At 1,500 metres above sea level, the altitude will shape the outcome as much as the gradients. “The climbers will be at an advantage,” Vollering explained. “You need a good pacing plan, because it feels different than at sea level. That makes it a more difficult course than usual.”

Beyond the numbers and profiles, the World Championships in Rwanda have offered Vollering something new altogether. “It’s very special to slalom through the traffic here,” she smiled. “It’s very different to what we’re used to, but somehow it works.”

For Vollering, the World Championships begin with her unsure of her own ceiling in the discipline. The course in Kigali will provide the answer soon enough.