'It was a hard impact' - Vollering resumes Tour after heavy crash

Demi Vollering has acknowledged that she suffered a “hard impact” in her crash in the finale of stage 3 of the Tour de France Femmes, but the Dutchwoman was heartened by the fact that she didn’t lose any time on GC in the incident, which took place inside the 5km safety zone.

On Tuesday morning, Vollering’s FDJ-Suez squad confirmed that she would continue in the Tour de France Femmes, though they limited her media availability to just two questions in the mixed zone in Saumur ahead of stage 4.

“My sleep was luckily good so that’s a good thing,” Vollering told reporters. “I feel ok. It was a hard impact yesterday, I hit my head also a bit, but the team did really good examinations and for now it doesn’t look like I have a concussion, so that’s the good news.”

Vollering underwent concussion checks on Monday evening and again on Tuesday morning before FDJ-Suez signalled that she would remain in the race, though the team said it would continue to “to monitor her closely throughout warm-up and the race.”

A year ago, Vollering’s challenge at the Tour de France Femmes suffered what proved to be a decisive blow when she lost the yellow jersey to eventual winner Kasia Niewiadoma following a crash in the finale of stage 5. She confessed that she cast her mind back to that incident following her late fall in Angers, though the time loss was offset by the fact it took place inside the final 5km.

“Yes, of course when I was on the ground, I had some throwback to last year but luckily this year it was in the last kilometres, so I didn’t lose time, and my teammates were there with me,” said Vollering, who lies sixth overall, 19 seconds behind yellow jersey Marianne Vos (Visma | Lease a Bike).

FDJ-Suez manager Stephen Delcourt attempted to place the blame for her crash on opposing riders rather than on course design. “The mentality of some teams is unbelievable. They’re playing with people’s lives like this. Demi wants to ride at the front, but they keep cutting her off,” he stated. “That crash wasn’t ASO’s fault, it was the riders. It all comes down to respect.”

Delcourt’s comments were refuted by Silke Smulders (Liv Alula Jayco) during her appearance NOS television’s post-stage show De Avondetappe.

“I think Demi Vollering, if she's there with her team, gets and deserves that space. But I think she has it easier than other riders,” Smulders said.

“Everyone has the right to ride the Tour and show themselves. You can’t say no one can fight for it anymore. It's a tricky balance. I don’t like it either, all that hectic pace. But you can hardly tell other riders they can’t fight for it anymore.”