'Proud of my weight' - Vollering inspires young cyclists at Tour de France Femmes
After finishing runner-up at the Tour de France Femmes for the second consecutive year, Demi Vollering reflected on the race and responded to criticism of her character, as well as setting an example for young riders over the sensitive topic of weight management in the sport.
Demi Vollering (FDJ-Suez), who finished second at the Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift behind Pauline Ferrand-Prévot, has rejected being labelled as a ‘drama queen’ while advocating for healthier attitudes towards body image in women’s cycling.
“I’m being hunted for this, I think, a little bit. Especially in the Netherlands, I have the feeling I have this stigma around me that I’m a little bit of a drama queen. But in the end, I think, if you ask my teammates, they will always say different,” Vollering said after the finish of stage 9 in Châtel in her closing press conference, where she finished second on GC, 3:42 behind the race winner Pauline Ferrand-Prévot (Visma | Lease a Bike).
The controversy began after Vollering's team boss, Stephen Delcourt, expressed frustration about what he perceived as a lack of respect in the peloton following a crash involving Vollering during stage three. This prompted Visma-Lease a Bike's sports director Jos van Emden to criticise Delcourt's comments as "ridiculous," suggesting Vollering believes she’s in a "gilded cage."
“I think it’s also someone who doesn’t know me who says something like this. I cannot blame [Van Emden], because he doesn’t know me, so he can say that from the outside,” Vollering added in response to the Visma sports director’s comments in a measured manner.
Vollering also addressed the sensitive topic of weight in professional cycling when asked about it in her press conference, emphasising that health should always take precedence over achieving a specific race weight, stating that “the biggest priority is to be healthy.”
“I mean for me, it’s not too difficult, because I don’t have problems, and in my eyes, health is always the most important,” Vollering said. “I’m proud of my weight and want to set a good example. I hope that in the future I can win again with my weight and show girls that you don’t have to be super, super skinny, and that you can just believe that if you have the power, and that you train hard, that you can make it.”
"I could lose weight too, but I don't want to be extremely thin," Vollering said. "We did talk about losing some weight, but when I got sick in the Tour de Suisse, the most important thing was to get healthy again."
Both Vollering and Ferrand-Prévot highlighted the importance of maintaining perspective on body image in the sport. Ferrand-Prévot acknowledged that while weight management is part of professional cycling, it must be approached responsibly and in a safe manner.
“When I like to have one goal, I like to have a race weight for this event. I know that I can't be super skinny all season long, and I don't find it very healthy, so I prefer that when I have a goal to lose weight slowly, to be at the good weight for the good moment,” Ferrand-Prévot said after being crowned the 2025 Tour champion.
"I don’t want to stay like this because I know it’s not 100% healthy, but we also had a good plan with the nutritionist of the team, and everything is in control. I didn’t do extreme, and I still had power left after nine days of racing," Ferrand-Prévot added
Looking ahead with fighting spirit, Vollering indicated she plans to reassess her strategies for future races, stating: "Now we have to recover, rest, and then we'll go back to the drawing board. We will see what we can do better in the coming years."
