Vollering reveals mental shift behind long-awaited world title: ‘A world of difference’

Vollering capped a remarkable season by winning Saturday’s elite women’s road race, beating Kasia Niewiadoma in the uphill sprint after a dramatic finale that had seen her seemingly decisive solo attack brought back on the penultimate lap.

For Vollering, however, being caught with 15 kilometres remaining did not trigger panic. Speaking at the post-race press conference, in quotes collected by WielerFlits, she explained that she had mentally rehearsed almost every possible version of the race before arriving in Canada.

“I actually didn’t think too much, because I had prepared for this race so well mentally,” Vollering said of the moment Niewiadoma, Elisa Longo Borghini and Juliette Labous caught her.

“I had gone through every individual scenario in my head. I visualised this race for a million hours, really trying to feel what it would be like, so I think I was prepared for every possible scenario.”

Her preferred version was simple enough. Attack, get clear and stay away. When that move failed to stick, Vollering already knew what needed to come next.

“The first scenario was to attack and stay away solo. That was obviously the ideal situation,” she said. “But plan B was that, if they came back, you had to switch as quickly as possible and still try to make the race go your way. It’s really important to make that switch immediately.”

After Longo Borghini briefly moved clear at the bell, Vollering caught the Italian on the final ascent of the Voie Camillien-Houde and went clear with Niewiadoma. The Polish rider then attacked on Avenue Pagnuelo with four kilometres remaining, but Vollering held her wheel before overpowering her in the sprint.

The victory filled one of the few remaining gaps on Vollering’s palmarès, adding a world road title to her victories at both the Tour de France Femmes and Giro d’Italia Women.

It also vindicated the Dutch team’s aggressive approach.

Vollering said she had long believed that the best way for the Netherlands to maximise her chances was to commit fully to one leader, rather than arrive at the World Championships with several riders preserving their own ambitions.

“In the past I have often said that, if we want to win a race with me, this is how we have to do it,” she said. “Put a team around me and have every rider sacrifice everything to make the race really hard and keep control.”

That was exactly how Saturday unfolded. The Dutch squad took responsibility early and steadily reduced the field before Puck Pieterse’s acceleration on Camillien-Houde set up Vollering’s first attack with 38.5 kilometres to go.

Vollering was quick to credit the riders around her, as well as national coach Laurens ten Dam, for committing completely to the plan.

“It really takes every individual teammate to get to this point,” she said. “I’m incredibly proud of all the girls I had around me today, but also of Laurens ten Dam, who put this team together and made sure everyone was one hundred percent committed to the plan.”

For Vollering, being able to ask for that level of commitment is itself part of the progress she feels she has made.

The 29-year-old said experience has taught her not only how to deal with pressure, but also how to communicate what she needs from the people around her. In previous seasons, she suggested, the weight of expectation could be difficult to recognise until after the fact.

“Sometimes you think you’re not experiencing that much pressure, because if you really realised how much pressure was on your shoulders, you probably wouldn’t last very long,” she said.

“At the time, you don’t always realise how much pressure there is. But afterwards you look back and think: actually, that was much heavier than I understood in the moment.”

That growing confidence has also made it easier for Vollering to ask teammates to sacrifice their own chances for hers, despite knowing there can never be a guarantee that she will finish the job.

“It takes courage to surround yourself with a team like today, with so many strong Dutch riders, and then ask that of them,” she said.

“You are basically saying: ‘We’re going to this race, all of you are sacrificing your own chances for me, and then I’ll finish it for you.’ But you never know for sure if you can actually finish it.”

For Vollering, being willing to say those words out loud has changed the way she races.

“Now that I do say it, and now that I dare to say it, I experience a world of difference,” she said.

"It means I can stay calm in the race and know the world won’t end if it doesn’t work out. In the past, maybe it felt like that. Now I know it doesn’t. It’s also about becoming more comfortable with yourself.”