That for the second year in a row she just missed the win in the Amstel Gold Race, Demi Vollering could not deprive of a smile.
“The girls are very proud”, said the leader of the originally Limburg SD Worx team at L1 about her teammates. “It was very tough and we showed a very nice game.”
‘I wanted nothing less than the profit’
Of course she had her sights set on profit. Last year Marianne Vos took the win, now it was the Italian Marta Cavalli who was too quick with a short solo Vollering – and the rest of the competition. The feeling is different now than it was a year ago. “Last year it was a surprise that I came so close to Marianne. Now I wanted nothing less than the win.”
Also read: Marta Cavalli surprising winner Amstel Gold Race
Difficult
At the top of the Cauberg, Vollering and her teammate in the leading group, Ashleigh Moolman-Pasio, were surprised by the attack of the eventual winner. “When Ashleigh looked at me, she drove past on the other side,” said Vollering, who saw that her teammate was still chasing. “But it was also very difficult to close that gap.”
Van Vleuten
On paper, Annemiek van Vleuten was perhaps the biggest threat to Vollering in the battle for the medal. The two favorites kept each other in check and in the end Vollering won the sprint for second place narrowly from her compatriot, who indicated in an interview afterwards that the victory of Cavalli is a good thing for women’s cycling:
‘Super cool!’
Win or no win, Vollering has in any case enjoyed an Amstel Gold Race in the form that has not been available in recent years: with a lot of cycling fans along the route. “Super cool with the audience! It was extremely busy, wonderful”, said Vollering, who was also delighted that many family and friends had also traveled to South Limburg.
Double
After talking to family, friends and teammates, she can put her feelings into perspective. “It’s just very double. You really want to win here. It’s a shame that you come second again. But: you do it again. The legs were good again, that’s good too.”
revenge
And she gets plenty of opportunities to get revenge. This spring, for example, in the Brabantse Pijl (Tuesday), the Waalse Pijl and Liège-Bastogne-Liège. And later this year she will focus on the women’s variant of the Tour de France. “La Course is indeed something I really want. It’s also a race that suits me, I think.”