On the floor, stage 2 of the Tour de Romandie Féminin was a fantastic day for SD Worx-Protime: They took a 1-2 as Demi Vollering received the stage forward of Lotte Kopecky who’s the brand new total chief going into Sunday’s ultimate stage. Nevertheless, the duty of managing the 2 stars’ race packages and characters is turning into tougher and tougher with solely months left till Vollering leaves the crew.
“I don’t know. It’s a wierd scenario as a result of I’ll depart the crew, so I hope my crew shall be impartial on this. We are going to see tomorrow,” Vollering mentioned when requested in regards to the plans for stage 3. She then requested the interviewer for affirmation that Kopecky was forward of her in GC earlier than persevering with: “In all probability they’ll go for her.”
In such a scenario, riders normally use the pronoun “we” to consult with the crew. It’s attainable, even doubtless, that Vollering was referring to the game administrators, Danny Stam and Anna van der Breggen, who make the selections on crew techniques, however the poignant phrasing nonetheless raised eyebrows.
When different groups get a 1-2, their riders will typically cross the end line celebrating collectively, however Vollering and Kopecky sprinted in opposition to one another for the victory – and never for the primary time. Within the 2023 Strade Bianche, they fought for victory amongst themselves on the final 400 metres within the slim streets of Siena after catching and dropping Kristen Faulkner. Then as now, Vollering received the dash.
Vollering’s departure on the finish of 2024 was introduced throughout the spring season, and within the stage races that adopted, the crew was criticised for not supporting their GC chief in addition to they might have, each within the Vuelta Femenina (which Vollering received) and the Tour de France Femmes (which Vollering misplaced by 4 seconds after dropping time after a stage 5 crash).
“Our plan was to attract the opposite groups out and allow them to attempt to drop us. They tried to try this, however they did not handle to drop us. Ultimately, 5 riders remained, three of them from our crew. Niamh Fisher-Black was the primary to assault, she tried once more, then Realini took the initiative. Demi countered that assault, then Lotte fought her means again. Ultimately, Lotte and Demi have been the one ones left,” Stam defined the plan the crew had laid earlier than the stage.
The Tour de Romandie Féminin is among the races the place the UCI is testing how races do if groups aren’t allowed to make use of radio communication between the riders and the game administrators. This meant that no choice could possibly be made within the crew automotive on who ought to win the stage.
As Vollering remarked, two riders from the identical crew sprinting in opposition to one another will carry the fairest final result, however mixed with previous incidents, it does paint an image of a soon-to-end relationship that will not be adversarial as such however isn’t that amicable anymore both.
