It has been just under one month since Demi Vollering lost the Tour de France Femmes by four seconds on the top of Alpe d’Huez. According to her active social media accounts, the SD Worx-Protime rider has spent the weeks since then resetting in the Swiss mountains, surrounded by nature and tranquillity. Now, however, it is time to go again. The races are calling, and Vollering has the task of defending her title at the Tour de Romandie, a key preparation race for the World Championships which take place the following week. While she was honest about how disappointed she was to finish second at the Tour, Vollering will now be hungrier than ever to get back to her winning ways.
The route of this year’s Tour de Romandie could pose a challenge for the Dutch rider however, not because the climbs are too difficult, but perhaps because they are not difficult enough. While last year’s race saw two first category climbs included in the second stage (which is where Vollering took enough time to win the leader’s jersey), the entire three-day route of the Tour de Romandie this year only features one first category ascent. This comes on stage two, where the peloton will finish the stage atop a 9 kilometre climb to Vecorin, with an average gradient of 8.2%. It’s here where Vollering will need to make the difference with one of her trademark, detonating attacks, but will the race be hard enough for her to do it?
On paper, Vollering has an extremely strong team around her to help set up the perfect opportunity for her to make a move. Niamh Fisher-Black and Blanka Vas both return to racing for the first time since the Tour de France Femmes, and these riders can do a critical job for Vollering when the road kicks up on stage two (and during the punchy stages that sit either side of it). Also on SD Worx-Protime’s roster for Romandie is Lotte Kopecky, racing on the road for the first time since the Olympic Games.
Kopecky has been known to climb extremely well when there is only one major ascent to tackle in a stage race – she proved this when she finished on the podium of the Tour de France Femmes in 2023. Stages one and three are also well-suited to the Belgian puncheur, who will undoubtedly be thinking she could have a shot at the overall win here. Kopecky will have been training hard ready to defend her World Championship title, so we can expect her to be in stellar form in Romandie. Will she sacrifice her own chances for Vollering if she needs to? Who will SD Worx-Protime ride for? Could this be a case of too many cooks spoiling the broth?
With both Fisher-Black and Vollering’s expected imminent departures from the team ahead of the 2025 season, it could be that there is very little loyalty left towards them from their teammates (and vice versa). While every rider on SD Worx certainly has the physical capabilities to challenge for wins at the Tour de Romandie, there’s a chance that team politics could be the thing which holds them back.
If there does prove to be upset within the Dutch team’s ranks, there are plenty of other squads ready to capitalise on any weakness that SD Worx show. FDJ-Suez brings the likes of Évita Muzic, Grace Brown and Cecilie Uttrup Ludwig, all of whom have opportunities in this race both for stage wins and general classification ambitions. While Tour de France Femmes winner Kasia Niewiadoma won’t take part in the race for Canyon//SRAM, Chloe Dygert, Antonia Niedermaier and Elise Chabbey will all be looking for their own chances in the German squad.
Lidl-Trek are another team who can always be relied on to animate the race and Gaia Realini is a rider who SD Worx will need to have their eye on when it comes to the summit finish on stage two. The young Italian can climb incredibly well and is supported by riders like Amanda Spratt and Shirin van Anrooij, who are prolific winners in their own right. Elisa Balsamo rounds out a perfect Lidl-Trek squad as a rider who can target stage wins when the roads are flatter on stages one and three. Of course, Juliette Labous shouldn’t be forgotten for Team DSM-Firmenich PostNL and neither should Liane Lippert for Movistar – both of these riders relish rolling terrain and will be looking to follow Vollering’s inevitable attack on stage two’s mountain finish.
While, with the absence of Kasia Niewiadoma, it may seem like the Tour de Romandie is sure to go to an SD Worx winner, the race is also theirs to lose. We’ve seen the Dutch squad crumble under pressure before, especially when they have split ambitions with multiple riders – the Tour de France Femmes incident when Vollering crashed and her teammates did not wait for her certainly won’t have helped with harmony within the team, so it’s going to be fascinating to see how this is managed over the three days of the Tour de Romandie. Vollering has all the tools to win, but it’s whether the terrain, and her team, will let her do the work to build a victory. The rest of the peloton aren’t going to sit back and let SD Worx ride away with this WorldTour win, either. Some close-fought racing is about to ensue.
The Tour de Romandie takes place over three days from 6 September to 9 September.
