The lore of the Tour de France is one baked in myth and legend, of riders doing what was previously thought impossible, of reflecting back an example of humanity for everyone else watching to aspire too.
Well, after Tuesday’s Tour de France Femmes, part of the inhumanity of the riders’ efforts has been made more human in the detail.
SD Worx-Protime’s defending champion, the Dutchwoman Demi Vollering, rode to a stage 3 time trial victory and yellow jersey that came as a bit of a shock, even to herself, leaving World Time Trial Champion Chloe Dygert (Canyon-SRAM) five seconds adrift and disappointed.
“I didn’t see this coming,” Vollering admitted afterwards. “I really had no idea that I could do this today, so I’m surprised, actually.”
So how did she do it, transitioning from the short 68 km bunch-sprint stage back to Rotterdam before the 6.3 km race against the clock?
“I did two times a power nap, after the first stage [this morning],” Vollering explained of how she spent her time in the intervening hours.
“When we came back to the hotel I lay down on the bed and I fell asleep. Also because I left my phone on the bus and didn’t have anything else to do so I feel asleep for 20 minutes, it was very nice. Then my teammates were knocking on my door and I stood up too quick and was like, ‘Whaat?!’, they were like, ‘You slept?!'”
Vollering is a noted despiser of pervasive phone culture, saying after her victory at the 2023 Tour: “I think especially in these times, when children are increasingly indoors and on their phones, it is so important that they just go outside and discover who they really are,” she said at that time.
But the 27-year-old wasn’t done just yet with staring at the back of her eyelids in the daytime. Yes, after being woken by her teammates, she managed to find another opportunity for some shuteye.
“And then in the bus here after the recon I wanted to do some meditation and fell asleep again,” Vollering said of her twofer ticket to the land of nod.
“I think I was bit too relaxed in the AM, I thought to myself it’s not going too good because I’m too relaxed … maybe power naps are really good for me.”
In her winner’s press conference, Vollering explained that she is now very aware of the heft of the Tour de France, how it transcends cycling as a sport.
“First of all, I’ve realized how special all this is for women’s sports in general, but to have so many loved ones at the side of the road. I’m a pretty sensitive person. I go with the moment and I’m really feeling. I do everything based on feeling,” Vollering said.
“This year, I say, ‘Emotion is my power.’ I always put all my emotions into the sport. I train with my feelings, I race with my feelings, so I think that this is my power. I’ve tried to put it away because there are a lot of people [who] don’t like to see it, because [they believe] you should show that you are strong in sports, but I think that sport is emotion for me.
“You work so hard toward goals and have so many people around you who support you and dedicate so much to you. I think that sports is emotion, so why not show it. For me, it comes out. A lot of people feel it, but you may not see it properly. But, for me, you just see it.”
Maybe, then, it wasn’t such a bad idea to switch off. But thank goodness her teammates were there to wake her up.
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