Demi Vollering has taken a significant step towards another overall victory in a stage race on Saturday. The Dutch rider seized the leader’s jersey in the Tour of Catalonia by winning a mountain stage.
The 28-year-old Vollering made a major impact in the opening stage on Friday, finishing nearly two minutes ahead of the peloton with her Swiss teammate Elise Chabbey. The cyclist from Pijnacker then allowed Chabbey to wear the leader’s jersey.
On Saturday, Vollering took the lead in a short and challenging mountain stage to the summit of the Coll de Pal in the Spanish Pyrenees. On the steep final climb, she broke away from the peloton with about 10 kilometers to go. The French talent Marion Bunel of Visma-Lease a Bike was the only one who could follow her.
Vollering dropped the twenty-year-old Bunel in the final kilometer and crossed the finish line solo. In the general classification, she has a lead of over two minutes on second-placed Chabbey. Other top riders, such as Anna van der Breggen, Katarzyna Niewiadoma, and Marianne Vos, are not participating in Catalonia.
Only a serious crash seems capable of preventing Vollering from winning the overall title in Catalonia. Sunday is the final stage of the three-day stage race, which, with two category three climbs, is not too demanding. The finish is in Barcelona.
With an overall victory in the Tour of Catalonia, Vollering would once again confirm her status as the best cyclist of the moment. This year, she has won all the stage races she has participated in: the Tour of Valencia, the Vuelta, and the Tour of the Basque Country. She hopes to add the Tour de France, which starts on July 26, to that list.