Demi Vollering (SD Worx): “We actually expected that the battle would begin earlier”

May 3 ^rd 2023 - 17:17 [GMT + 2]

We did expect this stage to play out like this. We actually expected that the battle would begin earlier, but the wind wasn’t blowing strong enough in the first kilometres. When I saw Movistar moving to the front, I realised something was going to happen, so I told Marlen [Reusser] and Niahm [Fisher-Black] to move to the front with me. From then on, the group kept getting smaller and smaller, big fight after big fight. I’m really happy that we could keep all of our GC riders in the mix.

I didn’t enjoy today’s stage so much. It has been so tiring, and a bit annoying. On a stage like this one you need to stay fully focused the whole day because, if you sit at the back of the group, you can get exposed to the wind and get dropped – and it gets so hard at times.

It has been a nice result for us, with three of us in the front group. Most of the GC riders were there too, so the situation doesn’t change that much for us. It changes more for those who missed the right move, like the Trek team. I’m sure today has been a hard day for them.