NOS Cycling•today, 6:11 PM
A day after it emerged that Demi Vollering will leave SD Worx-Protime at the end of the year, the rider is keeping her mouth shut. She says nothing about her future.
SD Worx manager Erwin Janssen provides some clarification; even a record contract is not enough to keep Vollering. “In my eyes the door is closed.”
“I cannot comment on that,” says Vollering about the news that she will no longer play for the successful formation next year. “We have seen that it has been communicated.”
‘Nice flames’
In Oudenaarde, where the team was meeting in the run-up to the next Flemish spring classic, Vollering hoped to mainly talk about cycling. “The Tour of Flanders is coming up, a great race that I am now focusing on.”
Followed by perhaps telling words: “I will be driving for SD Worx all season, so I want to have fun with the team.”
Silent Vollering cannot be retained for SD Worx: ‘Have made maximum proposal’
Team manager Janssen reveals more about the contract negotiations. He says that the proposal made to Vollering was good for the largest contract ever in the women’s peloton. Necessary given the current developments in women’s cycling. Earlier this year, stories emerged that cycling team UAE Team ADQ had offered Vollering an annual salary of one million euros.
The Dutch Tour winner and teammate Lotte Kopecky are the leaders of SD Worx. According to Janssen, both deserve “the best contracts in the peloton”.
SD Worx wanted to keep Vollering and Kopecky
“It was not a choice between one or the other,” Janssen emphasizes. “Things went quickly with Lotte’s management and we came to an agreement. Unfortunately, this did not work out with Demi. We made a fantastic proposal to the best of our ability, and they are serious. But that does not mean that it is sufficient or good. enough is.”
“We have set an ultimatum to our maximum proposal. Unfortunately, we have not received approval from Demi’s management. Then you assume that they do not want it.”
And so Janssen speaks out: “In my eyes the door is closed.”
It is difficult, after successful years in which Vollering triumphed in Strade Bianche, Liège-Bastogne-Liège, the Amstel Gold Race and last summer’s Tour de France Femmes.
‘Never say never’
“I still have the feeling that Demi would like to stay, and we want that too,” Janssen admits. “The ultimatum has only recently ended. We will sit down with Demi’s management at very short notice and then the final decision will become clear.”
Is the door still ajar? “In sports it is: never say never,” says Janssen. “But given the ultimatum, and the fact that there has been no response, you can assume that the paths will part.”
It remains a matter of guessing which team Vollering will join from 2025. The leading actress herself does not comment on it. The team manager suspects that there are offers, but “doesn’t feel like she has anything else yet”.
And that other leading lady? Kopecky keeps aloof: “I don’t know if she stays, I don’t know if she leaves. Whatever Demi’s choice, I hope it is a choice with the heart.”
