Striking message SD Worx also surprises Vollering: ‘But I focus on the course’ | Cycling

A group of Belgian children crowd into the basement of the Tour of Flanders Center for Vollering on Thursday afternoon. The Flemish world champion Lotte Kopecky is the most popular rider among primary school students, but the signature of the Dutch champion is also a popular souvenir.

Vollering and Kopecky are in Oudenaarde – the finish of the Tour of Flanders – to open an exhibition about the history of their team SD Worx-Protime. The photos on the walls – and the extensive collection of leader’s jerseys – tell how the Dutch team has grown into the most successful formation in the women’s peloton over the past fifteen years.

Vollering has played an important role in those successes since 2021. In the colorful SD Worx shirt, she won Liège-Bastogne-Liège, the Amstel Gold Race, the Flèche Wallonne and the Tour de France Femmes. Nevertheless, she will race for a different team next season.

At least, that was the news that came out on Wednesday. First via cycling site GCN, who spoke with Danny Stam before the start of Dwars door Vlaanderen. “It is certain that Demi will leave,” said the team leader. “It’s a budget issue.”

Team manager Erwin Janssen reported in a statement shortly afterwards https://twitter.com/teamsdworx/status/1772997904728231987 that SD Worx “assumes that Vollering will leave the team at the end of the year”.

There was no response from the Vollering camp, because the rider did not speak to the press after Dwars door Vlaanderen. According to her team, she does not want to answer questions about her future on Thursday in Oudenaarde. Yet she does say something.

“I was a bit surprised by the team’s statement,” says Vollering. “But I’m not going to talk about it too much now. There will be plenty of questions about my future in the near future. I want to focus on all the competitions that will come this year, starting on Sunday with the Tour of Flanders. I’m not thinking about saying goodbye right now.”

That farewell seems inevitable, although no one wants to say out loud yet that Vollering will drive for another team in 2025 with 100 percent certainty. Janssen does provide more explanation in the Center Tour of Flanders about the (failed) conversations with his leader.

“We negotiated with Demi for a long time. In our opinion, we made her a fantastic offer,” says the team manager. “At one point we said: we are going to issue an ultimatum. This is the maximum we can offer and now we want to have clarity.”

That ultimatum recently expired. “And we have not received a positive answer to that,” says Janssen. “Does that mean that Demi will leave? Let me put it this way: if they let this ultimatum run, you can conclude that they do not want to accept our offer.”

Janssen acknowledges that the news came out on Wednesday “in a somewhat unfortunate way”. “But as a team we have to continue. We have to know at some point what our team will look like after 2024.”

“Yes, it is only March. But Demi is one of our most important riders. If she disappears, we will have to switch to a plan B. And of course we cannot wait another four or five months.”

The question now is what the sporting consequences of Wednesday’s news are. Will anything change at SD Worx-Protime now that it has been announced that Vollering will be leaving? “That is of course a concern that we have together,” says Janssen. “We have to make sure it won’t have any negative consequences.”

“But ultimately I see this mainly as a business thing. If you look at what Demi has achieved with us, and what we have achieved with her, she deserves that we will continue to do great together this year. That is what we want, That’s what she wants, so I don’t see why it won’t happen that way.”

Janssen laughs slightly when he is asked whether the door is still ajar for Vollering. “I think we have to be realistic,” he answers. “It’s sport, never say never. But I think we can conclude that there is a good chance that things will not turn out well.”