Demi Vollering’s opening race of the season, in which she won two stages and the GC at the Volta Femenina de la Comunitat Valenciana, was a warning shot to Pauline Ferrand-Prévot and Kasia Niewiadoma: I’m here, I’m coming for you. Omloop Het Nieuwsblad was another statement, beating Niewiadoma in a sprint, denying the true fastwoman a shoot-out of their own: I can do it all. The Tour of Flanders, won by 42 seconds, was then a resounding message: I’m flying, and I’m better than ever. La Flèche Wallonne was a deafening roar: catch me if you can. Good luck.
The 2026 season is only a few months old but already one definitive conclusion can be drawn: in her quest to win back her crown as the leading women’s rider, and more importantly win the Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift for a second time, Demi Vollering is operating at a level she’s never been at before. She is crushing her rivals, forcing ever more anguish and frustration upon them.
Every race she’s been to this season, with the exception of Strade Bianche when her FDJ United-Suez teammate Elise Chabbey took a memorable win, Vollering has finished in the top-three positions. That’s baller status, as the cool kids say.
At Flanders, just before she went onto the podium to celebrate her triumph, Vollering was caught on camera joking to men’s winner Tadej Pogačar that her dad would be pleased because he is Pogačar’s biggest fan. It appears Vollering is a Pogi fan, too, or at the very least is attempting to emulate the Slovenian superstar. Not only in her dominance, but in how she rides.
Read more: The fight of Flanders - inside the mind of its latest victor
In winning Flèche for a second time, she didn’t attack with one single, violent move, but rather accelerated away from the pack towards the base of the climb, all while remaining seated, gradually increasing the power, and distancing herself from her rivals. It was Pogačar-esque, exactly what he did 12 months before.
Though Vollering’s gap would be reduced dramatically in the final 100m, defending champion Puck Pieterse rallying late on to give her Dutch compatriot a scare right at the death, Vollering had ultimately timed her attack right, and executed the best race tactics. This is a woman knowing exactly what she’s doing. She's on top of her game, at the peak of her powers, doing everything perfectly.
In her wake were Niewiadoma and Ferrand-Prévot. The former edged her out in a sprint for second place at Amstel Gold just a few days prior, but this time Niewiadoma could only watch on as Vollering tamed the hideous, steep gradients six seconds faster than the Pole. Paula Blasi, the surprise winner of Amstel Gold, finished third, one spot and three seconds ahead of Niewiadoma. Are these the first signs of a baton handover?
Ferrand-Prévot, meanwhile, was way further back, 28 long seconds in arrears. The Frenchwoman finished second to Vollering at Flanders and battled hard to ride to third at Paris-Roubaix, but the long and short of it is that the 34-year-old has a lot of catching up to do to retain her Tour title.
Of course, there are a little bit more than three months to go until the Femmes, and sport being sport everything might change and flip on its head. Ferrand-Prévot will no doubt sharpen her form, very probably go into the race off the back of winning the Vuelta a España, and be buoyed by her home crowd in August. Niewadoma, too, will also continue to make progress, and there’s an argument to be said that this has been her most consistent spring yet. But Vollering is the undoubted favourite as things stand.
After Liège-Bastogne-Liège this coming Sunday, Vollering will then return to the Giro d’Italia for the first time since 2021, a chance to become only the second woman after Annemiek van Vleuten to win the Giro, Tour and Vuelta. Vollering is on a mission this season to win and chase history. So far, she’s not failing.
Aged 29 – supposedly at the peak of her athletic powers – and riding with the peloton’s most in-form, complete and unified team, Vollering is looking unstoppable. If you weren’t convinced by her form at the first races of the season, you surely are now after witnessing her Flèche Wallonne triumph. On this evidence, she is a shoo-in for her third Liège title this weekend. Ferrand-Prévot and Niewiadoma need to find a way to close the widening gap. Vollering, you just know it, will be working to increase the chasm.
