Never before have the Dutch women been as superior in a big round as in the Vuelta

In the pouring rain, Demi Volling is patiently awaiting the steepest meters of the 10.3 kilometer long Alto de Cotobello. Then, at 800 meters from the finish, she demarcates her three remaining competitors. With her second stage victory, the 28-year-old rider of FDJ-SUEZ insures herself of the final victory in the Vuelta Feminina.

Behind her, the Swiss Marlen Reusser and Anna van der Breggen cross the line as numbers two and three. Sober and with a slight shaking of the cold in her voice, full-length after her second Vuelta victory in a row is talking to the NOS. « What does this do to me? Not much. It’s just a nice game on my record again. »

The seven -day Spanish trip race was dominated by Dutch women this week from start to finish. Never before have all the stages in one of the three large rounds (Tour, Giro and Vuelta) won by riders from one country, until now. In addition to fullage, Marianne Vos (twice), Femke Gerritse and Anna van der Breggen also won a victory. Vos also took the green point sweater for Best Sprinter, Volling the mountain classification.

In addition, the team time trial won by Lidl-Trek on the opening day also had a Dutch touch. Three of the six women in the team had a Dutch flag behind their name. Team leader Jeroen Blijlevens had said the night before that Ellen van Dijk was the first to cross the line to grab the first red leader’s jersey, and so happened.

Even more Mondialy

The Dutch hegemony raises the question of how international women’s cycling can become even more global. In recent years, the sport has been professionalizing rapidly, with more TV time, more sponsor money and the introduction of a minimum salary by international cycling association UCI. But the Netherlands has a lead over many other countries as a cycling country and guides Talent to the top from a young age. 26 of the 146 women who drove through Spain last week come from the Netherlands.

At the same time it would be too easy to only look at this Vuelta. For example, the win in the Tour of Flanders went to the Belgian Lotte Kopecky (Tour of Flanders), Kimberly Le Court from Mauritius was the strongest in Liège-Bastogne-Liège and the French Pauline Ferrand-Prévot Paris-Roubaix won her name.

On the Lagunas de Neila, fulling proved to be the best climber of the peloton again

It does not detract from the performance of Volling, which was at the start of Spain in Spain. It was the first time that she participated in a big round with her new team FDJ-Suez. « None of these girls ever had to defend a leader’s sweater, » she said after the final stage about the performance of her teammates. Not that something was noticeable: « The team was so strong. We also had control of the race again today. »

Larger themes

The red sweater conquered fullness in the fifth stage, where she passed the finish on top of the Lagunas de Neila Solo and again proved to be the best climber of the peloton. Afterwards she took it up for people who suffer from mental problems, because someone in her own environment goes ‘through a difficult period’. It characterizes the top athlete Volling, who likes to use her position for raising larger themes. Last month she did that even after her third place in Liège-Bastogne-Liège. Then she openly spoke about the influence of her menstrual cycle on her performance.

A day before the ride to Lagunas de Neila, Anna van der Breggen had the impression of being able to mix in the battle for the red sweater. In the final phase, she jumped away from the peloton, to win on full -length for twelve seconds. The 35-year-old rider of SD Worx returned to the peloton this season after three years of absence. In recent years she had been team leader of Volling at SD Worx, which after the announcement of her return kept the minds on. After all, she knew all the data of fullization, and would know exactly where the weaknesses of her competitor are.

Faster than expected, Van der Breggen drove again with the best this spring. But when she wanted to peak in the week of the Walloon classics, she fell ill. After her victory on Wednesday, she immediately tempered the expectations for the ride to Lagunas de Neila: « Bergoop it will be really difficult to go for the podium. »

Yet she put herself at the head of the group on the climb, in order to be able to cycle up at her own pace. When fulling demarcated, she only decided to pay attention to her own cadence and not to respond. The strategy gave her a third place. On Saturday she repeated her tactics, with the same result. « I want to be able to play even more with the pace in the long climbs. It was already going well, but it has to be even better, » she thought with a view to the big rounds that are still coming. At the beginning of July the women drive the Giro d’Italia, then the Tour de France will be on the calendar at the end of that month. There too, full -class is aiming for the final classification.

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