Demi Vollering’s win at Strade Bianche was not solely an enormous private victory for the Dutch rider, but additionally an actual affirmation that the group FDJ-Suez have constructed round their marquee signing is working effectively.
The race on Saturday noticed Vollering win not simply on pure energy. It was additionally a results of devoted teamwork from Juliette Labous and Évita Muzic to close down the efforts each of their largest rivals, and of groups that up till not too long ago would get the higher of the French squad.
Making the transfer from SD Worx-Protime to FDJ-Suez with out bringing any teammates was a leap for Vollering. But normal supervisor Stephen Delcourt is already seeing success from the challenge he constructed.
“Last yr it was particular after we spoke along with Demi and we mentioned ‘we have now a challenge to be a group that is in a position to win all of the Monuments and the Grand Tours, and we want you belief us, to signal alone with out teammates’,” Delcourt advised Cyclingnews on the end of Strade Bianche.
“We have Juliette, we have now Évita, it is the right trio for me. It was an enormous problem for [Demi] to reach in a French group, with out teammates. Big due to Demi and her supervisor that they belief within the challenge and now we all know that we’re working in a great way. I’m actually impressed by the group efficiency.”
After SD Worx-ProTime’s refusal to cooperate particularly with FDJ-Suez and Vollering at Omloop Het Nieuwsblad, it felt like a tough rivalry could be brewing, however for Delcourt, there’s multiple group to beat.
“Demi beat all people, and I desire to concentrate on that,” he mentioned when requested about beating SD Worx and Anna van der Breggen in Siena.
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“We have plenty of massive rivals, with UAE, with SD Worx, with Canyon, remember that it was a extremely dangerous day for Canyon and we all know how Kasia [Niewiadoma] and Cecilie [Uttrup Ludwig] can be good for the longer term. Now we simply must respect our rivals and proceed to work exhausting, as a result of [there is room for] the battle of Pauline [Ferrand-Prévot], Anna, Elisa [Longo Borghini], Kasia, Demi, Juliette and Évita now.”
For Delcourt particularly, there was one thing very particular about lastly profitable Strade Bianche as one of many longest-running groups within the girls’s peloton.
“For me it is my favorite race of the yr. When you’re right here within the Plazo di Campo for the final ten years, I hoped that at some point we will win. It was not a easy win for our group, however first we have to get pleasure from at times proceed and are available again to work actually exhausting.”
The Frenchman’s eyes are firmly on the longer term and ambitions of extra massive wins for Vollering and his group.
“My thoughts begins to work now in regards to the future. It’s a totally full time mindset. We must get pleasure from [this win], and tomorrow we come again, and Monday we have now a gathering at 9AM to consider not the previous however the future. We have Binda and an enormous subsequent objective for the group in Milan-San Remo as a result of it is the primary massive version of the brand new girls’s race. We actually wish to write plenty of tales this yr and luxuriate in each second.”
For Vollering, the perfect is probably going but to return, with Delcourt explaining that neither Muzic, Labous nor Vollering are at their peak potential simply but.
“She can do extra. We deliberate the form specifically for Évita and Juliette and Demi, they’re in fine condition, however they don’t seem to be within the prime prime form for the second. Race after race they’re higher. For certain Demi is actually motivated and she or he actually needs to be the perfect for Milan-San Remo additionally. And we’re actually pleased with Juliette’s sacrifice at this time [against] all of the WorldTeams.”
After San Remo, consideration will flip in direction of the Ardennes and the Grand Tours, with three riders already heading to altitude earlier than the Classics, and the trio of leaders set to do the identical post-Classics.
“For Demi we concentrate on Strade, Ardennes, and Grand Tours,” Delcourt confirmed. “We’ve by no means gained a Grand Tour, now perhaps it is time to win one.”