Bittersweet moment in Zurich, but sweet aftertaste for Demi Vollering: "Then you still feel positive jealousy"

Demi Vollering seemed to be on her way to the world time trial title in Zurich, Switzerland, but ultimately lost to Australian Grace Brown. Nevertheless, the Dutch cyclist could nonetheless look back on a very good time trial and ditto result. She will continue that until Saturday, when she starts the road race as a top favorite. At the press conference, she told her story on Lake Zurich.

Brown was the fastest at intermediate point one, then Vollering took over at point two. With a rock-solid final stretch, the Australian eventually pulled ahead. "The difference is 16 seconds, and in a time trial, that says it all. It is obvious. Grace has set her sights on the time trial all year, so she certainly didn't snatch it either. It's a well-deserved win," said Vollering, among the first to congratulate Brown after the race.

"I didn't know I was faster," Vollering refers to the intermediate point. "When I crossed the finish line, I saw that I was the fastest. I was pleased with that, so I hoped it would be enough. When I saw Grace cross the finish line and move my name to spot two, I did get a bittersweet feeling. But in the end, she deserved to win; she was the strongest. She also deserves this win as a specialist; for me, there is still much work to do on the time trial."

"On the road, I didn't know how I was doing in terms of intermediate times, but that's something I didn't want to know," explained the SD Worx-Protime woman. "Because if you hear you're behind on a climb, you might start thinking bad things. And the same goes the other way around. You don't know what you will think about it during that time trial and how it will come down. So I intentionally don't want to know, so I just set the best possible chrono for myself. That's how it is: you ride a time trial with and against yourself; that's what it's all about. After the finish, you'll see if it was enough."

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Vollering found World Time Trial Championship "mentally less demanding than she thought"

What is the dominant feeling? "I am happy. When you cross the finish line and hear that you have the lead time, all you can do is pray, cross your fingers, and hope for the best, and it will stay that way. You are so close to that jersey, and then you want it very much. Then it is a little painful when you come second and lose the jersey. Still, I am happy with this second place because it is my first medal in a time trial championship. That's super nice."

"On the road, the feeling was pretty good. Especially about the last stretch, I was afraid of collapsing since you initially had a few tricky climbs," she analyzed her race. "And then, of course, a pretty long flat stretch. That's kind of difficult when it comes to dividing your efforts well. I wanted to go full speed on the climbs, give it my all there, and then recover somewhat in the descent. After that, I hoped something was left in my legs for the final stretch. That wasn't too bad. It went well, and it flew by in no time. It wasn't as tough mentally as I thought, either."

And that offers hope for the future. "I have worked relatively little on the time trial this year. Take someone like Grace, who picks a few goals a year, and those are time trials. For example, she worked toward the time trial at the Olympics, while for me, the road race was also a big goal. And then the Tour de France is also a big goal, the classics... so you have races throughout the year where I want to be at my very best."

"Then you end up being more on the road bike, where you do more focused sets of training," she expressed the luxury choices she has to make with her talent and work ethic. "Sure, I pick up time trial training. But I would like to invest more in it in the future. When you stand next to someone on the podium who gets the jersey, you still feel a kind of positive jealousy. That's not something negative; I also want to work towards it. On the contrary, that only gives more motivation."

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Vollering aims for rainbow jersey for "own" people

Motivation is something she also has heading into next Saturday. "I am in good shape and am confidently heading into the road race. Of course, it has to work out there because you have everything under control in a time trial like that. But it does start with form. Add to that a bit of luck and being in the right head space, and who knows if it will work out one day..."

And all in her second homeland. "During the recon, many Swiss already called out my name and where I live, which was pretty cool. That makes me proud, and having a championship close to home is special. Winning would be a fairy tale, but there is still a chance on Saturday. This does not yet offer certainty because we need more luck there. Everything must go right, but the form is already there," she concludes.