Will it be a period or an exclamation point after all? Demi Vollering puts difficult period behind her in "second homeland"

Anyone following Demi Vollering on Instagram will agree that after her career as a cyclist, she could easily join the Swiss tourism agency as a content creator. Every day, she shares pictures of Swiss mountains, lakes, and fields around the world, so it will be all the more special for the Dutchwoman to compete for her first rainbow jersey over the next eight days in the Alps.

Vollering has lived in Switzerland for several years, where she is at home as an outdoorsman par excellence. This season, she won the Tour of Switzerland for the first time. "That is special because I consider the country my second home. I already have very nice memories and feel at home in this country," she told IDLProCycling.com then.

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Vollering can put an exclamation point behind the season, as well as her time with SD Worx in Switzerland

So, on Sunday and Saturday, she can compete in the country in orange for the rainbow jersey, which she will do as the leader of the Dutch formation. "Demi is our leading lady," national coach Loes Gunnewijk left no doubt. "The course of the road race is challenging, with a lap around the Greifensee followed by the climb of the Pfannenstiel, then we finish with the circuit in Zurich. With 2,400 altimeters, it promises to be a difficult course, where Demi and the team will ride for gold."

That she is so clearly put forward as the leading lady is a pleasant sensation for Vollering. In recent years, she has been a bit caught in the Dutch web of quality more than once, while this season, in her final season with SD Worx-Protime, she also had to deal with different interests more than once.

In that regard, Vollering's last race for the team, the Tour de Romandie two weeks ago, was perhaps telling. In the queen's stage on day two, the Dutch rider did everything she could uphill to get rid of everyone, but in the end, teammate Lotte Kopecky kept up with her. Thus, it came - somewhat awkwardly - to a sprint of two. "It was very close. I thought I had already released Lotte, but suddenly, she came alongside me. Luckily, I could time my jump perfectly and win this stage."

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Vollering on battle with Kopecky: "This is the fairest, woman-to-woman."

"Was I surprised that Lotte Kopecky went so far along? A little, maybe," Vollering said at the time. "On the other hand, this suits her perfectly. The tempo went out continuously, then accelerated. She is just good at those tempo changes. I had my sights set on the stage win. I wanted to finish it off in the sprint. Of course, it is always strange to sprint against a teammate, but this is the fairest. Then it is woman against woman. For a moment, I thought I had already dropped her, but just before the line, she appeared next to me. It scared me, but luckily I was able to win."

However, Kopecky was still in yellow at the time, which created a new stalemate for Sunday. "I don't know what will happen now. It's a strange situation because I'm leaving the team. I hope they are neutral about it. Lotte is ahead of me in the GC now, so then they will probably ride for her," was Vollering's expectation in, of all places, Switzerland. And so it indeed went, although Vollering did act very professionally.

As she has always done, even in the spring, it became clear that the so successful marriage between SD Worx-Protime had an end date. At times, in the Tour de France Femmes, she perhaps did not receive the support she should have received, after which, on Alpe d'Huez, she ended up only seconds short of the final victory.

Anyway, Vollering can almost put that period behind her. On behalf of the Netherlands, she concentrates entirely on the World Championships. "That is my last big goal of this season. It is quite a challenging course, but it remains a championship. Those are always tough races that are hard to predict. The only thing you can do yourself is arrive at the start in the best possible condition," said Vollering, who, along with Chloé Dygert, Grace Brown, and - yes - Kopecky, will be among the favorites for the time trial on Sunday. One week later, she is at the top with the bookmakers and also teammate Kopecky. So, not letting Kopecky get in the headspace may be the key to success...