Reigning Tour de France women’s champion Demi Vollering won the individual time trial on Tuesday afternoon, taking the yellow jersey as leader of the overall standings from fellow Dutch rider Charlotte Kool.
Vollering, of the SD Worx-ProTime team, completed the 6.3km individual time trial through the streets of Rotterdam, the Netherlands, in seven minutes and 25 seconds, finishing five seconds ahead of Paris Olympic individual time trial bronze medallist Chloe Dygert, as well as Loes Adegeest and Cédrine Kerbaol.
“I’m very surprised. I didn’t see it coming,” Vollering, one of the favourites to win the women’s Grand Boucle, told Dutch broadcaster NOS.
Olivia Baril, from Rouyn-Noranda, was the best representative of the maple leaf during this stage by virtue of her 32e place, 25 seconds behind Vollering
Her compatriots Alison Jackson, Maggie Coles-Lyster, Simone Boilard, Clara Émond and Magdeleine Vallières finished 41st respectively.e80e102e112e and 125e of the stage.
Vollering thus took the yellow jersey from Kool, who had a 14-second cushion ahead of Finland’s Anniina Ahtosalo in the general classification heading into the time trial. The 27-year-old Dutchwoman now has a three-second lead over her compatriot Lorena Wiebes, and five seconds over Dygert.
Baril is the highest ranked Canadian so far at 32e place in the general classification, 25 seconds behind Vollering. The cyclist from the Movistar team is followed by Jackson (38e) and Boilard (89e), in order.
Earlier in the day, Kool beat Wiebes to the finish line to claim victory in the second stage of the women’s Tour de France, temporarily retaining the yellow jersey as leader of the general classification.
Kool, from the DSM-Firmenich PostNL team, then claimed her second victory in as many stages in the eight-stage competition. She did so by overtaking the silver medallist in the Paris Olympic road race, Marianne Vos, before surprising Wiebes in the final metres to win in one hour, 32 minutes and 49 seconds. Vos finished third.
“Dreams are coming true quickly lately. First there was the victory yesterday, then again today with the whole team and the yellow jersey, it’s just incredible,” said Kool.
The first of two stages that were presented on Tuesday linked Dordrecht to the port city of Rotterdam over 69.7 km, and the riders crisscrossed typical Dutch landscapes, made up of hills, riverside dikes and old windmills listed as UNESCO World Heritage sites, before finishing in Rotterdam city centre.
The race, which started in the Netherlands, will then head to Belgium and then eastern France, before culminating at the summit of Alpe d’Huez — and its legendary 21 hairpin bends — on August 18.