Demi Vollering: Top things to know about the 2023 Tour de France Femmes winner and UCI World Championship rider
Did you know that Dutch rider Demi Vollering used to work as a florist and takes her dog Flo to almost every race? Find out more about the Tour de France Femmes champion.
Cycling Road
Demi Vollering will be the rider to beat at the UCI Cycling World Championships women's road race on Sunday 13 August.
The 26-year-old Dutchwoman claimed a comprehensive win by more than three minutes to her SD Worx teammate Lotte Kopecky at the 2023 Tour de France Femmes.
Having already secured the Ardennes hat-trick earlier this season, Vollering has cemented herself as one of the biggest female stars of the sport.
Here are five things you might not know about Vollering.
Vollering competed in speed skating
Vollering started speed skating as a child. She practised the sport every winter from October to March and was then using cycling to supplement her training the rest of the year.
The 2023 Tour de France Femmes winner competed in races on the ice every winter up until 2019, when Vollering’s boyfriend convinced her to focus on cycling.
As late as in 2019, the SD Worx rider won a speed skating race in The Hague on the 500m distance, and she believes the sport has helped her build a strong core stability that is also very important in cycling.
The same year, the Dutch rider went on to win the prestigious one-day road cycling race Giro dell'Emilia Donne.
Dutch rider worked as a florist
In 2017, Vollering finished an official degree in Flower Design. Afterwards she started working as a florist at two flower shops.
She was also helping her father and uncle in the nursery that they are running. Her father had previously said that his daughter made ”very beautiful bouquets and is very creative”.
Her boyfriend persuaded her to quit the jobs in the flower industry to be able to recover probably after hard workouts on the bike.
The Amstel Gold Race winner really enjoyed her job as a florist, but tests made by her coach showed that the dream of becoming a professional cyclist was definitely feasible.
Her dog Flo comes along to races and training
You often see Vollering hugging her dog Flo immediately after finishing an exhausting race.
Flo is a Stabyhoun, which is one of the rarest dog breeds in the world, hailing from the province of Friesland in the Netherlands.
The pooch even joins the Strade Biache winner on training rides, where Flo is in a backpack enjoying the wind blowing in her face.
An avid yoga practitioner
Yoga and mindfulness play an important role for Vollering. She practises the stress-relief technique every day, as it helps her recover, relax her body, and quiet her mind.
Before every stage of the Tour de France Femmes that she won in 2023, the Dutchwoman was doing 10-15 minutes of yoga.
In a video she posted on Instagram shortly after the Grand Tours win, the cyclist explains why she does yoga, saying it gives her "the focus I need to achieve my goals," and "how to find peace in suffering."
Looks up to compatriot van der Poel
Vollering has taken some incredible victories already at the age of 26, and young female cyclists are starting to look up to the Tour de France Femmes winner.
One rider that inspires the Dutchwoman is the newly crowned men's road race world champion.
“I think Mathieu van der Poel is a very special and inspiring athlete. He does everything with so much passion, he really loves cycling on every discipline and he always wants to win. He rides with his heart and that is something I always want to do too,” she told Lasterketa Burua.
On Thursday (10 August), Vollering is riding the individual time trial and on Sunday the road race at the UCI Cycling World Championships.