The Dutch Demi Vollering (Team SD Worx) abruptly broke the glass ceiling that had followed her until now and at the age of 26 added her first victory in the Tour de France. He did it on the day in which the best cyclist of the last decade, his compatriot Annemiek Van Vleuten, who is retiring this year, lived the worst day of his sports career when he was left out of the final podium in a time trial that took the champion of Europe of the discipline, Marlen Reusser.
Vollering's triumph symbolizes more than ever the turn of an era. By performance and results she was for a long time the strongest heiress of Van Vleuten. This Tour de France marks the handing over of the baton that has belonged over the last decade to a legendary runner, who aspired to achieve the triplet in this Tour, after winning the Vuelta and the Giro in 2023, and who had won the last six major stage races. No one in the entire galaxy has accumulated such substantial perks. But the 40 years have weighed on the Movistar runner. Yesterday he sank his knee in the terrible climb to Tourmalet. Today she ended up suffocated by the push of runners a decade younger than her.
Vollering's rise was no less spectacular than Van Vleuten's sinking. This course had already achieved a milestone for history with the victory in the three Ardennes classics: the Amstel Gold Race, the Walloon arrow and the Liège-Bastogne-Liège, a milestone only achieved by the historic Anne Van der Breggen (2017). . In the Tourmalet she starred in a victory for the history of the race. And in the time trial she flew above her chances to discuss the stage victory with Marlen Reusser, a specialist in the discipline. Vollering gave up only 10 seconds against her teammate, Team SD Worx, the big winner of the day. In addition to the stage double, the Dutch team claimed the top two places on the final podium after Lotte Kopecky snatched second place from Poland's Niewiadoma and knocked the defeated Van Vleuten off the podium.
The last day smiled at Ane Santisteban, who managed to sign the eighth position in the final general classification, the second best performance of her career after the sixth place achieved in the Vuelta a España in 2021. Mavi García, for her part, had to leave for disease in the last stage.
