DEMI VOLLERING’s rise as a cyclist has been closely linked to the high mountains, whether in Europe’s grand tours or because she now lives in Switzerland, where she can freely train on her favored terrain. “I always imagine that the mountains are calling me,” said the 28-year-old Dutch superstar. And given her climbing ability, there is a gentle irony in the fact that Vollering is the latest in a long line of cyclists from the Low Country to conquer the high mountains of the Alps and Pyrenees.
Despite her affinity for the mountains, Vollering has never lost her affection for her childhood home in the Netherlands between Rotterdam and The Hague, where she grew up on the family’s expansive flower nursery. It was here, in and around the Vollering family business in Pijnacker, that she developed her love for nature and cycling. And it’s where she likes to come between races to reconnect with her roots and recharge her batteries.
“As a young kid I was really shy,” Vollering recalled during Faustino’s visit. “And I didn’t like school. It just wasn’t for me. So, as soon as we got out of school, I couldn’t wait to get back on my bike and ride as fast as possible back home. I would change into my old clothes and go out to the garden and play with my sister.” Yet, despite her introverted nature, she insisted that her competitive spirit was already one of her strongest characteristics.
“If it was working inside the greenhouse here, I wanted to be as fast as possible. When I started with flower school, I always wanted to make the nicest bouquets and get the highest scores. And when I got my first bike it was the same. It didn’t matter that I just had a little trashy bike, or that I was racing around in the back garden on this little cyclocross track we made with my sister. And that really helped me build confidence. Nobody was judging me there, and it was there that I really started to learn what kind of person I was.”
Organized sports—first speed skating and then cycling—allowed Vollering to grow and forge her own personality. “It was my kind of escape from the serious world. I could be who I wanted to be. It didn’t matter what you looked like, because we were just wearing our cycling kit. And that’s where my dreams started to grow,” Vollering said. “It was with sports that I learned that failing was part of the journey. Sports is just such a good way to build confidence, to build dreams and to achieve dreams. And that is so important to our mental wellbeing.”
The bike is still just a big part of my life. I feel I can let go of everything on my bike. My thoughts just click in the right place…
Vollering’s dreams have taken her to the summit of the sport. She is currently the world’s No. 1-ranked female cyclist, a constant threat in the grand tours and the hilliest classics. But after repeat victories this year at the Vuelta España Femenina by Carrefour.es and Itzulia Women, she just failed to return to the top step of the Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift—where a crash on stage 3 may have hampered her chances of matching eventual winner Pauline Ferrand-Prévot on the decisive mountaintop finish at the Col de la Madeleine.
Since 2021, Vollering has developed a close relationship with Specialized. The company accompanied her in her transfer to the FDJ-Suez team this year; and to offer added inspiration for her assault on the Tour de France, Specialized collaborated with Vollering on a custom-finish, limited-edition S-Works Tarmac SL8. “Specialized has been an incredible partner, and the new bike design represents everything I am,” she said, after seeing her S-Works creation for the first time. “It is really special to see this piece of art coming together. It was really amazing to share my ideas and get this project started, and now to see the bike in real life is just perfect.”
In fitting fashion, Vollering’s S-Works machine begins with a subtle floral design in differing shades of blue, red and pink—which call to mind the hydrangeas that fill her family’s nursery. The floral graphics are then highlighted by numerous accents, including her mojo, “It all starts with dreaming,” etched into the rear triangle and a mountain profile on the top tube that reflects her favored cycling terrain.
“It was a really cool journey to share my story and to share my ideas about what colors I love and what I wanted the bike to look like,” Vollering said. “So, seeing the bike in real life just makes me so happy. It’s a good reminder of where it all started. And the words ‘breathe in and breathe out’ on the top tube will help me a lot in the races.”
After suiting up into her FDJ-Suez kit, Vollering took her Tarmac SL8 for its maiden ride. Rolling past her family greenhouse, she was soon on some of her favorite training roads, skirting the many canals that are so typical in this corner of her country and past its many historic windmills. Approaching the Willem-Alexander Baan rowing club, where one of her own Strava Challenge routes is marked, she got out of her saddle to take a few digs. Clearly, Vollering was in her element.
“The bike is still just a big part of my life. I feel I can let go of everything on my bike. My thoughts just click in the right place. I don’t have to think about what I need to do first or second. It’s like therapy,” she said. “Sometimes I feel as though I am a completely different person before and after I step on a bike.”
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