Demi Vollering is expected to leave SD-Worx Protime at the end of the 2024 season after four seasons with the women super team.
SD Worx sport manager Danny Stam confirmed the news before the start of Dwars door Vlaanderen in Waregem to GCN before team manager Erwin Janssen revealed how contract negotiations with Vollering had broken down.
"We made Demi Vollering a generous offer and indicated that this should be responded to before a certain date. Vollering's management did not respond to this. Therefore, we assume that Vollering will leave the team at the end of the year," Janssen said in a statement issued by the team.
"The report in the media that we recently sat down with Demi or her management is not true."
Speculation about the future of the 2023 Tour de France Femmes winner have been in doubt after SD-Worx Protime announced the long-term extension of their other big superstar, Lotte Kopecky, for another four years.
“Everyone knows that Lotte [Kopecky] has signed until 2028 and we’ve tried hard to keep the team but for Demi, [Vollering] I don’t think that it’s an option for us,” said Stam to GCN.
“Yes, that’s definitely sure” is what Stam responded when asked if her departure was definite.
There have been reports of Vollering being offered €1 million by UAE ADQ in an attempt to lure her away from SD-Worx Protime.
Even if the figure isn’t correct, it appears the price of keeping Kopecky and Vollering, alongside other team leaders such as Lorena Wiebes and Marlen Reusser, was too much for SD-Worx Protime to maintain.
"It’s about budget," Stam said. "You need to make a choice, and at one moment things can go away but I think it’s clear that we can’t have two riders from that level in our team."
Stam gave nothing away about which team Vollering may ride for in 2025 but the Tour de France Femmes winner salary is only within reach of a handful of Women’s WorldTour teams.
Vollering and Kopecky were far and away the best two women’s riders in 2023 taking out wins at the majority of one-day races, including the Tour of Flanders and all of the Ardennes Classics. They dominated the Tour de France Femmes, finishing first and second and taking two stage wins and the yellow and green jerseys.
