If anyone knows the importance of four seconds, it’s Demi Vollering. Two years ago, it was the gap that kept her from the top step at the Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift, the time between her and the race winner Kasia Niewiadoma (Canyon-Sram) – the smallest winning margin in the race’s history.
Stage one of this year's edition might not prove so decisive. But two years later, on the opening day in Lausanne, the four seconds fell in her favour.
Third over the line behind the stage winner Lorena Wiebes (SD Worx-Protime) and Kim Le Court-Pienaar (AG Insurance-Soudal), Vollering's bonus seconds earned her early bragging rights over her main GC rivals. It's a narrow advantage, inconsequential perhaps. And yet Vollering's memories from 2024 will tell her that even the most marginal lead can't be understated.
“I wanted more,” she said afterwards. “Of course, I wanted to get yellow, but in the end I got some seconds for the GC and I think the whole Tour will be like that. And I fought for the podium, that also feels good.”
Arriving back to her team paddock on the shore of Lake Geneva, Vollering headed straight for the ice bath within a white truck beside her team bus. She smiled as she chatted with her team-mates, and then again with the Dutch media, explaining that she feels “more relaxed” this year than previously.
"Last year I woke up every morning and I thought, 'Shit, another morning closer to the Tour'," she said of her preparation. "This time I woke up every morning and I was super motivated and excited."
It was against this backdrop that Vollering plotted her stage-winning bid on day one. With 1.3km to go, however, her attack was almost foiled before it happened, when she was forced to unclip her foot from her pedal to avoid a pile-up.
She then re-composed herself, shot off the front of the pack inside the final kilometre, and held her speed to finish third. “The fact I got back and still had power in the legs, I’m satisfied about that,” she said.
Speaking to Cycling Weekly, Vollering’s FDJ United-SUEZ sports director, Lars Boom, reflected on a "good day" for the team.
“Of course, you hope to do better,” he said. “But no, we did good, I think, and the team is doing well.
“Of course, you want to gain a few seconds every day. Of course, you try to win today. It didn’t work out, but you’re third, so not too bad.”
There was less fist-bumping over by the Visma-Lease a Bike bus, where, warming down on her time trial bike, Pauline Ferrand-Prévot – eighth on the stage – was so focused on her position that the world around her seemed to stand still. After a short while, the TV camera crews waiting to interview her ran out of patience and left.
To Ferrand-Prévot, who won the Tour by almost four minutes last year, four seconds may have seemed negligible. But with eight tough stages still to come, including a time trial and a summit finish on Mont Ventoux, any advantage matters.
For now, the upper hand, albeit a very small one, belongs to Vollering.
