Demi Vollering believes that the revamped Strade Bianche course could give SD Work-Protime an advantage on Saturday, as they look to defend the title that Vollering won last year.
The Dutch team head into the Italian Classic after already landing seven victories this season, including an overall win at the UAE Tour through the current world champion, Lotte Kopecky. However, they did not win on Opening Weekend, after winning both Omloop Het Nieuwsblad and Omloop van het Hageland in 2023.
Vollering won Strade last season after dramatically outsprinting Kopecky in Siena’s Piazza del Campo. A photo finish was required to declare Vollering the winner, after some apparent frostiness between the pair. The day had already been dramatic, with a horse running onto the course in front of Vollering.
"The revamped course of Strade Bianche might play into our hands," Vollering said. "We are doing the last three steep final strips twice. That means more kilometres, more altimeters and more gravel. So it will be spicy. It makes the race a lot tougher.”
In 2023, the women’s race consisted of 136 kilometres and covered eight of the famous gravel sectors. This year, the organiser has added more gravel to the route meaning that the riders will now face 12 sectors instead.
"It feels like Strade Bianche [last year] brought us closer together," Vollering said of the relationship between her and Kopecky. "It has strengthened our collaboration. I really enjoyed going for the highest possible result together with Lotte every race last season.
“It also never felt like we had to 'divide' races. It went very naturally. She won Omloop Het Nieuwsblad, I was the best in the Strade Bianche. She won Ronde van Vlaanderen, after which I triumphed again in the Amstel Gold Race."
“What stays with me most of all is how we dominated as a team. That's why I don't see it as my victory, but that of the whole team,” she added.
Heading into Saturday’s action in Tuscany, Vollering said that she feels comparisons with last season are fruitless and that missing out at Omloop had put the team “on edge” as they look to pick up their first victory in Europe this year.
"Everyone is starting from scratch again," she said. "We shouldn't make comparisons with last year. The goal remains the same: to improve myself and try to be the best. In the Strade Bianche, Team SD Worx-Protime will be looking for its first classic win of 2024.
“In Omloop Het Nieuwsblad, we just missed out. If I was in the first group, it might have been different. But still we showed a strong race. So I don't feel we are weak now. We are as strong as ever.”
