Even before winning, Demi Vollering had planned and imagined every single pedal stroke in her mind, and all the training she did for the world time trial was present in her legs today, to tackle the last 37 kilometers alone. The Dutch rider is the European champion and, after the disappointment in Rwanda, where she won bronze in the time trial and finished seventh in the road race, today she is the one putting the most precious medal around her neck. "We had a perfect race and this victory is not just mine but belongs to the entire team," Demi Vollering said after her win. "I am very happy, and this result comes after a long period of work."

The Dutch rider comes from a season with important results, but she also had to face criticism for changing teams, and just at Strade Bianche, after her victory, she had spoken about the discomfort that led her to leave the SD Worx team to wear the FDJ-Suez jersey.

"Today I felt really good, and with the girls we implemented our strategy. I wanted to start from far away because I knew I could handle the finale alone. I had trained a lot for the world time trial, and all that training stayed in my legs to tackle this finale."

In the end, only four cyclists remained: Demi Vollering, her teammate Anna Van Der Breggen, Kasia Niewiadoma, and Elisa Longo Borghini. On the longest climb, Vollering delivered powerful accelerations, dropping all the others, and our Italian rider had to surrender. "I knew I still had strength, so I wanted to try to break away and I knew I had that distance in my legs, it was like doing a long time trial."

The Dutch rider was perfect: powerful uphill and equally so downhill and in the curves. Now the 28-year-old from Pijnacker can't wait to wear the white jersey with golden stars and win with this new symbol on her shoulders.

"For me, it was a really beautiful race. I thought about everything while pedaling, but I managed to stay focused. In the finale, there was a bit of flat terrain with some curves, a bit like a criterium, but then also some climbs, so it was a really nice race. It was a fun course, and now I can't wait to race with my new European Champion jersey."