After securing the pink jersey of the Giro d'Italia Women and the yellow jersey of the Tour de France Femmes, Demi Vollering now aims for the rainbow jersey and will lead the Netherlands National Team in the imminent World Championships in Montreal.

The name of the champion born in 1996 is the one that the Dutch Technical Commissioner Laurens ten Dam has placed at the top of his call-up list. "Demi Vollering will be our leader, but to achieve great results at the Worlds we will need to combine the many individual qualities of our athletes. Only this way will we be able to make the most of the opportunities we have," said the Dutch selector.

Alongside Vollering in the elite women's road race that will be held on Saturday, September 26, will be the winner of the climbers' classification at the Tour de France Femmes Puck Pieterse; the first leader of the Tour of Switzerland Femke de Vries; Karlijn Swinkels, this year's winner of the Trofeo Binda in Cittiglio; Riejanne Markus, coming off a top-10 finish at the Tour of Britain Women, and national champion Lieke Nooijen who managed to recover after the collarbone fracture she suffered in the British competition.

Among the Netherlands' World Championships call-ups is also Mischa Bredewold, second in the Classic Lorient Agglomération won by Elisa Balsamo, but unfortunately a victim of a crash on Thursday during the first stage of the Faun Tour Femmes. The 26-year-old from SD Worx Protime went down with other athletes when just a few kilometers remained to the Boffres finish line; restarting in pain, she arrived at the finish with a significant time loss and did not start in yesterday's stage. Bredewold's condition has not been clarified, but the hope is to see Mischa in the World Championships road race.

While Vollering will have the captain's role in the women's team, Van der Poel will be the "leader" of the Dutch in the men's race. "Mathieu knows what it means to become world champion and will be able to guide an ambitious squad, made up of athletes who can perform at their best on the type of course we will find in Montreal," said Technical Commissioner Moerenhout.

In addition to Van der Poel, for the race on September 27, the following have been called up: the experienced Bauke Mollema, who will hang up his bike at the end of the season; 22-year-old Menno Huising; Tim van Dijke, fourth in the final standings of the ZLM Tour won by Vacek; Bart Lemmen, who is already in Canada where he raced yesterday's GP Québec; Pascal Eenkhoorn; Mathijs Paasschens, competing in the final stages of the Vuelta España and Daan Hoole.

The 27-year-old from Decathlon CMA CGM Team will also compete in the individual time trial, while for the women's race, representing the Netherlands in the battle against the clock will be Vollering (third last year in the Kigali race won by Reusser) and Nooijen.