Demi Vollering Takes Tour Lead with Time Trial Win

Demi Vollering, the defending champion, seized the lead in the Tour de France Femmes with a commanding performance in the stage three time trial. Vollering completed the 6.3km course in Rotterdam in 7 minutes 25 seconds, thereby overtaking SD Worx teammate Lorena Wiebes to lead the general classification by three seconds. Earlier in the day, Charlotte Kool claimed her second consecutive stage victory, triumphing in a bunch sprint at the end of a 67km flat stage from Dordrecht to Rotterdam.

Despite finishing 33rd in the time trial, Kool is now fifth overall, trailing Vollering by five seconds. Vollering’s victory came as a surprise to her, as she had not anticipated such a dominant time trial performance. Nonetheless, the win places her in the yellow jersey, with her preferred mountain stages still to come later in the race. Moreover, her decisive margin of victor, which is five seconds ahead of American Chloe Dygert, highlights her strong form.

Meanwhile, British rider Anna Henderson, who secured time trial silver at the Paris Olympics, finished 10th in the stage and is now 11th overall. In contrast, Olympic champion Grace Brown faced setbacks with a bike change and could not contend for the stage win. Earlier, Kool had expertly timed her sprint to overtake Wiebes and secure stage two.

Additionally, Belgian Audrey de Keersmaeker led a solo breakaway before being caught with less than 10km remaining. Although Kool lost the leader’s jersey in the time trial, her victory on home soil was memorable. Looking ahead, the race now moves into Belgium for stage four, which features a 122.7km hilly course from Valkenburg to Liege.

General classification after stage three:
1. Demi Vollering (Ned/SD Worx) 4hrs 27mins 54secs
2. Lorena Wiebes (Ned/SD Worx) +3secs
3. Chloe Dygert (US/Canyon–SRAM) +5secs
4. Loes Adegeest (Ned/FDJ–Suez) Same time
5. Charlotte Kool (Ned/DSM-Firmenich PostNL)
11. Anna Henderson (GB/Team Visma) +11secs
18. Pfeiffer Georgi (GB/DSM-Firmenich PostNL) +16secs