Ciclismo 24 por 24 is a media partner of WebSummit Lisbon since day one. Following that, the project went to meet Demi Vollering – one of the best cyclists ever – in an-exclusive interview that can now be read worldwide.
Portuguese edition available here!
Ciclismo 24 por 24: Despite all the technology available nowadays, you are still a human. You’ve lost the 3rd Tour de France for four seconds. How did you deal with that? How were those feelings in the days after it?
Demi Vollering: That was really devastating. But it’s important to keep all those numbers, which you also still really listen to your feelings. So sometimes when you have, for example, really bad sleep, if it comes out of the numbers, and if you have a day with really hard training after, for example, then, yeah, you should not always only listen to the numbers. You also should go by feeling, of course, that you know: “OK, this is what the watch says, but how do I feel?” And then you make a decision if you’re going to do that hard training or not. And so, yeah, of course, for example, after the Tour de France, I really needed to recover. So, yeah, it’s important to keep up with data, but also you know that you mentally need more time, for example, to work.
Ciclismo 24 por 24: And by now, what is your feeling about that? Do you feel, okay, 2nd place, good? Or it could be better?
Demi Vollering: I mean, I could have won, of course, the Tour de France, so it’s a bit sour for me, but on the other hand, it gave me such a big life lesson. So I’m really happy about that. I think this will help me a lot for the future, for big goals races where I will have a lot of pressure, for example. I wanted to win the Tour de France really badly, of course. But the fear of losing was almost bigger than the will of winning. So after losing Tour de France this will of winning became very big again, because I lost it anyway. I had experienced. It happened to me. Now I know for the future that this will of winning is what you need to focus on, and not in the fear of losing. That’s important.
Ciclismo 24 por 24: For the first time in almost 10 years of professional career, you are going to a foreign team… Why this change at this point of your career?
Demi Vollering: Yeah. Good question. I started to realize that I needed a change. I needed to get a little bit out of the comfort zone again to search for that part where I can grow. So then, of course, you start to speak with some teams. In the beginning, I was not so enthusiastic about the French team, to be honest. But then as soon as we had the conversation and I saw their “fire”… FDJ was really interesting in me. I felt directly like this click, this connection. I saw a lot of really passionate people who were really driven to get success, but also to start working with me. And that was something that I really liked. As an athlete I give all my best to become better every day. I also expect it from the people I work with, of course. And I saw that in them. I saw they really want something. It felt really good for me. It was also a decision I made with my feelings… And then I started to think, and I was like, yeah. Actually it sounds really logical, you know? Me wanting to win the Tour de France going to a French team. At the end, it’ wasn’t a strange step for me.
Ciclismo 24 por 24: We are in an era where your races are 99% being broadcasted by Eurosport. Having your races being broadcast on TV increases the pressure in and for you? For example, do you think about the number of people that look at you when you walk in the street? Do you feel that, or is for you something normal?
Demi Vollering: Of course, I feel that also because in general women’s sports are growing. So yeah, we gain a lot of fans through the years. I see it every year again in the races. It’s almost three double, the amount of people who come to watch us before the races or during or after the races. That’s something really cool to see. Of course, it’s sometimes a bit difficult that you’re so much in the attention or in the spotlight. But I know it’s also kind of a compliment, because people are interested by the sport. And that’s something really special. So I’m aware of that. And I’m aware that I’m one of the faces of cycling, of women’s sports. I try also to use that in a good way.
Ciclismo 24 por 24: How about your parents? How about your family? Did they believe in your dream? Did they support you always? How do they see your career?
Demi Vollering: My dad has his own company. He grows flowers, so I always got the mind-set for working hard, but also that you shouldn’t settle for less than your dreams. The lesson I always got from my parents was that it isn’t important to chase the money, but it’s most important to chase your passion and with that, becoming the best in your passion, you will eventually also get a good salary. If you’re the best in what you’re doing, then for sure, the rest will come.
Ciclismo 24 por 24: Do you remember your first victory, your first important result as a professional cyclist? Do you still have that in your mind?
Demi Vollering: The one that was always popping up first in my mind is the 3rd place in Liège-Bastogne-Liège in 2019, because that was my first professional year. And in Liège I was already on the podium. So that one was very special. It was also there where I realized that cycling was the place where I really wanted to stay.
Ciclismo 24 por 24: Now it’s time to discuss the balance between work life and personal life. Do you think that it’s harder for female riders than for men, for example? Do you find any difference from where or when you start for now?
Demi Vollering: Yes, of course. When I joined the professional peloton in 2019 and I only earned a couple hundred euros per month, for example, and now that’s already a lot different. Since I came into sports, it’s changed so much. For example, from that year where I became 3rd in Liège, you cannot find any footage of me sprinting for the podium. It’s strange to think that it was only back in 2019, and now we are already here. And still, not everything is covered yet. But the grow we have made is impressive. It’s something that I’m really proud of.
I believe that we as women always needed to fight a little bit extra for having the same chances as the men. My generation know this struggle. They all experienced that women’s sport was not really something yet. So we all understand really well that we still need to fight a little bit for it and we always need to do a little bit extra.
About the difference between men and women itself… I think that men there to gamble a little bit more. And women, before anything else, they always want to know everything about the subject they are getting into. If a sponsor is coming to women and they ask: “can you do this and that for us?”, then women would say, “yes, of course”, but they want to get involved in it. They try to figure out what exactly it is and really try to do the best for it. Whereas men maybe are more like, “yeah, of course I do it”. And then they just gamble themselves through it. I think women are very much engaged with sponsorship, for example.
Ciclismo 24 por 24: This guides us to the image of you as an athelte, for example. Do you think that female riders have a well-treated image by themselves than, for example, male, because they get involved? Are these differences meant to be or should they be deleted?
Demi Vollering: Yeah, yeah, yeah. I think what we underestimate is a little bit that we should treat women’s sport also a bit differently. It’s really important that we get the same chances. But we shouldn’t try to copy everything from the men to the women like getting the same amount of race days or the same distance of the races. In the end, we should be proud of women’s sport being a little bit different. We are just different, you know? And I heard so many times that people find women’s racing much more interesting to watch than men’s races, because it’s more explosive, for example. That’s also because the stages or the races are shorter. So we start earlier on to attack. Why should we change all that? Maybe it’s interesting to keep the races a little bit shorter. It’s interesting to see a little bit of difference, maybe. But the most important is that we all get the same chances.
Ciclismo 24 por 24: At the end, the difference and having respect for it is what makes this world a better place. If everything was equal, there wouldn’t make sense to have 7 billion people around the world.
Demi Vollering: And I think it’s about equal chances for this. Exactly. Not everything has to be the same.
Ciclismo 24 por 24: For example, I was hearing you, and I was thinking, many examples of cyclists that got pregnant that had to stop. Whereas many male cyclists are like “yeah, I was a father. Yeah. It’s cool”.
Demi Vollering: The wife gave birth yesterday, and today he has a match, yeah! (lots of laugh)
Ciclismo 24 por 24: Recently it happened the second edition of Prémio de Ciclismo de Lisboa. The female junior’s race had only two athletes. Two. They were like 50 writing athletes, and only two appeared to race. The others didn’t come because it was too far away or they just weren’t motivated to.
Demi Vollering: So only two women, at least.
Ciclismo 24 por 24: Yeah.
Demi Vollering: Between men or…
Ciclismo 24 por 24: No, they had a normal bike race for themselves. They started earlier than men, but only two.
Demi Vollering: People need to get inspired to get actually the idea of picking up a bike and start riding. In my opinion if women don’t know that we exist as professional cyclists, then they also cannot have the dream of becoming that. So I think that’s really important that we give the example.
Ciclismo 24 por 24: Probably more than the visibility is the amount of money that the parents have to invest without any guarantee.
Demi Vollering: Yeah, yeah, of course.
Ciclismo 24 por 24: The biggest problem in Portugal is not about male or female. For one João Almeida that the country has, it lost probably 10 better than him. Better than him.
Demi Vollering: What do you mean?
Ciclismo 24 por 24: From 10 years to now, a normal bike to race would cost 500, 800 euros. Nowadays, a normal bike for a small guy to race it’s up to 2 000 euros. One year. Plus other and another. At the end, they just quit. Huge talents had beaten João Almeida in the early stages… None of them is still racing. They quit. Many of them at under-23 because they didn’t get a proper professional contract. It’s not about male or female, it’s about the federation how they promote cycling. And, of course, the Portuguese sports’ culture overall.
Demi Vollering: What we have in Holland is Banden Races – if I translate it, it means Fat Tire Races. You just do it on a normal school bike. So any children can do it. It’s before a professional criterion. They do one or two laps, really small laps against each other. That was also how I got involved in cycling. I did it, I loved it and then I wanted to become a professional. It’s a first approach. If people want to continue, then they need, of course, a project, for example, with rental bikes or something like this. In my case my parents did not really supported me. The hadn’t the chance to. At one point, I wanted to have a new bike because my old bike was just too old; it was also a sh*t compared to the others! But I was working at the time, so I just started saving money. Then I bought my real race bike by myself. It was 3 000 euros. So I think if you have a really strong will, you will also find a way to get there. But if you’re studying, it’s also different because then it’s really hard to find a job next to that. But yeah, it’s important to have some projects where you can rent a bike, for example, for a year, or for not that much money.
Ciclismo 24 por 24: Thank you Demi for taking time to talk about cycling with us.
Demi Vollering: I’m thankful for this conversation. See you next time. Hopefully soon!
