Demi Vollering wins on debut with FDJ-Suez

Vuelta España Femenina champion Demi Vollering’s debut for new squad FDJ-Suez was a victory in Thursday’s first stage of the 2.Pro-rated Setmana Ciclista Volta Femenina de la Comunitat Valenciana in Spain. The Dutch star Vollering switched to the French WorldTeam after four years with SD-Worx Protime.

On the last climb of the day Vollering attacked with compatriot and former SD-Worx teammate and coach Anna van der Breggen, who returned to competition after three years. Vollering then dropped the two-time world champion on Cat. 2 Alto de Barx and won by 29 seconds over Swiss Marlen Reusser, who also left SD Worx this season, signing with Movistar. Reusser already won for her new outfit at the Trofeo Palma Femina in late January.

Two-thirds of FDJ-Suez’s Big Trio is at the Comunitat Valencia: Vollering and Evita Muzic. French champion Juliette Labous, who transferred from DSM-Firmenich PostNL, was recently 11th in the UAE Tour. The trio will assail the Tour de France this summer. Last year they were first, fourth (Labous) and fifth (Muzic) in the Vuelta España Femenina.

SD-Worx still has a lot of firepower with world champion Lotte Kopecky, Lorena Wiebes, Blanka Vas and Marie Schreiber. Van der Breggen looked strong in the first race of her comeback, coming third to Vollering. She will try to win her eighth La Flèche Wallonne in April and contest the Tour de France alongside Kopecky in July.