'My legs exploded completely,' admits Demi Vollering as Annemiek van Vleuten soars at Tour de France Femmes

Demi Vollering (SD Worx) says her legs “exploded completely” as she attempted to keep pace with Annemiek van Vleuten (Movistar) on Stage 7 at the Tour de France Femmes. The two Dutch GC favourites battled it out in the first mountain test on Saturday, with Van Vleuten producing a ride for the ages to crack her rival and seize the yellow jersey with one stage remaining. Vollering gapped Van Vleuten on the descent from Petit Ballon to hint at a sustained charge, but her compatriot duly swept her up before riding away.

Ad/> Van Vleuten leads the general classification by 3’14” from Vollering ahead of Sunday’s finale. Tour de France FemmesSlappendel: Vos could be a 'very dark horse' to win Stage 124/07/2022 AT 09:55 «I'm so empty, I tried so hard. I'm just not strong enough yet,» said Vollering.

«I was hoping I could have hung on a little bit longer but I couldn't. »I knew when I was with Annemiek alone, I knew it would be a long day. I tried to focus on my breathing and not think about what was coming, just centimetre after centimetre I tried to hang on.

«I knew that I needed to hang on as long as possible and was trying to focus on how good I was feeling. At one moment, she was setting this speed and I needed to stand up and my legs exploded completely. It was a bit too much.» TDF Femmes: How to watch Stage 8 with Super Planche on the menu Should teams regret not taking advantage of Van Vleuten mechanical? Opinion: Van Vleuten rode away, raised the bar and made every one of her rivals better A despondent Vollering revealed she was at a loss to explain her rival's climbing prowess.