Testing Group Blocks
Before the action kicked off, there was a lot of hype, especially around Vollering’s fresh start. The Dutchwoman tried to play it down ahead of her season debut at Setmana Ciclista Valenciana last week, insisting that she wasn’t out for revenge. However, the hype over the season did seem justified, at first watch anyway; stage one saw Vollering ride Van der Breggen and Reusser off her wheel as she soloed to victory, winning her first race at the first opportunity for FDJ, and also sealing the whole thing overall.
Sometimes metaphors seem a bit on the nose, and sometimes real life throws up something like this - Vollering dropping her former coach, who has returned to the sport after three seasons away. It was like an allegory for one generation of Dutch dominance moving on to another, and it happened in front of our eyes. Of course, it isn’t that simple, and Van der Breggen’s performance was promising for her in her first race in 1236 days - she finished third on stage one, and third overall.
That’s remarkable for someone who was on the other side of the barriers for three full years. Vollering won round one, but we are still yet to see Kopecky take to the stage at the same time, something which could feasibly happen as soon as Omloop Het Niewusblad next weekend. If it doesn’t, then the suspense will have to last even longer. The former teammates are very different in terms of ‘rider type’, but they will be targeting largely similar goals this season, in the Classics, and then the Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift. Every step on this road is ripe for picking apart and analysis, both on a micro and macro level. I suppose this is the expectation, rather than the reality, but I’m so ready to see how the two match up, from the new Milan-San Remo to the end of the Tour in Châtel, and beyond.
