{"id":906538,"date":"2026-09-26T19:14:12","date_gmt":"2026-09-26T19:14:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/906538\/"},"modified":"2026-09-26T19:14:12","modified_gmt":"2026-09-26T19:14:12","slug":"demi-vollering-seals-dramatic-womens-road-race-world-title-in-montreal-cycling-road-world-championships","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/906538\/","title":{"rendered":"Demi Vollering seals dramatic women\u2019s road race world title in Montreal | Cycling Road World Championships"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Tour de France Femmes champion, Demi Vollering, won the longest-ever edition of the women\u2019s UCI world road race championship in a brutal and compelling sprint finale in Montreal.<\/p>\n

In an enthralling and attritional race, the biggest names in the women\u2019s peloton duelled their way over the multiple climbs, before the Dutch rider applied the coup de grace in the closing metres.<\/p>\n

The ebb and flow saw numerous changes in the lead, until on the final lap, Vollering and Kasia Niewiadoma, of Poland, definitively took control and traded blows to the uphill finish.<\/p>\n

With less than 200 metres to go, the pair were side by side, but Vollering\u2019s sprint finally proved too much for her longstanding rival.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was an amazing race and I was very proud to be part of it,\u201d Vollering said. \u201cI worked so hard to work towards this goal and it takes guts to truly believe. I\u2019m so proud of everybody from the team. They rode the whole race from the front.\u201d<\/p>\n

But Vollering\u2019s first attack, which came with 40 kilometres of racing remaining on the gruelling Montreal circuit, and characteristically, on the steepest climb, almost backfired when she was recaptured with less than 20 kilometres to go.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere were so many moments when I thought I\u2019d taken off too early,\u201d she said. \u201cIt was so close. When they came back (to me) I was like \u2018oh shit \u2013 this is still not over.\u2019 But never give up until the finish line.\u201d<\/p>\n

Demi Vollering celebrates with teammates on the podium after her dramatic victory. Photograph: Andrej Ivanov\/AFP\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

The 29-year-old\u2019s success climaxed a remarkable season in which she has also won a second Tour de France title, the Giro women, Li\u00e8ge-Bastogne-Li\u00e8ge and the Tour of Flanders.<\/p>\n

skip past newsletter promotion<\/a><\/p>\n

Sign up to Sport in Focus<\/p>\n

Our picture editors select their favourite sporting images from the past week, from the spectacular to the powerful, and with a little bit of fun thrown in<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

When her initial attack came, the race looked likely to follow a familiar script. The Dutch rider was chased by a select group of eight, that included the Tour de France runner-up, Niewiadoma, the world time trial champion, Marlen Reusser, and the Italian national champion, Elisa Longo Borghini<\/p>\n

With 20 kilometres remaining the group fractured, under the impetus of 2024 Tour de France winner Niewiadoma and Longo Borghini, with Vollering wilting after 20 kilometres spent alone in the lead.<\/p>\n

But in a finale that encapsulated the compelling nature of women\u2019s racing, the favourites regrouped at the start of the final lap, and Longo Borghini launched her own last-ditch attack. Vollering, however did not give up, finally mustering the energy to attack again, this time decisively, to repay the best efforts of an expertly drilled Netherlands team.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Tour de France Femmes champion, Demi Vollering, won the longest-ever edition of the women\u2019s UCI world road…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":906539,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[569],"tags":[64,63,784,85],"class_list":["post-906538","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cycling","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-cycling","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/906538","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=906538"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/906538\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/906539"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=906538"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=906538"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=906538"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}