Van Vleuten “laughed really hard” at Vollering’s “cry, cry” interview | Video

Annemiek van Vleuten may not have been as strong as Demi Vollering this season, including at La Vuelta Femenina, but she still won the Spanish race after Vollering stopped for a nature break on stage 6, with van Vleuten attacking her.

She gained 1:06 on Vollering and took the race lead from her. Even though Vollering went on the attack on the final stage 24 hours later, gaining time and winning the stage, van Vleuten fought to limit her losses and won the race by nine seconds.]

After stage 6, Vollering gave an interview to Dutch broadcaster NOS and was clearly upset and disappointed at how the stage had gone. However, on the same day van Vleuten was delighted her rival had made a mistake – see video below – and now she has doubled down on that.

She said she was greatly amused when Vollering gave her tearful interview, insisting her rival’s tactics on the day were “not smart”, adding she had always planned to attack when she did because a crosswind section was approaching.

“I thought the interview she gave afterwards was hilarious,” van Vleuten has now told the Bureau Sport podcast. “We had been planning to accelerate there for a long time, and afterwards it turned out that all teams already knew this. So it just wasn’t the right time to pee. So I actually laughed really hard at her ‘cry cry’ story. It just wasn’t a smart move.”

Van Vleuten has also insisted there is no bad blood between her and compatriot Vollering, saying she embraced the rivalry because people seemed to enjoy it.

“I don’t hate Vollering. She is a completely different person and has a completely different motivation in top sport. She shows that she can also achieve top performances from a completely different training discipline. However, she didn’t motivate me to win more.”

“If you need to go, you stop in a good moment, not in a moment when crosswinds are coming up.”

Annemiek van Vleuten on Movistar’s attacking when several riders, including race leader Demi Vollering, had stopped to relieve themselves.#LaVueltaFemenina pic.twitter.com/M54PsgUN4j

— Eurosport (@eurosport) May 6, 2023

Back in May, Annemiek van Vleuten clearly delighted in taking Demi Vollering’s race lead at La Vuelta