After winning the Women's Tour de France for the second time on Sunday, Demi Vollering tried hard to hold back tears while the Dutch national anthem played.
It was her toughest moment of the day after an ultra-dominant performance on the bike from the 2023 champion.
She secured an impressive stage win, and in doing so extended her overall lead over Polish rider Katarzyna Niewiadoma-Phinney to 1 minute, 18 seconds clear of the 2024 champion.
Vollering raised her bike in the air moments after crossing the finish line in Nice. Niewiadoma-Phinney had started Sunday's ninth and final stage only eight seconds behind Vollering, who got a time bonus for winning it.
Finally, as the Dutch anthem ended, a lone tear trickled down the side of Vollering's face. A few more soon followed as her achievement hit home.
"It's not only the dream of winning the Tour de France. It's also the dream of living this life, of working hard along with passionate people," the 29-year-old Vollering said. "It all starts with dreaming. Go chase the dreams and don't let anyone stop you."
Nobody could on Sunday.
Knowing that she was well clear, Vollering began to celebrate as the line approached, raising her arm in triumph and then tapping her head with her finger to show her mental strength.
"I was thinking about a lot of things as I was approaching the finish line. I thought that I had never won in the yellow jersey before," Vollering said. "I thought about how much work has gone into this victory. I thought about the people who have been behind me."
She finished the stage 1 minute, 4 seconds ahead of Spaniard Paula Blasi Cairol and Niewiadoma-Phinney, who looked tired but was all smiles later on the podium.
Former Giro d'Italia champion Elisa Longo Borghini of Italy was third overall in the Tour — 4:29 behind — after Marlen Reusser lost valuable time after crashing going downhill after the second of the day's four climbs.
Reusser ended up 14th overall at nearly 26 minutes behind.
Vollering attacks
Niewiadoma-Phinney had it all to do on the final climb, especially with her rival sitting on her wheel, and was unable to pressure Vollering.
Vollering attacked about 800 meters from the top and dropped Niewiadoma-Phinney — as she did when winning Saturday's eighth stage to take the overall lead from her rival.
Two years ago, Vollering missed out on Tour victory after finishing an agonizing four seconds behind Niewiadoma-Phinney on the last stage.
She made full amends this time.
Vollering has now won five Grand Tours, including two Spanish Vuelta titles and the Giro d'Italia secured in June to join countrywoman Annemiek van Vleuten as the only other female cyclist to have won all three Grand Tours.
"I still have a lot of dreams," Vollering said. "On and off the bike."
Four climbs
Each of the first three climbs on Sunday was 7.7 kilometers long with a 5.9% average gradient. But the final ascent branched off onto a slightly different route which, even though it was shorter at 6 kilometers, had a steeper average gradient of 7.6% with one portion stretching to a grueling 12%.
It made little difference.
After winning Friday's seventh stage with an impressive solo attack of her own up the iconic Mont Ventoux, Niewiadoma-Phinney seemed short of energy and Vollering's lead was never under threat.
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