Demi Vollering: Team boss confirms star rider to leave SD Worx at end of season – ‘It’s about budget’

Updated 27/03/2024 at 16:48 GMT

One of the big dominoes within the peloton is officially on the market with the news that SD Worx-Protime boss Danny Stam has confirmed that Demi Vollering will leave the team at the end of the 2023 season. Vollering will be the biggest name available as teams look to compete with her old side and it will see the Dutchwoman go up against her old team-mate Lotte Kopecky.

The year Vollering became the queen of cycling...

SD Worx-Protime boss Danny Stam has confirmed that star rider Demi Vollering will leave the outfit at the end of this current season.

Vollering, the defending Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift champion, is out of contract at the end of the season.

The 27-year-old also won Liege-Bastogne-Liege, the Amstel Gold Race, Strade Bianche, La Fleche Wallone and Dwars door Vlaanderen in what was an astonishing and historic 2023.

Tour de Romandie

Highlights: Carapaz storms to victory at Stage 4

00:02:44

7 hours ago

However there had been constant speculation about her future with SD Worx also having Belgian star Lotte Kopecky on their books, who this season has won UAE Tour, Strade Bianche and Nokere Koerse.

And it seems that SD Worx will prioritise the Belgian, with Stam telling GCN "that’s definitely sure" that Vollering will leave.

The announcement comes after the team extended Vollering until 2028 in February.

"Everyone knows that Lotte has signed until 2028 and we’ve tried hard to keep the team but for Demi, I don’t think that it’s an option for us," Stam said.

"It’s about budget. You need to make a choice, and at one moment things can go away but I think it’s clear that we can’t have two riders from that level in our team."

It means that cycling fans will finally get to see Vollering and Kopecky go head-to-head.

The news will probably not be a surprise to interested teams but it sets the stage for a fascinating battle between the rest of the top teams as they look to close the gap to SD Worx.

Highlights: Kopecky attacks and soloes to impressive victory at Nokere Koerse

Team manager Erwin Janssen added: "We made Demi Vollering a generous offer and indicated that this should be responded to before a certain date. Vollering's management did not respond to this.

"Therefore, we assume that Vollering will leave the team at the end of the year. The report in the media that we recently sat down with Demi or her management is not true."

Since the end of 2023 and the start of 2024, there have been rumours within the Dutch media that UAE Team ADQ have offered Vollering a bumper contract to make the switch.

At the time of writing, no other teams have been linked by the media to Vollering.

Speaking recently to the Eurosport Cycling Show, Vollering said it would be a dream to capture the hat-trick of Tour de France, Olympics and World Championships.

"This year is going to be a very special year," Vollering told the Eurosport Cycling Show.

"There’s the Olympics, the Tour de France, with the start in Rotterdam where I was born really close to, which will be so special for me, then after that we have the World Championships in Switzerland where I live at the moment.

"The Olympics is so special because it’s only once every four years, the Tour is also something I am really focused for, then the World Championships... it’s a big dream for me to have that [rainbow] jersey on.

"Can I have the three of them? Is that OK?"

- -

Eurosport and discovery+ are the home of women's cycling

Tour de Romandie