Demi Vollering’s collection of iconic jerseys welcomed the rainbow jersey after an exhilarating Women Elite road race on Saturday at the 2026 UCI Road World Championships in Montréal, Canada. After winning the yellow jersey of the Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift (in 2023 and 2026), the red jersey of La Vuelta España Femenina by Carrefour.es (2024, 2025), the pink jersey of the Giro d’Italia Women (2026) , the European Champion’s jersey (2025) and many other conquests in Classics and stage races, the Dutch star took her first rainbow jersey at the UCI Worlds in Montreal, Canada.
After 180.1 kilometres of racing, including eight laps on the Mont-Royal Circuit (13.4km) and as many ascents of the Voie Camillien-Houde (1.67km at 7.4% with a maximum gradient of 10%), Vollering claimed the rainbow jersey in a nail-biting finale where she got the better of Poland’s Kasia Niewiadoma-Phinney (same time across the line) and Italy’s Elisa Longo Borghini (+4’’), who completed the day’s top three. Crowned last Sunday in the Women Elite individual time trial, Switzerland’s Marlen Reusser came fourth just eight seconds behind.
“I worked so hard towards this goal,” Vollering said with visible emotion moments after claiming victory. “It takes guts to truly believe with your whole heart and, together with the team around you, with such strong girls. They all sacrifice for you. It’s a lot to ask from them, but I’m so proud of everybody from the team. They took the whole race in their hands; they rode the whole race in the front and then Puck [Pieterse] did an amazing lead out; and I could just not not finish the job!”
Relentless action powered by the Dutch
From the beginning, the Oranje squad took control of the race behind the early attackers, with the main breakaway of the day led by Bulgaria’s Gergana Stoyanova, Portugal’s Beatriz Roxo, Norway’s Marte Berg Edseth and the USA’s Natalie Quinn. They entered the final circuit with a lead of around three minutes, while the peloton was affected by a mass crash involving the defending UCI World Champion, Canada’s Magdeleine Vallières Mill, as well as Spain’s Paula Blasi.
The intensity increased on the Mont-Royal circuit and, after a series of attacks, France’s Maeva Squiban powered to the front with 52km remaining. The Dutch riders drove a strong chase behind the French woman until Pieterse launched Vollering’s assault on the next ascent of the Voie Camillien-Houde, 38.5 kilometres from the finish. She rapidly caught up to Squiban and went solo at the front. But her rivals maintained a strong pace behind her, preventing a one-woman show to the line.
Kasia Niewiadoma-Phinney, Elisa Longo Borghini, Marlen Reusser and also France’s Juliette Berthet came back just before an exhilarating final lap that began with Geneviève Gambillon, the winner of the Women Elite road race rainbow jersey in Montreal in 1974, ringing the bell. The tension was at its highest in the uphill final straight, where Vollering stayed cool to win her first UCI World Champion title after medals in the individual time trial (silver in 2024, bronze in 2025) and a bronze medal in the 2023 UCI Gravel World Championships.
Vollering: “I just dared, tried again and never gave up”
“There were so many moments I thought I went too early,” Vollering admitted. “They stayed so close the whole time and I didn’t dare to turn around and look back because I felt like they were almost in my wheel already. It was 20 seconds, 22, 15… At one point, they came back. But it still wasn’t over, I had to still believe in it. I just dared, tried again and never gave up to the finish line. I was not planning to give it away anymore, I was like: ‘No, no it’s mine’.”
Vollering is the ninth Dutch rider to win the Women Elite road race at the UCI World Championships after Keetie van Oosten-Hage (1968, 1976), Tineke Fopma (1975), Petra de Bruin (1979), Leontien van Moorsel (1991, 1993), Marianne Vos (2006, 2012, 2013), Chantal Blaak (2017), Anna van der Breggen (2018, 2020) and Annemiek van Vleuten (2019, 2022).
Her record in 2026 is extraordinary with 15 victories, including the Ronde van Vlaanderen, La Flèche Wallonne Femmes, Liège-Bastogne-Liège Femmes, the Giro d’Italia Women, the Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift… and now the UCI World Championships.