Demi Volering spoke for the first time about her own transfer shenanigans after her decision to leave SD Volks Pro Time on Wednesday.

While the team kept questions to Volering on a sporting note as they opened an exhibition on the team's history prior to the Tour of Flanders in Oudenaarde on Thursday, Volering gave some perspective on the situation to the Dutch media ...

"I was a little surprised by the team's statement," he said. But I'm not going to talk too much about it right now. There will be a lot of questions about my future in the near future."

The statement she is referring to was released by the team on social media, twitter.com, during the Dwars Door Hlaanderen, where Volering and her management were presented with a "generous offer," but after not receiving a response by the deadline, the team speculated that she was leaving speculated that she had decided to leave.

Team manager Erwin Jansen told Cycling News and GCN at a pre-race press event that Vollering and Lotte Kopecky were offered big contract extensions at the same time and that he intended to keep them both.

"We had been negotiating with Demi's management for eight or nine months. And we made a final, final offer, and in our opinion, it was a really good offer," Janssen said, assuring that he would not give priority to Kopecky, who had recently been extended until 2028.

"But we now know how crazy the market can be at times. We said, 'This is an ultimatum. But Demi's management didn't comply.

Volering was keen to focus on the upcoming races to continue her 2024 campaign; in 2023, she won 17 races, including the big one, and took the queen stage and yellow jersey at the Tour de France Femme.

"I want to focus on all the competitions this year, starting with the Tour de Flanders on Sunday. I'm not thinking about goodbyes right now."

For Vollering, however, it was not only the team's response to her expected departure, but also her own performance in the Dwar do Hlaanderen that caught her off guard.

Vollering entered the race as the defending winner, but did not make the race-defining move, falling behind the pace of eventual winner Marianne Vos (Visma Ries a Bike) and at the back of the race, a place she rarely goes.

"Yesterday [Wednesday] was a pretty big change for me, being first in the race and chasing the last group," Vollering told Cycling News and GCN in Oudenaarde, where she changed rear wheels at the 25km mark and was left riding alone.

"In my head I was thinking, 'This is a pretty big difference, not so good.'"

Vollering is off to the best start of his career so far, winning five of the first eight races of 2023. He won the Strade Bianche and the Doire de Hländeren to complete his historic Ardennes trifecta, but he has yet to taste the same form in 2024.

The Dutchwoman admitted that she has yet to stand on top of the podium, saying, "It feels a little strange because last year I already had two wins."

"I try not to think too much about last year. I'm always told that I'm just as good as the last race I ran.

Still, Vollering will start Sunday's Tour of Flanders with a very strong SD Walks Pro Time team featuring last year's runner-up, Kopecký, a big favorite for a historic hat-trick in De Ronde, and Gent-Wevelgem winner Lorena Wiebes will start the Tour of Flanders.

The 27-year-old said she didn't feel very good about her team's scouting before Flanders and said she would know if she was in contention for the win as soon as she hit the first hill on the 163km route on Sunday.

"It's hard to say (if we can win in Flanders). We were really unlucky in Douard.

"Sunday is a whole new day again, so we'll have to see how we form on that day.

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