Demi Volering sat in front of the international press with a big smile and a confident look on her face as she answered questions about defending her yellow jersey at the Tour de France Femme, which begins Monday in her hometown of Rotterdam, Netherlands.

She said she feels stronger than last year, but will wait until the race hits the mountains to discuss the possibility of a second consecutive overall win on stage 8, the Alpe d'Huez summit finale.

"I feel good. I'm excited and this morning I told the girls, 'You're too hyped, you need to relax. It's very special for me. My friends, family, and close ones are all looking forward to it, so I'm very motivated," Volering said. [At the Paris Olympics, he finished fifth in the individual time trial and 34th in the road race, supporting compatriot Marianne Vos to a silver medal. [She won the overall at the Tour de Romandie, La Vuelta Femenina, Iturria Women's and Vuelta a Burgos.

"I don't know if I'm stronger than last year. I think I'm a little bit stronger. But it's been a long time since I've ridden long climbs, for example, so we'll see what happens at the end of the Tour."

The 3rd Tour de France Femme will consist of eight stages over seven days from August 12 to August 18. The race will start in the Netherlands, travel south to Liege, Belgium, and then into France, finishing at the legendary Alpe d'Huez.

With the Giro d'Italia, the Paris Olympics, and the Tour de France Femme, the schedule for the professional women's peloton this summer is overcrowded for some riders. Volering skipped the Giro to focus on high-altitude training in her camper.

"It was a little bit different than usual because we did the high altitude camp three weeks before the Olympics and then the Olympics. Normally I would just focus on the Tour and put together a big training block for the Tour, but this time it was a little different because there was the Olympics in between," Vollering said. [There were] two weeks of rest before the time trial and the road race, so I thought, 'What's the best way to do it? ' Hopefully I'll have good legs this week."

She felt that the peloton could be stronger at the Tour de France Femme than at the Olympics.

"That's how I feel. Everyone is excited about coming to the Tour de France and everyone is focused on the Tour de France. A lot of the girls are in high altitude training camps and trying to do their best at this time of the year with the Olympics in mind.

"But there aren't that many girls on the GC start line, for example, who have competed in the Olympics. There are a lot of them, but not all of them. It will be interesting to see if this affects the form of some of the riders in this Tour."

Still, she named her main rivals in the overall class: Juliette Lavos (dsm-Filmenig-Post NL), Kasia Niewiadoma and Neve Bradbury (Canyon-SRAM), Evita Mujic (FDJ-SUEZ) Gaia Lealini (Lidl-Trek).

As part of his high-altitude training and pre-Tour de France training, he participated in the Alpe d'Huez (a Dutch-sponsored fundraising event to raise money to fight cancer) three times.

"It was special. The first time I skied was a couple of days before an event called Alpe d'HuZes. It's a big Dutch event that raises money for the fight against cancer. Every participant comes with a story to tell. They all climb the mountain for the families of loved ones they have lost to cancer. There was a special feeling in the air. I'll be thinking about that when I race there," Volering said.

As for the start in Rotterdam, where the first three stages will take place, Vollering revealed that it is a special place with memories of talking to local farmers and greenhouses as a florist before he signed a professional contract for bike racing in 2019.

"All my family and friends come here. I also grew up next to a greenhouse with flowers. Tomorrow I will see a lot [of greenhouses and flowers] because I will be passing through this part of the Netherlands where there are a lot of flower and vegetable greenhouses," Vollering said. [I came to a greenhouse a few years ago when I was still a flower student. I know a lot of greenhouses because I used to ask them to sponsor me for school projects and stuff."

"It's interesting to be on the land again like this. It feels like a different life and I'm proud of it, like I was a student asking a farmer for flowers and I'm passing through this area as a cyclist."

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