Fresh of the Tour de France Femmes Valerie Demey was in the decisive breakaway during the Postnord Vårgårda WestSweden RR Sunday afternoon. The Belgian Liv Racing Xstra rider did some great work to keep the breakaway in front and finished fourth. After a disqualification of Vos Demey got on the podium.
Early in the race one rider went on adventure. Several riders tried to bridge to her, but the peloton reeled the counter attackers in. On the local laps new attacks from the peloton emerged and that meant the end of the lonely rider in front. With the sprinter teams keeping control in the bunch it lasted till the second last lap before the riders launched some new attacks.
Eventually a group with our Valerie Demey, Audrey Cordon-Ragot, Marianne Vos and Pfeiffer Georgi managed to get away. The quartet built up a 20 seconds lead, while there was no organization in the peloton. In the final kilometres the bunch came close, but the four in front battled for the win. In a sprint Vos took the victory, Demey just missed the podium and finished fourth. After the race Vos was disqualified and so Demey moved on to the podium.
“After the Tour de France I took some rest and tried to recover from that hard race. When you start in a hard race like Vårgårda you always have to wait and see how the body reacts. Early in the race I felt that the legs were good. We rode another strong race as a team. In the finale we jumped with several breakaway groups. In the second last lap I was in a group of 15 riders together with Jeanne. From that group Audrey Cordon-Ragot attacked and I jumped with her. That was the perfect moment in the race. We worked together well in the front and I tried to do my share of the work as well. It was nice to be in the front with those big names. In the sprint I ended up fourth, but made the trip to the podium after Vos was disqualified. I was already satisfied with my fourth place, but it is very nice to be on the podium in a big race like this. After a good Tour de France there is a great atmosphere in the team. I think that works out in the other races as well, as we could see today. This gives a lot of motivation and confidence for the upcoming races”, Demey told after the race.