Verstappen was not a casual viewer of the Tour de France Femmes. Demi Vollering found that out on Thursday when she walked into the Zandvoort paddock and pulled a signed yellow jersey out of her bag for him.
“Max, I brought you a nice little jersey,” she told the Red Bull driver in a video she shared on Instagram from the visit on 20 August 2026, the day before the Dutch Grand Prix weekend began.
Verstappen’s reaction was immediate.
“Well, look at that! I followed the whole thing. It was really close, but in the last two stages, and especially that last one, it was pretty clear. Absolutely fantastic,” he said.
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A race decided on the final weekend
His read of the race matched the results sheet. Vollering, riding for FDJ United-SUEZ, only nudged into the overall lead on the penultimate stage of the nine-day race, then extended her advantage with a solo stage win on the Col d’Èze on the final day in Nice on 10 August.
She finished 1 minute 18 seconds clear of 2024 champion Katarzyna Niewiadoma-Phinney, sealing her second Tour de France Femmes title after her 2023 win. The two decisive attacks Verstappen singled out came on back-to-back days, first the hilltop move that flipped the general classification and then the final-day solo that closed it out.
Vollering’s post-race reflections leaned on the effort behind the result rather than the winning move itself.
“It’s not only the dream of winning the Tour de France. It’s also the dream of living this life, of working hard along with passionate people,” she said after the finish in Nice.
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A crossover moment on a farewell weekend
The Zandvoort meeting carried its own weight for Verstappen, who was preparing for what would be the final Dutch Grand Prix on the current F1 calendar before the circuit drops off after this weekend. His 2026 season has been a slog by his own standards, with the four-time world champion sitting sixth in the drivers’ standings on 109 points ahead of his home race.
None of that dampened the paddock moment. Vollering, one of Dutch sport’s biggest names of the past three years, and Verstappen, the country’s dominant motor-racing figure, produced the kind of clip both sets of fans instantly share, complete with a jersey the F1 driver did not bother to pretend was routine.
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