Annemiek van Vleuten has had an absolutely phenomenal season. On Sunday, she took the overall win at the Ceratizit Challenge by La Vuelta. Along with the Tour de France Femmes and the Giro Donne, she’s won all three major stage races this year. To put it in perspective, no male cyclist has ever won all three Grand Tours. 10 riders have won the Giro-Tour double, including the likes Eddy Merckx, Fausto Coppy and Jacques Anquetil, and a few others have won the Tour-Vuelta double, but none have won all three. Two riders have accomplished the “Triple Crown” which is the Giro, Tour and world champs: Merckx and Stephen Roche.
It were 5 nice days with @Movistar_Team in the @ChallengeVuelta and I am happy we took the win! Of to @wollongong2022 now! An update, in Dutch, on my website: https://t.co/KCkpCLdTyl
📸: @SprintCycling pic.twitter.com/fNfeXan1lp
— Annemiek van Vleuten (@AvVleuten) September 11, 2022
The Movistar ride finished in the pack on Sunday on stage five, a race into Madrid, thus clinching her Vuelta win.
Italian Elisa Balsamo of Trek-Segafredo would take the stage win over Belgian Lotte Kopecky of SD Worx and Marta Bastianelli (UAE) after a 96.5km circuit race the streets of the Spanish capital.Van Vleuten finished 1min 44 seconds ahead of Italian Elisa Longo Borghini with another Dutch rider, Demi Vollering, rounding out the podium.
ANNEMIEK VAN VLEUTEN WINS STAGE TWO OF THE @ChallengeVuelta AND LEADS THE GENERAL CLASSIFICATION. ❤️👏🎩#MiekItHappen | @AvVleuten #RodamosJuntos Ⓜ️ @Telefonica pic.twitter.com/pnwQri7yJ8
— Movistar Team (@Movistar_Team) September 8, 2022
Van Vleuten took the leader’s jersey on stage three when she absolutely dominated the race, winning by more than two minutes.
Canada’s Olivia Baril finished 66th overall, with Sara Poidevin coming in at 90th, and Anna Gabrielle Traxler in 103rd.
💬 The reaction from @AvVleuten after a superb victory in the #CERATIZITChallenge22 ⬇️ #MiekItHappen pic.twitter.com/mf46Jnfawv
— Movistar Team (@Movistar_Team) September 8, 2022
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