Annemiek van Vleuten didn’t begin her journey into cycling aspiring to win the Tour de France. Growing up in Vleuten, Netherlands, in the 1980s and 90s, her first memories were of the men’s race on grainy television footage showcasing riders competing in the jerseys of her home team, Buckler-Colnago-Decca turned Rabobank. She was hooked.
“The first Tour de France I watched was when I was eight, and my parents didn’t have anything to do with cycling. It got me, especially when a Rabobank rider was in front. Rabobank was a Dutch team with Dutch riders, and when my family went outside to the beach, I stayed inside watching those stages.
“I only watched the Tour de France; I never considered myself being a cyclist. Cycling felt far away from anything I could be a part of, but I have special memories of the Rabobank riders, and that was my first memory of the Tour de France.”
Van Vleuten spoke these words at an international press conference, with pride and triumph in her voice, while wearing the yellow jersey she earned after winning the overall title at the 2022 Tour de France Femmes, 32 years after watching Rabobank race the men’s Tour on television.
She had gone into the eight-day race as the favourite, but she faced the disappointment and uncertainty that went along with an unexpected stomach bug that hit her body on the first stage in Paris. She pushed through the physical symptoms and kept herself within reach of the overall race lead. She waited for the worst of the illness to subside. And when it did, she launched a rampage across back-to-back mountain stages where she soloed to wins atop Le Markstein and La Super Planche des Belles Filles to secure the coveted victory.
“The victory in yellow on La Planche was the best way to finish it off. It was special. All the spectators cheering my name on the way up and down,” she said.
Winning the Tour de France Femmes was one of her crowning achievements during a season that has seen her reach several milestones.
It started with a two-up sprint against Demi Vollering to win Omloop Het Nieuwsblad and then a solo win at Liège-Bastogne-Liège. She secured a third overall title at the Giro d’Italia Donne and won the Tour de France Femmes in July and then won a second overall title at the Challenge by la Vuelta in September.
In one of the most dramatic moments of the year at the Road World Championships, Van Vleuten returned from a crash in the mixed team relay, where she broke her elbow, to stun the elite women’s…
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