Annemiek van Vleuten always felt a special attraction to Italy and cycling in our country. The phenomenal rider from Wageningen (Netherlands), who turns 43 this Wednesday, October 8, spent long periods in a ski hotel in Livigno, preparing at altitude for her major goals, when her striking transformation—from ‘just’ an all-rounder to a devourer of Grand Tours—led her to grow and seek that extra step.
The crash suffered at the 2016 Rio Olympics by ‘Miek’ (as she was known by her Movistar teammates in her last three years as a professional in Spain) was a turning point in her career. Although she was sidelined for a time, the Dutchwoman proved in that race that in the mountains no one could surpass her. It was then that Van Vleuten, who had joined the professional peloton unexpectedly in 2008, at the age of 26, with a university degree in Animal Sciences already completed, began working on aspects that now seem normal to us: technical preparation, nutrition, extreme attention to detail.
That was when Annemiek began to expand her domain and to rule with an iron fist as the empress of the peloton. World time trial champion the following two years (2017 and 2018), she had placed herself in the hands of a team with Italian headquarters and staff, Mitchelton-Scott, with whom she reached the heights of the Giro d’Italia Women four times: in 2018, 2019 and—already in the colors of the Telefónica squad—2022 and 2023. It could have been five, if it hadn’t been for that fateful crash in the 2020 edition, in which she fractured bones in her hand while in the lead, and which also affected her performance at the World Championships in Imola, where she was defending the title obtained in Yorkshire with no less than 105 km of solo attack. One kilometer more than what Tadej Pogacar—considered by some the best (male) cyclist in history—signed only a few weeks ago in Rwanda.
Because Van Vleuten’s career is also nourished by such feats, based on a phrase she coined years ago and which today inspires more than one generation of Dutch cyclists and those beyond her country. “Accept, Adapt, Move On.” Accept adversity, adapt to the new environment, and go forward. With that, she overcame every difficulty in her final years and achieved some of her most resounding successes, such as those last two consecutive Giros with the Spanish team’s ‘M’ or what she considers her best victory, the 2022 Wollongong World Championships, which she reached with another injury—a fractured elbow sustained four days earlier in the mixed relay—and from which she emerged wearing the rainbow jersey for the final year of her memorable career (104 professional wins).
The Strade Bianche Women Elite—which she won brilliantly in both 2019 and 2020—also witnessed the best version of a relentless rider in her approach, generous with rivals and teammates, and with the aura of a cyclist from another era, who also came close to adding the other great trophy coveted these days alongside the Giro d’Italia Women: the Tour de France Femmes, which she dominated on the final weekend of its first edition in its current format, in 2022.
A true lady of cycling, respected and revered in Italy. Happy birthday, Annemiek van Vleuten!
