THE BEST IN THE WORLD. No discussion. Such is the level of achievements Dutchwoman Annemiek van Vleuten has attained for most of the past decade. Her work ethic, commitment and extreme competitive spirit have brought her to break all barriers and reach sensational results at the age of 40 (don’t forget she only took up pro racing at the age of 26). Looking only at the past five years, she’s notched up one Olympic title -the 2021 Tokyo time trial-; one Tour de France (2022); four rainbow jerseys -two ITT Worlds (2017, 18) and two road race titles (2019 and 2022)-; three Giro Rosa overall victories (2018, 19, 22); one Ronde van Vlaanderen -2021, to add to her first one ten years before-; two Liège-Bastogne-Liège (2019, 2022); two Strade Bianche (2019, 2020) and the European road race Championships from 2020.

WENT THROUGH EVERYTHING. Van Vleuten’s career comprises four team changes -she’s been part of the renowned Rabobank organisation, Bigla and Orica / Mitchelton, the latter propelling her to brilliant wins in the five years prior to becoming a Movistar Team rider-; two iliac artery surgeries; injuries as complicated as the one she sustained at the 2021 Paris-Roubaix -a double pubic bone fracture- or quickly to recover from as one from the 2020 Giro Rosa -which she had all but won, and from which she returned, only one week after with her wrist bandaged, to take silver in the 2020 Imola Worlds-; and an almost endless palmarès, with nearly one hundred UCI victories. In 2022, she completed an almost unmatchable series of feats: following her ITT gold in Tokyo, she claimed overall success in the three most significant stageraces (the new Tour Femmes, the Giro Donne and the Ceratizit Challenge by La Vuelta), another ‘Doyenne’ and the Omloop Het Nieuwsblad, and put the icing on top with the least expected victory: her second world road race title, only four days after an elbow injury which seemed to rule her out for anything. She’s, after all, the woman who makes impossible things possible.

SEEKING FOR NEW CHALLENGES. Owner of a Degree in Animal Science from the University of Wageningen -specialised in epidemiology and zoonoses-, a field so different to sports which speaks loads about her adaptability, Annemiek had the Movistar Team as a reference well before the women’s program was set up in 2018. She trained with members of our men’s team for the first time in 2014, at one of her regular altitude camps -back then, at Sierra Nevada; currently, at Foscagno most times-, and started to soak in a latin culture she has made a huge part of herself. She spends long periods of time across Spain and in Colombia, where she carefully prepares for every challenge. How far will she get to in what is, as she announced last summer, her last season in the pro scene?