Annemiek van Vleuten has made her way into the history books of women's cycling and 2023 will be her final year as a professional rider. After an historic 2022 campaign she looks back on her greatest achievements and on her career.
"The victory in yellow on La Planche was the best way to finish it off," van Vleuten said in an interview with Cyclingnews. "It was special. All the spectators cheering my name on the way up and down." Van Vleuten was voted the winner of the women's Velo d'Or understandably after a season packed with victories including the Tour, Giro and Vuelta, alongside the World Championships where she won despite having fractured her elbow the days prior to the race.
No-one could match her prowess throughout the year, specially thinking of the climbs and mountainous races, where she hardly found competition. At 40 years of age now she found the best form of her life, and doesn't intend to stay away from the wins in the coming year.
"Every year, I sit down with my coach, and we have a dinner to evaluate the last year and make a plan for the new year. Every year, he says, 'It cannot be better than this year.' But it was by far my best year ever," she continued. "All the goals I set, apart from performing well in the individual time trial at the World Championships, all the goals I had this season came true. It's unbelievable.
"Results-wise but also performance-wise, I still improved because I had my best 5, 10 and 20-minute power outputs this year. I turned 40, but I'm still improving with the numbers. It means my level still goes up, which is necessary because the [women's peloton] around me gets better and better. The quality of the field is higher, and it's harder to win, so still having quite a season is amazing," she continued.
Having victories at the Olympic Games, World Championships, Tour des Flandres, La Course by Le Tour de France, Liège-Bastogne-Liège, Strade Bianche and many more she has made herself a leading figure in this generation. In 2023 she's capable of bringing her palmarès to an even higher level, in such a way as compatriot Marianne Vos
"I learned from Marianne that fun is the foundation for a good performance. specially at the beginning of our careers, we were sprinting for signs and had a lot of fun on the bike, we made a lot of errors and worked hard, but fun was always the basis. In that way, she was my role model, and I was happy that I rode with her as a teammate during the first years of my career," he continued.
"When I look back to my first year on a UCI team, I think we did everything in a small van. We did Tour du Limousin in a small van together, and the next race was a team time trial in Sweden, and we travelled for two days in that van. I got paid €100 a month. When I look at where we are now, that is also why I was over the moon to have the Tour de France this year. It was such a massive milestone that it was organised for us, and [ASO] wanted to create that race for us," van Vleuten commented.
Next season she will be wearing the rainbow stripes together with Movistar Team where she found her best form, and will be a rider to take into consideration in races throughout the entire season.
"To become World Champion and to wear the rainbow jersey is a confirmation, for me, that stopping next year - after wearing the rainbow jersey for the whole season - is the best way to stop. I don't have any doubts. I will enjoy it until the end of next year," she concluded.
Rúben SilvaEditor-in-Chief
A founding contributor to CyclingUpToDate since its launch in January 2022, Ruben Silva has played a central role in shaping the site’s editorial direction and long-term growth. Before joining the project, he built his experience through independent blogging at Echelons Hub and by producing race previews for Ciclismo Internacional, developing a strong analytical voice rooted in daily engagement with professional cycling.
Beyond editorial work, he has been closely involved in the expansion and coordination of CyclingUpToDate’s wider network, helping establish and support sister platforms across multiple languages. This includes ongoing collaboration with CiclismoAlDia (Spanish), CiclismoAtual (Portuguese), WielrennenUpToDate (Dutch), and RadsportAktuell (German), contributing to a shared editorial vision and consistent international coverage.
He also helps oversee editorial governance across the network, setting standards for accuracy and consistency and coordinating updates or corrections when needed.
Originally from the Porto metropolitan area in Portugal, he holds a bachelor’s degree in Geography. His path into cycling journalism was shaped not through formal media training, but through independent reporting, community engagement, and sustained on-the-ground involvement in the sport.
Over the course of his career, he has conducted approximately 100 interviews across road cycling and cyclocross, ranging from one-to-one conversations and online formats to press conferences and on-site pre- and post-race coverage. His interviews include leading riders, team managers, and prominent figures within cycling media: Tadej Pogacar, Jonas Vingegaard, Mathieu van der Poel, Primoz Roglic, Wout van Aert, Joao Almeida and Tom Pidcock; managers like Patrick Lefevere and Joxean Matxin; and YouTube personality Bryan Kennedy (BKXC)...
Within 18 months of launch, he helped grow CyclingUpToDate’s English-language platform into one of the most-read cycling news websites, built entirely from the ground up. As both a professional journalist and lifelong cycling enthusiast, his focus remains on delivering accurate, timely, and well-contextualized coverage.
claps 0visitors 0
Just in
Popular news
Latest comments
- I see (elsewhere) that Alaphilippe had more to say than what got relayed in this stub. Me: he was very good early but his latter third trajectory was the pits. His old boss did what he could (huffed and puffed) but Julian couldn't get his greatness back. Sometimes I wonder if crashes that didn't look like much changed the course of the rider.flyer14-11-2026
- I wouldn't classify it as a gift because the nasty consequences of taking it from Sepp would have been great and would persist and he knew it.flyer14-11-2026
- Ok. Tratnik's good and Red Bull's better so Tratnik may get what he wants.flyer14-11-2026
- Ok. So just saying he wasn't enjoying racing anymore is some kind of explanation? Me saying I don't enjoy his explanation is more explaining than he did.flyer14-11-2026
- Buitrago, was he their best rider in 2026? He's the chief loss for them and Martinez and Tiberi (especially) have to step up or they will be overtaken by Bahrain's younger riders like Omrzel. I'm still somewhat high on Martinez but Tiberi, after showing signs of promise, has fizzled. Bahrain still has a good team but they need to improve and exceed expectations. I'd be happy if Mohoric could manage to return to his better form for maybe one last year at least.flyer14-11-2026
- Hmmm, "... I just gained 30 seconds purely off the bike. Because it's really a big, big improvement compared to the previous bike". Is that marketing for Specialized or serious valid hype, or something in between? Very likely the former.flyer14-11-2026
- Nothing revelatory or controversial. Why do we have to report on Bruyneel's or Armstrong's thinking. It's a shame and enough that the Move's on TV and that people watch it .flyer14-11-2026
- Makes sense that training from home is a big asset or advantage but it's still remarkable that he can put in three quality majors and not pay some heavy price for the exertion. I wish he would have won that tour stage that his crash while leading allowed Carapaz the win. He's a darn good rider and teammate.flyer14-11-2026
- Sounds like we all agree with the over under exaggeration: "The German’s signing does not guarantee that Evenepoel will win the Tour in 2027. "flyer14-11-2026
- Seixas appears to be that good but if he isn't (an absolute rival to Pogacar) he would have plenty of company in rising stars that did not go on to fully meet the expectations of many. That Pogacar wasn't the greatest (as great) sooner can't be transposed onto another's development. It may be not that simple.flyer14-11-2026
Loading
Write a comment