Annemiek van Vleuten has good memories of the 2016 Olympics despite hard crash: "That was the first time in my career that I was able to drop everyone uphill"

Annemiek van Vleuten went down in a terrible crash with 11km to go at 2016 Olympic Games and ended up in hospital with a concussion and broken bones in her spine. Despite all that, she still holds the race in Rio de Janeiro as one of her fond memories, she explains to Cycling Weekly.

"That was the first time in my career that I was able to drop everyone uphill," she smiles. "The main thing I learned from that Olympics is that, if I focus on something with a big goal, I can do more than I thought I was able to."

"We were on the final climb, and I felt like we weren’t going fast on the climb," Van Vleuten says. "Anna was supposed to attack on that climb, but when I asked her, 'Hey, you want to attack?' She said she couldn’t, so I went. I was like, 'Ok, if you cannot attack then it’s my turn.' I felt fresh, so I gave it a go. And then I dropped everyone. I surprised myself there because I was 100% a domestique and Anna was our leader. I was never able to drop Anna uphill."

Looking back at it today, she says the race - and the crash - gave her more than a medal. "It’s the mentality that has helped me a lot in my career. I always try to look at what I still can and the positives," she says. "Some people think that I act, but it’s really in my DNA to be a positive person and not get negative about things I cannot change. Accept and move on, that is my mantra."