Annemiek van Vleuten: "It’s sometimes crazy that people see me as a star"

Annemiek van Vleuten has an exciting riding career. In a month, she will begin her quest to become the first Tour de France Femmes champion.

Van Vleuten's career began with decent but not outstanding results when she became pro. Only with the 2016 Olympics on the approaching did she resolve to devote her whole life to being the greatest rider she could be. ”One year before Rio, the project started to improve my climbing abilities. I went more to altitude, I watched my weight, I trained more seriously. The Rio Olympic was the first time in my career that I was dropping everyone uphill," the veteran told the Cycling Show.

"That was a new experience for me. It gave me the message that when I focus on something when I have a really big goal to be good at something, I can achieve it," she added. Van Vleuten became in the meantime one of the greatest ever athletes in the women's peloton, specially in the mountainous races where she has for years been a leading figure. She will be riding the Giro Donne this coming week, however has her sights firmly planted on the Tour de France Femmes.

“For me it’s a milestone that it’s again on our calendar, I know where we’ve come from within cycling and this is huge. It’s sometimes crazy that people see me as a star. I see myself as Annemiek,” she added. With wins at the Setmana Valenciana, Omloop Het Nieuwsblad and Liège-Bastogne-Liège, she is having strong season and will have the opportunity to improve further.