"I'd love to work with young athletes" - Annemiek van Vleuten keen to give back to the next generation following retirement

With her illustrious career now having come to a close, Annemiek van Vleuten is starting to settle into her new life of retirement. The Dutchwoman though is keen to stay in and around the sport in some capacity.

"So far, it's been better than I expected. I think after the Tour de France I was a little bit scared about not having a goal ready. I was so goal-driven. It took a bit of time to embrace that I don't have that goal," says the former Movistar Team star at Rouleur Live. "If I look back to my student time, I was really good without all those goals and I feel like going a little bit back to that time. I think for the next year I'm happy not to have it all planned."

Few riders will have the same level of experience as van Vleuten and this is something she is keen to pass on the next generation of stars. "I have some ideas," she says. "Something that I would really like to do is work on the mental side. I think that's a bit underestimated in sports in general."

"Sometimes you only focus on the physical side, but if you want to win at this moment – especially when the physical side is already optimised ­– you need to have an open attitude towards the mental side," explains van Vleuten. "I'd love to work with young athletes to give them a little bit of support. I think that would be a role that could suit me."

Since retirement, van Vleuten hasn't struggled to keep busy either. "I was afraid that I would feel super empty, but I felt relaxed. I think I'm at peace with it," she says. "It's not a problem to fill my days. People talk about the period after stopping as an athlete that you can get stuck in a hole. It's not that you don't have anything to do any more, it's more to do with the fact that you don't have anything to work to. If I'm bored, I have a long to-do list at home – in the past years, I was away from home 200-250 days a year so that to-do list became quite long."

"It was an awesome journey," she concludes. "It gave me a lot. It also cost me something, but in general almost every year I surprised myself. The people I met, the countries I visited. There were also some hard times to get back together after disappointments, but there was always something and it was never boring."