Annemiek is a great example of how much you can do with your life if you put your mind to it. When she was just 25 years old, she decided to become a professional cyclist and began training every day. Soon after that, she started winning races. In fact, she became the first woman to win a stage in three different Grand Tours (Tour De France, Giro d’Italia, Vuelta a Espana) when she took her second place finish in last year’s edition.
She also holds the record for being the youngest rider ever to compete in the Tour de France (she finished 11th). But what makes her so special is that not only does she excel at cycling, but she has managed to carve out a successful career outside of the sport as well. In this post, we’re going to take a look at Annemiek van Vleuten’s personal life.
Annemiek Van Vleuten’s Cycling Career
In the world of professional sports, women have made huge strides in recent years. The best example of this is the case of Annemiek van Vleuten. She won the Tour de France in 2017, becoming the first Dutch woman to win the prestigious race.
Annemieke started competing in cyclocross races in 2004. At first, she did not win any competitions. However, after winning two stages in the 2006 Tour de l’Aude Cyclo-cross Race, she became famous.
In 2007, she won the Belgian National Championships and the European Championship. In 2008, she took part in the Olympic Games. There, she finished in third place.
Van Vleuten started her racing career in 2008 when she was just 16. At the time, she was already a national record holder in the sprint and pursuit. Since then, Van Vleuten has gone on to become one of the most successful cyclists in the world.
She’s also a great role model for young girls who want to get into sport. Her story shows that anything is possible, even if you don’t start out with the best equipment. You can follow Van Vleuten online and watch videos of her training.
You can find more information about her at www.annemiekvanvleuten.nl.
How She Became the World Champion
Annemiek van Vleuten has been a professional cyclist for over a decade. She has won two Olympic gold medals, five world championship titles, three world cup titles, and she’s been ranked number one in the world for several years. But what is it that makes a rider like her so successful? What are the secrets of her success?
Her parents were both cyclists and encouraged her to take up cycling at a young age. She joined her local amateur club, the Leuvense Rabobank (Leuvens Rabo), when she was 10 years old. As a teenager, she won a number of national titles and was selected to represent the Netherlands at the 2006 Road World Championships. In 2007, she became the first Dutch woman to win a major road race in her home country. The following year, she won the Road World Championships, becoming the first cyclist to do so since France’s Marianne Vos in 1995. Since then, van Vleuten has been crowned as the world road cycling champion four times.
Just like any other successful competitions that athletes would go through, She basically had to struggle and had to compete multiple times before being able to win a cycling championship.
After suffering an elbow fracture in a collision, Annemiek van Vleuten, who was severely bruised and appeared to be working for Marianne Vos, the Dutch teammate, ended up taking a great victory to claim the world road race championship once more! She shocked everyone with a precisely timed attack in the final kilometer.
Experiencing fall and a shattered elbow in a spectacular mixed relay crash later that week, it had been doubted if van Vleuten would even start the race. However, she arrived and won the race!
What to Expect From Her in 2023
Throughout her career in professional cycling, she made a name in the industry and had inspired a lot of aspiring cyclists out there. But things would always come to an end.
Annemiek van Vleuten revealed that 2023 will be her final season competing professionally.
Van Vleuten announced her decision to quit while still at the peak of her career alongside the news that her term with her existing Movistar team had been extended by another year. She emphasized that she wanted to maintain the growth she has witnessed in the Spanish team for one more year.
Van Vleuten will miss the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris since she will be stepping down at the end of the year, which many had anticipated would be the culmination of her professional career.
She began her relationship with Movistar at the beginning of the 2021 season, thus she will remain with the team for the entire three years before calling it quits.
Her Strengths and Weaknesses as a Cyclist
Being at the top of the game, Annemiek van Vleuten also has her ups and downs when it comes to competing professionally. But these experiences had helped her develop her mental and physical well-being and she has now become one of the best female cyclists in the world. But what are the things that make her such a great competitor?
In terms of weakness as a cyclist, van Vleuten comes down to her physical health. She sought to minimize her losses as she fought to the finish line above the steep slope in Épernay with shoulders swinging, It was revealed that illness was the cause. When speaking with team officials back at the Movistar bus, Cyclingnews observed a clearly agitated Van Vleuten mentioning stomach issues. However, she later provided an explanation through her team after declining to speak to the media there. Most probably, her weakness would be more into the corporeal aspect.
One of the best evident example in her vigor in cycling was her resiliency. 2016 Olympics in Rio has been a whirlwind of happenings since she broke her vertebrae and suffer in a severe concussion after hitting her head over the handlebars and then later finding out that she made a mistake of deeming a downhill bend. Yet, after the fall, she still managed to get back to another competition in Belgium after a month. Many people referred to this as a spectacular recovery, but Annemiek disagrees, claiming that she was already accomplishing tremendous things that season and was only building on those accomplishments. That is how she became ahead of her competitors, van Vleuten is one kind of an explorer- searching her own limits and coming out of her comfort zone. Amazing how a growth mindset could make a lot of difference.
Fun Facts About Annemiek Van Vleuten
Annemiek Van Vleuten is the first woman to win three consecutive world championships in a single discipline (road, track, and cyclocross). She won the road race at the 2012 UCI Road World Championships, 2013 UCI Track Cycling World Championships, and 2014 UCI Cyclo-cross World Championships.
She was born in Hertogenbosch, Netherlands on October 4th, 1992. Her parents were both professional cyclists. When she was six months old, her mother took part in the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta as a cyclist. This inspired Annemieke to become a cyclist herself. At the age of seven, she started riding a bike.
Her family moved to Belgium when she was eight years old, and she began training with the Belgian national team. After winning the Junior National Championship, she became the youngest rider ever to compete in the Tour de France.
At the age of 11, she entered the European Youth Time Trial Championships. She finished second in that competition, earning a place on the Dutch junior national team.
In 2007, she joined the Rabobank Pro Team. That same year, she competed in her first major international event: The UEC European Under-23 Track Championships.
At 39 years and 199 days, Annemiek van Vleuten broke the previous record for the oldest monument winner, male or female. Gilbert Duclos-Lassalle, who won the 1993 Paris Roubaix at the age of 38 years and 230 days, held the previous record.
Road Cycling World Champion: Annemiek van Vleuten 2022
The Dutch rider has a proven track record of success in the sport, having won the Tour de France and a number of other high profile races. She’s a strong contender for the Giro d’Italia and the Vuelta a España. She was also crowned the Women’s Road World Champion at the UCI Road World Championships in Yorkshire, England. Her achievements in the cycling industry have made a mark in the cycling community, and continuously inspire thousands of cyclists in the world!
Isn’t it inspiring to just look up into one of the greatest world champions in cycling? Share us your thoughts and keep on dreaming big! Happy cycling!