Annemiek van Vleuten

Annemiek van Vleuten (born 8 October 1982) is a retired Dutch professional road racing cyclist, who most recently rode for UCI Women's WorldTeam.

In 2005, she was advised by her doctor to take up cycling following a knee injury playing football.

Van Vleuten studied animal sciences and specialised in zoonoses and epidemiology at the University of Wageningen, graduating with a master's degree in epidemiology in 2007.

Starting her cycling career at amateur teams in 2007 aged 25, Van Vleuten joined the Dutch team in 2009.

Quitting her office job in 2010 to become a full time professional cyclist, her first major win was at the 2010 Novilon Eurocup Ronde van Drenthe.

She then won La Route de France later that year.

In winning the UCI Women's Road World Cup in 2011, and the UCI Women's World Tour in 2018, 2021 and 2022, Van Vleuten won multiple stage races and one day events.

She has won cycling monuments including Liège–Bastogne–Liège Femmes, Strade Bianche Donne and Tour of Flanders for Women on multiple occasions.

She has been awarded Dutch women's cyclist of the year three times, and is considered one of the greatest female cyclists ever.

Van Vleuten will retire at the end of the 2023 season.

As a child, Van Vleuten played football, gymnastics and horse riding, and rode her bike to school.

In 2011, she won the UCI Women's Road World Cup, winning key races like Tour of Flanders for Women, GP de Plouay – Bretagne and Open de Suède Vårgårda.

She won the Dutch National Road Race Championships in 2012, and won the Dutch National Time Trial Championships four times between 2014 and 2019.

In 2012, Van Vleuten represented the Netherlands in the Women's road race at the 2012 Summer Olympics, along with Ellen van Dijk, Marianne Vos and Loes Gunnewijk.

The race was won by Vos.

She also won the Dutch National Road Race Championships.

After a less than successful 2013, she won the Dutch National Time Trial Championships for the first time in 2014.

In 2015 she joined the.

She took part in the 2015 European Games for the Netherlands, in cycling; Van Vleuten won a bronze medal in the time trial, and finished seventh in the road race.

In the Olympic Games, she crashed out of the lead of the road race in 2016, before winning the gold medal at the time trial event and a silver in the road race at the COVID-19 pandemic-delayed 2020 Olympics.

In 2016, Van Vleuten joined the team.

On 7 August 2016, while leading the road race at the Olympic Games, Van Vleuten crashed head first on the steep descent from Vista Chinesa after missing her braking point before a sharp bend, 12 km before the finish.

The crash knocked her unconscious, and she was hospitalised with three lumbar spinal fractures and a severe concussion.

Despite her injuries, Van Vleuten was riding a bicycle within ten days of her accident and made a winning return to competition one month later, taking the overall victory and two stage wins at the Belgium Tour.

Earlier in the season, she had also won her second Dutch National Time Trial Championships.

Van Vleuten has won all three of women's cycling Grand Tours equivalents – winning the Giro Donne in 2017, 2018, 2019, 2022 and 2023, winning the inaugural Tour de France Femmes in 2022 and winning La Vuelta Femenina in 2021, 2022, 2023.

She became the first woman to complete a Giro–Tour double in the same year.

AVV has won six of women's cycling Grand Tours equivalents in a row.

In 2017, she became world champion for the first time, winning the time trial event in Bergen, Norway.

She also won the Holland Ladies Tour, La Course by Le Tour de France, and retained her national Time Trial Championship.

2018 was Van Vleuten's most successful year of her career – she won the Giro Rosa (winning 3 stages), she defended her world title in the time trial at the 2018 UCI Road World Championships in Innsbruck, Austria, and she won the UCI Women's World Tour after multiple victories at events such as La Course by Le Tour de France and the Holland Ladies Tour.

She ended the 2018 season with a total of 13 victories.

Van Vleuten is twice a winner of both the road race (2019 and 2022) and the time trial (2017 and 2018) at the UCI Road World Championships.

In 2019, Van Vleuten defended her Giro Rosa title, winning by over 3 minutes and taking all the major classifications (general, points and mountain).

At the UCI Road World Championships in Harrogate, she won the road race after riding solo for 100 km of the 149 km race, holding back the chasing groups.

She also won the Dutch national time trial championship for the fourth time.

Despite winning the Giro Rosa and major races such as Liège–Bastogne–Liège and Strade Bianche, Van Vleuten finished second in the UCI Women's World Tour standings behind fellow Dutch rider Marianne Vos.

In the COVID-19 pandemic-disrupted 2020 season, she won the road race at the European Road Championships, as well as Strade Bianche for the second time.

For the 2021 season, Van Vleuten joined the.

She started her season by winning Tour of Flanders for Women, 10 years after her first victory.