This time she had to wait. After folding the Giro in the first three stages at the beginning of the month, Annemiek van Vleuten did the double by pocketing this new version of the Tour de France women. Decreased by gastric problems at the start of the week, the Dutch legend almost gave up. A few days later, Sunday July 31, she entered the pantheon of the little queen.
At 39, Annemiek van Vleuten is at the top of her game and of world cycling.
Departing from Paris, the rider with an extraordinary track record (three Giro, two Strade Bianche, two Liège-Bastogne-Liège, two Tour of Flanders, an Olympic title, one world champion) nevertheless played it low profile despite her 92 victories in career. “It’s a big step for me, I’m very excited to see the Tour de France back on the calendar, but I hope the media and supporters will have an open mind and talk about others, not just me.”
When we spoke to her about the yellow jersey, exposed a few meters from her, Van Vleuten preferred to dodge. “I don’t have the feeling of wearing it yet. Ask me again when I have it (laughs). It was a dream to be on the Tour at my maximum level, already. I’m excited and proud to see this Tour organized for us. But no, I’m not dreaming of yellow”. She nevertheless endorsed it at the finish of the 7th stage, at Markstein. So we were able to ask him the question.
“For me, at the start, the yellow jersey was more something that was reserved for boys, so I didn’t have a special relationship with it. And then I saw Marianne Vos with it and…”
Annemiek van Vleuten, winner of the women’s Tour de Franceat franceinfo: sport
Despite her status as a super favorite and a Movistar team built for her, Annemiek van Vleuten nevertheless claims to have lived “a small miracle”. Sick, in the shadow of her compatriots Lorena Wiebes (Team DSM) and Marianne Vos (Jumbo-VIsma), who in turn donned the yellow jersey, the epidemiology graduate struggled, limiting the damage with a 1 ’28 late on time to approach the Vosges. This is where she woke up, scattering the peloton and the competition.
“It’s something special because I know where I come from. Being sick for the first three days of this Tour makes this victory special.”
At the start of the seventh stage, everyone was aware. Since the day before, it was rumored that Van Vleuten had recovered and returned to 100% of her abilities. The appetite was back. The competition was going to settle for the crumbs. On the morning of departure, a Dutch colleague assured him: “She’s going to destroy everyone on the first pass.” She was right. In the Petit Ballon, Van Vleuten escaped with Demi Vollering (SD Worx).
But her youngest will wait for the glory of the yellow jersey. A year and a half before her retirement announced for the end of 2023, Annemiek van Vleuten made the powder speak to blow up her only rival. At the end of a legendary stage, completed with more than three minutes in advance after having driven alone for more than 60 km, in the mountains, she finally put on this yellow jersey. “My style is to attack, and not wait until the last moment. I had done a reconnaissance of the stage, and I had seen that the Petit Ballon was a difficult climb. After six days spent in ‘survive’, I wanted to make the biggest gaps possible”told the owner on arrival.
In yellow on the eve of the final at the Super Planche des Belles Filles, she could finally breathe. “There is pressure, of course, but I also had some in Tokyo [aux Jeux olympiques, en 2021], I’m used to it (laughs). For some, inexperienced, it can be disturbing. For me it’s already excitement”, she warned even before the Grand Départ. If the Super Planche des Belles Filles has, in the not so distant past, already cost the victory to a yellow jersey on untouchable paper (Primoz Roglic lost the Tour 2020 there to Tadej Pogacar, on the eve of the arrival ), no one was really worried about the other Queen of the Netherlands.
The first winner of the Tour de France 2022 is used to coming back from afar. A long time football player, she hung up her crampons in 2006, due to recurring knee problems. To compensate, she had the good idea to ride a bicycle. A year later, she was crowned Dutch university champion, and vice-world university time trial champion.
Her progression followed the same linear trajectory, while she exploded in the early 2010s. Very quickly, Van Vleuten piled up the successes, even becoming world number one in 2017. Two years later, she confirmed by offering herself the Giro and the rainbow jersey, ten years after having had femoral artery surgery. “Vleuty” is used to fighting. Like his stage towards the Super Planche des Belles Filles, marked by three changes of bike, and a lot of time spent catching up with the race leader.
But still just as imperturbable, the yellow jersey caught up, before disgusting the competition once again. Overpowered, she finished alone in the lead at the top, offering herself a second stage in two days. On top of the world, Annemiek van Vleuten does not evolve on the same planet as the rest of the peloton. With 94 career victories, the queen of world cycling can now aim for an incredible Giro-Tour de France-Vuelta treble.
In the meantime, she will be able to return to her home in Livigno, where she celebrated her Giro as it should. “In our sport, we never take the time to celebrate our victories. We have to do it. After the Giro, I went to ride my pink bike every day to savor”. Annemiek van Vleuten will be able to start again, with a yellow bike this time.