Annemiek van Vleuten may have looked completely in command right through the race as she took her fourth and final victory at the Giro d’Italia Donne this year, though it's been a long road to the top step for the rider who is set to retire at the end of 2023.
It was in fact 13 years ago that the Dutch rider first stepped onto the start line of the race, that year beginning in Muggia, within the north-eastern town of Trieste, and through those early years of her cycling career, she may not have ever imagined that as the end of it neared she’d be stepping up to the top step in the maglia rosa for a fourth time.
