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.
That was an era where Van Vleuten, a late-comer to cycling, pegged as a Classics hopeful, was a support rider in a powerful team that included three-time race winner Marianne Vos, at the peak of her climbing power.
On top of that, there was a rising Anna van der Breggen and Pauline Ferrand-Prévot on their way to consecutively holding world titles across road, cyclocross and on the cross-country discipline on the mountain bike.
The turning point however came with a new team and the Olympic Games in Rio – which didn’t end well but clearly demonstrated her climbing finesse, opening up a whole new raft of opportunities, not only in the Giro d'Italia Donne but also across an expanding women's calendar.
As the world champion draws her time at the Italian race to a close, with a fourth victory, we take a look back at her journey at the longest stage race on the women’s calendar.
2010 to 2015 - The support years
Being a Dutch rider and racing for a team based in your home country, had some advantages and also perhaps some disadvantages for Van Vleuten. She was, undoubtedly racing alongside the best in those pivotal early years of her development at the Nederland bloeit cycling team that morphed into Rabobank. However, that also, meant that it was a difficult task even for a highly talented rider to stand out.
In Van Vleuten's first three years at the Giro d'Italia Donne, her results were nothing to write home about, with the rider not particularly high up in the GC, Many stage results were in the top ten, but she finished 27th overall in 2010, 75th in 2011 and didn’t make it through till the end in 2012 or 2013.
Still, even then the rider was unequivocally in a support role as at the time she was seen not as a climber but as a powerful Classics rider. Of course, with three-time winner Vos leading the charge for her team and a strong vein of talent coming through alongside the rider who often draws the label of the G.O.A.T. – greatest of all time – it was easy to be overshadowed.
Even in 2014 when Van Vleuten took her first two victories at the race, one in the short and flat prologue in Caserta and another in a road stage – her teammate Vos doubled that stage victory tally. As far as the GC was concerned Van Vleuten also took a big step up that year, finishing eighth. Yet she was still only her Rabobank-Liv team’s fourth-best finisher. The squad had swept the overall podium that year with Vos taking her third win, Ferrand Prévot coming second and Anna van der Breggen – who would begin her winning run at the race the next year – coming third.
Then 2015 brought a change for Annemiek van Vleuten with a shift to Bigla Pro Cycling. She again won the prologue and, racing in support of Ashleigh Moolman-Pasio, came 35th overall but another even bigger shift was soon on the way.
2017 - Emergence as a contender
In 2016 Van Vleuten didn’t end up lining up at the Giro as she’d shifted over to the Australian GreenEdge team, known at the time as Orica-AIS, and they didn’t go to the Italian tour, yet. However, it was still a year that was pivotal in her journey toward the maglia rosa.
Van Vleuten’s experience at the road race at the Rio Olympic Games brings the oft-used Charles Dickens quote to mind “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times.”
The succession of tough climbs greeting riders in the final 30km of the race meant the world’s best climbers lined up with dreams of gold but over the top of the final 9km climb, it was unexpectedly Van Vleuten who was racing down toward the finish line out front and alone. No, it didn’t end well, with the rider who had looked to be on her way to victory crashing badly on the technical descent, but what came before then had her team, sports director of the time Gene Bates and the rider herself looking at her future prospects from an entirely different perspective.
“The experience I had at the Rio Olympic Games made me think again about my goals for 2017,” said the rider in a team media release from 2016. “I never thought I would be able to follow the best climbers uphill and even drop them. At 33 years of age, I realised I have talents that I was not aware of. Therefore, next season with ORICA-AIS I will focus more on uphill races and time trialling.”
Cue the Giro d’Italia Donne.
For the first time, in 2017 the Australian team lined up for the Italian race and they did it with a clear overall intent that instantly reaped rewards.
It was a solid start for the team debut at the race, with a third in the opening team time trial and then it was straight into a stage win for Van Vleuten on the second day and another in the individual time trial victory on stage 5. Plus, with the unequivocal support of the team and a strong ally in Australian Amanda Spratt, the Dutch rider continued to deliver solid results through the race, landing on the final podium with third, a result that clearly announced that a new contender had arrived.
2018 and 2019 - Capturing the maglia rosa
Two-time winner Anna van der Breggen wasn’t lining up in 2018 and after the podium performance of the year before Van Vleuten had transformed into one of the favourites. It was a steady climb up the ranks, starting with a runner-up spot in the team trial and delivering another on the stage 6 summit finish to Gerola Alta, where she finished behind teammate Spratt who stepped into pink. The stage 7 individual time trial was when it was time for Van Vleuten to don the maglia rosa, and once she did there was no giving it up. Van Vleuten just kept stretching her lead by winning the show-stopper stage 9, with its Monte Zoncolan finish. Then for good measure also claimed one last victory by launching solo on the punchy final climb which peaked less than 10km from the line.
Annemiek van Vleuten claimed her first maglia rosa in emphatic style, carving out a margin of more than four minutes to her nearest rival, Moolman Pasio while Spratt stood alongside her on the podium in third.
"It was a really strong and experienced team at this Giro, so I was never in trouble,” said Van Vleuten. “Uphill, I had to do it by myself, but also had Amanda Spratt with me who was really strong. I think I was never in trouble on the climbs. Last year I was good, but this year I was a little bit better uphill."
Van Vleuten then lined up in 2019 as defending champion, but with Van der Breggen returning to the fray the anticipation was high for a close-run battle. The Australian team and rider leading it, however, were now an experienced and well-oiled squad in the pursuit of the overall and by stage 5 Van Vleuten was back in pink. She finished the race 3:45 ahead of Van der Breggen and with another two stage victories at the race to her name. Spratt was also on the podium for a second year.
Van Vleuten’s final year at the Giro d’Italia Donne with the team that had been so pivotal in her development as a maglia rosa contender was 2020 and she had again looked on track for overall victory, stepping into pink right from stage 2. However, a crash on stage 8 which left her with a wrist fracture spelled the end of her race. The next time she would line up it would be in Movistar colours.
A new path to victory - 2022 and 2023
In 2021 Van Vleuten missed the Giro d'Italia Donne for only the second time since 2010 as she turned her focus to the Tokyo Olympics, where she claimed gold in the time trial and silver in the road race. That meant 2022 was the first year she lined up at the race with Movistar. There was clearly no doubt about the strength of the rider who had now spent years sweeping up world titles, Olympic medals and victory at so many of the calendar's most prestigious races but the question was how would the change of team impact her prospects?
It turns out that she stepped into pink earlier than ever before, moving into the overall lead at the end of stage 4 after winning in Cesena. Van Vleuten also picked up another stage victory on her way to the overall win 1:52 ahead of Marta Cavalli, a smaller margin than usual but still a commanding performance right through the race.
“It was with my new team, actually the first time for Movistar to target a big stage race, so it was all new for us,” said Van Vleuten after taking her third overall victory. “It’s more exciting, and after I had to leave the Giro in 2020 still in the maglia rosa with a broken wrist, it’s nice to finish it off again in pink. It’s not my favourite colour, but in the Giro it is.”
At the 2023 Giro d’Italia Donne, it was always clear who the outright favourite was. Van Vleuten lined up not only with a stellar record in Italy but also across all the key stage races. She dominated in 2022 by sweeping up the red, pink and yellow leader’s jerseys of the Vuelta Feminina, Giro and Tour de France Femmes and looks well on her way to doing it again in her final year of racing.
The 40-year-old has provided a fitting finale at the Italian race by dominating from start to finish. She did not even lend out pink once and took 3 stage victories on her way to the overall podium. In the end, Van Vleuten won the 2023 Giro d'Italia Donne with 3:56 ahead of Juliette Labous (Team DSM-Firmenich) in second place and 4:23 ahead of Gaia Realini (Lidl-Trek) in third.
“Winning the GC is always super special because you need to do it with a team. I did win it with different teams, this is the second one with Movistar, and I am super proud of my team to finish it off. It’s always stressful, but you have the team around you, that makes it special,” said Van Vleuten
Speaking about her post-race celebration, Van Vleuten said. "I remember last year that the podium was a nice party, so I hope to go for that again."
Van Vleuten will now prepare for the Tour de France Femmes from July 23-30, where she aims to defend her overall title won last year.
"[My next goal] is the Tour de France, I will stay in Italy and go back to Livigno, after some celebrations with the team, of course, to prepare for the Tour de France and re-charge the batteries."
Asked about her favourite memory of the Giro d'Italia Donne over the years, Van Vleuten said, "I think it was my first year (2010) when I was riding with Marianne Vos for the Dutch National Selection, we had to finish on the Stelvio, and that was the moment that I fell in love with the Giro d'Italia and Italy."
