The Tour de France Femmes was Annemiek van Vleuten’s final big goal as a professional cyclist but not her final bow, with the Dutch rider announcing that after the World Championships road race on Sunday she’ll be continuing on with a series of criteriums and two stage races, the Tour of Scandinavia and the Simac Ladies Tour.
Van Vleuten first defended her Giro d’Italia Donne title in July and then the Movistar rider put all her focus on defending yellow, and while it didn’t work out the way she had hoped it was perhaps the passing of that goal, rather than just the result, that left her walking away from the French Tour with a flood of emotion.
