‘I don’t do it for the wins’ - Annemiek Van Vleuten on her lifelong journey to the Tour de France Femmes

Annemiek van Vleuten was a prologue specialist before she was even a cyclist. “I always rode my bike to school,” she tells Eurosport's Cycling Show. “It was seven kilometres away.

I always did a time trial because I was always a bit late. I remember I could do it in 20 minutes on my normal town bike.” Ad/> By the time she entered the pro ranks, in 2012, Van Vleuten’s times had come down a bit (by which we mean: a lot). But all those early efforts might explain why all but one of her victories before 2016 came from short, stage-race-starting time trials.

Tour de FranceYates left out of BikeExchange-Jayco team for Tour de FranceAN HOUR AGO Although Van Vleuten enjoyed watching the Tour de France as a child, the 39 year-old was not born to be a cyclist. As a youngster, she was more interested in playing football but all that running, kicking, sliding and jumping eventually took its toll. “I was studying in Wageningen and I got injured in my knees,” she says.

“I had to stop soccer. I bought a bike to keep control of the extra student kilos.” This time Van Vleuten wasn’t just using it to get from A to B. She entered a few races, performing well above her own expectations.

“I did a physical test — oxygen and power measurements. And then suddenly without training too much I already had numbers — watts and VO2 max — similar to the Dutch national selection.” That was when her competitive instincts really kicked in, and a new version of herself was born. “My student friends think I’m really strange because they know me as the girl who was enjoying the parties.