Images and tales from Olympic and world championship-winning season
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Marianne Vos (Rabobank Liv/Giant) looked in control throughout the race today(Image credit: CJ Farquharson/WomensCycling.net)
Marianne Vos (Rabobank Liv/Giant) celebrates victory at the Tour of Flanders after outsprinting her three breakaway companions.(Image credit: AFP)
Marianne Vos (Rabobank Liv/Giant) makes the pace in the break(Image credit: CJ Farquharson/WomensCycling.net)
The home crowd, the form and the course all pointed to a Marianne Vos win and the rider didn't let the home crowd down with a stunning win in the women's worlds road race(Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com)
Rabobank-Liv/giant team leader Marianne Vos won the Olympic gold medal and the elite women’s World Championship in 2012. (Image credit: Giant Bicycles)
Marianne Vos' soon-to-be released book titled "Op de Troon" is not just another athlete biography, according to the recent winner of the women’s Tour of Flanders but an account of the most successful period in the her career when she won the Olympic road race and World Championship title in 2012.
The book dubbed "Op de Troon" or "The Throne" currently available in Dutch is written by Rik Booltink and offers an insight into the world of the Rabo Women’s Team leader who, like many great champions, suffers doubt when many would believe winning and success comes so easily. However, it is not a mere biography celebrating her already long career.
"I wanted to make sure this was not biography of a 25-year-old. My career is far from over," said Vos on her team site.
"I thought it would be nice to tell more than just about the results and that there could be more than just the bike," she explained in an interview with Omroep Brabant.
Ghostwriter Booltink explained that the process of talking through the events of last season were not particularly easy for the highly-talented rider.
"She did not initially open up but gradually Marianne loosen up and helps to give the reader a good picture of her experience during the peak year in 2012," added Booltink.
Her obsession which circled around capturing Olympic gold - this time on the road as compared to 2008 in Beijing when she took gold in the points race on the track - meant she became overly obsessed with her weight, getting down to as little as 50kg just before her assault on the course in London.
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"I just wanted to leave nothing to chance. I wanted Olympic to become Olympic champion so much that my training and disciplined preparation was nearly obsessive. It was all about weight and power and the correct training," said Vos.
The 240-page hardback book is filled with photographs taken by her brother Anton Vos and is currently available only in Dutch.
