Annemiek van Vleuten: I was a bit worried about Manuela Fundación

NINOVE BELGIUM FEBRUARY 29 Podium Annemiek Van Vleuten of The Netherlands and Team MitcheltonSCOTT World Champion Jersey Celebration during the 75th Omloop Het Nieuwsblad 2020 Women Race a 1229km race from Ghent to Ninove OmloopHNB OHN20 OHNwomen on February 29 2020 in Ninove Belgium Photo by Luc ClaessenGetty Images

Annemiek van Vleuten on the podium at 2020 Omloop Het Nieuwsblad (Image credit: Getty Images Sport)

Annemiek van Vleuten is ready to put the last few turbulent months behind her now that the season is about to restart after being halted due to the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemi and the failed sponsorship takeover from Manuela Fundación has been sorted.

The world champion confirmed that she has not yet renewed her contract with Mitchelton-Scott, but that she's relieved that team owner Gerry Ryan will continue to support the program in 2021. She will now shift her focus to the revised calendar with the primary goal of defending her world title at the UCI Road World Championships in Switzerland.

Mitchelton-Scott announced last month that the Spanish non-profit organisation Manuela Fundación, founded by Francisco Huertas, would take over the team's sponsorship once racing began. However, Mitchelton-Scott later stated that the deal had been called off, with the team and Ryan declaring they had terminated negotiations over sponsorship and that GreenEdge would continue to support the team into 2021.

Van Vleuten has flourished as a rider since joining the Orica-AIS team, now Mitchelton-Scott, in 2016. Over the last five years she has twice won the overall title at the Giro Rosa in 2018 and 2019, and the individual time trial world title in 2017 and 2018, along with the road race world title in Yorkshire last year. She confirmed that she hasn't renewed her contract with Mitchelton-Scott, which expires in December, and that she's in discussions with both Mitchelton-Scott and other teams for 2021.

Van Vleuten, 37, who is committed to competing at the Tokyo Olympic Games in 2021, was asked if she had considered when she might retire. Her compatriots and former world champions Anna van der Breggen and Chantal van den Broek-Blaak announced they would retire at the end of 2021 and 2022, respectively. Van Vleuten said that she has no plans to retire anytime soon and that her fitness is still improving.

"At the moment, I cannot imagine that I would have to stop," Van Vleuten said. "It would be my nightmare to stop because I love it so much; the lifestyle, the training, being out on my bike, and I still see a lot of challenges. I don't feel bored. Last year, at the World Championships, I had my best power ever for five minutes, and that makes me so hungry and keen to continue because my level is not yet going down.

"There are other reasons to quit cycling, and I think with Anna van der Breggen and Chantal Blaak, they have other reasons to stop. In women's cycling, it can be important for women to decide when they want to start a family, and there are more reasons to decide if you want to continue or stop. They made their decision. I'm a little bit sad if they quit because it is always such a nice fight, and they are such high-level athletes, so when high-level athletes stop I'm always a little bit sad because it is so nice to race against each other."

Van Vleuten will begin her season at three one-day races – Emakumeen Nafarroak Klasikoa, the Clasica Femenina Navarra and Durango-Durango – running from July 23-26 in Spain. She will then turn her attention to Strade Bianche (August 1), La Course (August 29), Giro Rosa (September 11-19), and target the road race and time trial at the UCI Road World Championships (September 20-27) in Aigle-Martigny.

"I'm super excited about the World Championships," she said. "Last year, I became the world champion on a course that really didn't suit me, I thought. I've been looking forward to Switzerland because it's hard and one for the climbers. It's my number one motivation for this year, my number one goal, and if you ask me about goals, the World Championships is important to me, and I was happy when they said they would still organise it."

"I'm not too stressed about it," she said. "I'm more stressed about whether the races will be organised. I have to focus on being in optimal shape on August 1, from then on, I'll keep my fingers crossed that everything will be organised. I will not be focussed on specific parcours or whether the Giro Rosa will be very hilly, or with more mountains. Just being, in general, at a high level, is my goal. From there, I'm confident that I can race every race and on all the parcours."

Kirsten Frattini is the Deputy Editor of Cyclingnews, overseeing the global racing content plan.

Kirsten has a background in Kinesiology and Health Science. She has been involved in cycling from the community and grassroots level to professional cycling's biggest races, reporting on the WorldTour, Spring Classics, Tours de France, World Championships and Olympic Games.

She began her sports journalism career with Cyclingnews as a North American Correspondent in 2006. In 2018, Kirsten became Women's Editor – overseeing the content strategy, race coverage and growth of women's professional cycling – before becoming Deputy Editor in 2023.