Annemiek van Vleuten – From illness to dream Tour de France Femmes ending

TOPSHOT Movistar Teams Dutch rider Annemiek Van Vleuten celebrates her overall leader yellow jersey on the podium at the end of the 8th and final stage of the new edition of the Womens Tour de France cycling race 1233 km between Lure and La Super Planche des Belles Filles on July 31 2022 Photo by Jeff PACHOUD AFP Photo by JEFF PACHOUDAFP via Getty Images
Annemiek van Vleuten (Movistar) wins the Tour de France Femmes 2022 on its long-awaited return to the women's calendar (Image credit: Getty Images Sport)

Annemiek van Vleuten (Movistar) was always the clear cut favourite to win the Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift – fresh from a Giro d’Italia Donne victory and with a well-earned reputation for being virtually unbeatable on the long tough climbs – but earlier in the race it looked like that anticipated ending was about to be re-written.

Ill and being pushed along by teammates as she visibly struggled even on gradients where she normally wouldn’t appear to be drawing breath, the Dutch rider even contemplated abandoning the race she had made the big goal of the year. Recovery, however, came just in time. 

Simone Giuliani
Australia Editor

Simone is a degree-qualified journalist that has accumulated decades of wide-ranging experience while working across a variety of leading media organisations. She joined Cyclingnews as a Production Editor at the start of the 2021 season and has now moved into the role of Australia Editor. Previously she worked as a freelance writer, Australian Editor at Ella CyclingTips and as a correspondent for Reuters and Bloomberg. Cycling was initially purely a leisure pursuit for Simone, who started out as a business journalist, but in 2015 her career focus also shifted to the sport.