Annemiek van Vleuten will continue her world championships victory celebration wearing the rainbow jersey for the first time at the Tour de Romandie Féminin from October 7-9.
The Dutch rider says there is no pressure on her shoulders to perform and that she will simply race with her heart, and whatever the outcome, she will finish out the season on a high note.
"The last time that I was the World Champion [2019 in Yorkshire] it was the year with COVID-19, so I know how special it is to race in the rainbow jersey. I could not wait to race in the rainbow jersey. I'm super keen to be here and to see my team again," said Van Vleuten, who won the elite women's road race for the second time in her career, this time in Wollongong in September.
"I was checking the UCI calendar before the World Championships to see if there were more races than Romandie. I was still keen to race without pressure. If I had a Tour de France-pressure race coming up then I would not have been keen.
"It's also nice to race in Romandie but without much pressure for myself or my team on my shoulders to go for results.
"After the World Championships, I could have chosen to let my elbow completely recover but it's a super nice opportunity to race in the rainbow jersey."
Van Vleuten had crashed and broken her elbow in the team time trial mixed relay event just three days before the elite women's road race. However, she dug deep in the road race with a last-ditch attack in the final kilometre and secured a stunning and memorable solo win.
In an interview with members of the press on Thursday ahead of Tour de Romandie, Van Vleuten admitted that her elbow is still tender but that within five or six weeks it should be fully healed.
"It was a rollercoaster. My elbow is surprisingly already less painful. After the road race, I didn't have any reaction in my elbow and it didn't get worse, and that is always why I am here," she said.
"Everyday, I've had the feeling that it's getting better. I also had the feeling that I could go out and train a little bit, and get out of the saddle.
"I had a lot of coffee and cake rides, but I also tried to ride out of the saddle. I could enjoy my victory without thinking all the time about my broken elbow. It still needs some time, but in four or five weeks, it will be fine."
Van Vleuten said that despite her injury, and that her season wasn't quite finished, she was able to celebrate a little bit with her family and friends upon returning home to the Netherlands from Australia.
"Did I have enough time to celebrate? I went out for dinner with my friends and family to celebrate. I think, in cycling, we don't have time to celebrate because we are always focussed on our next goals. It was super nice to have relaxed time at home after the World Championships," she said.
Raising the bar with mountainous terrain in Swiss race
The Women's WorldTour will conclude at the first-ever edition of Tour de Romandie Féminin held in Switzerland. There will be nothing easy about the three-day race as it is set to take place in the surrounding mountains with a decisive stage 2 summit finish at Thyon 2000.
Van Vleuten said she was pleased that the organisers, who also manage the long-standing men's WorldTour Tour de Romandie, added a mountainous women's event to the calendar which raises the bar for women's cycling.
"I'm happy for Tour of Romandie, they've put an effort in to organise this race for women and it's also nice that they have a good field, beautiful course, it's beautiful here," van Vleuten said.
"I'm happy we get different races on our calendar and Tour of Romandie is important and puts on a kind of different race. It's hard to find hilly races on the women's calendar, and there are more and more, and races suited to different kinds of riders. With different races the field gets more focused on different types of riders developing, it's not just one type of rider who can win everything.
"It also starts with setting the bar, if you never have races that are uphill then girls are not forced to train for more uphill races. The more climbing races you create, the level and the riders will develop for those races. It's important to have different races on our calendar."
Van Vleuten has had a remarkable season winning the Giro d'Italia Donne, Tour de France Femmes and Challenge by La Vuelta, along with the world title in Wollongong.
Asked what she will expect from her own performance at the Tour de Romandie, Van Vleuten said that she recognised that she is still recovering from her injury and that she is not in her best form.
"To be honest, I have a broken elbow and I know that I am not in the best shape anymore. I personally expect a really high level field, all the climbers. For myself, I know that I'm not 100% anymore and I expect to be able to race here with my heart without too much pressure and just enjoy three days of racing in this beautiful area," she said.
"I'm not super focussed for this race but I'm happy to be here and to be able to race with my team. It's nice, I race a lot of races with pressure on my shoulders, and so it's nice to have some races where it's to race with my heart and see how it goes. Nevertheless, I will go home on Sunday a happy person, not matter the result."
