Road Cycling UK

Dutchwoman Marianne Vos, currently the the leader of the Rabobank-Liv/giant women’s team, is the undisputed queen of cycling. No other current rider can match her great success in such a variety of different disciplines, with 11 world titles across road, track and cyclocross, plus Olympic medals on the track and the road.

She has also won many races in the UCI Women’s Road World Cup, including La Flèche Wallonne Féminine five times and the 2013 Tour des Flandres, as well as being a five time winner of the overall title, in 2007, 2009, 2010, 2012 and 2013. Demonstrating her power and versatility, she has also won a number of major multi-day stage races including the Giro d’Italia Femminile in 2011 and 2012.

Marianne was born on 13th May 1987 in Hertogenbosch in the Netherlands. She caught the cycling bug from her older brother Anton, and her talent and versatility were immediately obvious. In her first year competing as a junior, she won national titles in both mountain biking and road racing, and as a rookie in the elite ranks in 2006, at the age of just 19, she won world titles on the road and in cyclocross.

Marianne is the athlete for whom the term ‘all-rounder’ could have been invented – most cyclists limit their riding to a single discipline, but she competes in four, and all to a high standard. Her finest year was 2012 when she won world titles in road and cyclocross, as well as gold in the Olympic road race.