WHAT WE'VE LEARNED THIS MONTH

VOS IS WINNING MORE SPRINTS

Marianne Vos was described in one report this summer as being in the dotage of her career. At 31 that might be a bit premature, but Vos, who won her first world title before some of her competitors had even started secondary school, has been around for some time. When Vos turned pro, she collected victories with alarming facility. She took 14 in 2008 and 18 the year after. But times have changed in the years since she first donned the rainbow jersey in 2006. The strength in the peloton has deepened and the riders have become more specialised.

Before, Vos’s wins would come in races as disparate as the Giro Rosa and the Ronde van Drenthe – or even more broadly if you factored in track and cyclo-cross. But winning across a variety of terrain is harder now, and in recent years, Vos has focused on sprinting. The wins do not come as regularly – she has eight so far this year – but when they do start to flow, Vos is still one of the best.

Her recent run of five wins in Scandinavia, which saw her soar to the top of the WorldTour rankings, was a case in point. Her victory at the Postnord Vårgårda was a masterclass in tactical positioning. She passed at least four riders and gained an unassailable gap in the final corner that mattered and had a clear run at the line. At the Ladies Tour of Norway, Vos shows she thrives when the finish suits the durable stayers rather than the pure sprinters: she won all three stages and the overall. Vos is not the so-called cannibal she once was, but the killer instinct is still strong – particularly if the race is contested by the bunch.