DUTCH DOMINATION CONTINUES
How to explain the strength in depth of Dutch riders in women’s cycling? You could look at the UCI’s World Ranking, and see that the top three riders in the world are all from the Netherlands – Lorena Wiebes, Marianne Vos and Annemiek van Vleuten. Look further down the list and the stats remain almost equally impressive – they have five of the top six in the world, six in the top dozen and nine in the top 25. In the nations ranking, there is no competition: the Netherlands has 9,228 points; Italy, a strong nation in second, have 5,380. You could look back at the history of the World Championships and note that in every year since 2005, with the exception of 2014, they have won either the silver or gold medal in the women’s road race. This year, through Van Vleuten and Anna Van der Breggen, they won both.
In fact, in that women’s road race, the superiority of Dutch cycling was most stark. In the Women’s WorldTour, those top five Dutch riders represent four different teams – Wiebes is at Parkhotel Valkenburg, Vos at CCCLiv, Van Vleuten at MitcheltonScott and Van der Breggen and Amy Pieters are both at Boels-Dolmans – so they spend the season racing against each other, spreading the wins out a little more. But when they are a unit at the Worlds, they are physically invincible and only intra-team rivalry could really get in their way. Van Vleuten won with a 100km-plus solo break while Van der Breggen policed the small group behind and went on to finish second, and then Vos policed the dwindling peloton and won the sprint for sixth. At the moment, you don’t have to ask who the best rider in the world is, just who the best Dutch rider is. They are the same thing.