Annemiek Van Vleuten is one of the greatest cyclists of all time—yet perhaps also one of the least likely of cycling greats…though you’d never know it.

She won the Giro d’Italia Women four times, the Vuelta three times, nabbed four World Championship titles, brought home two Olympic medals, and also took the top step of the podium at the Tour de France Femmes. And we’re just skimming the surface here.

Yet in so many cases, Annemiek was not the apparent front runner. Consider how she got her start in the sport. Unlike so many cycling greats, Annemiek came to competitive cycling late in life. In fact, she didn’t even quit her day job as an epidemiologist until she was 28 years old—an age when some riders are already retiring from the peloton.

Not long after, Annemiek was leading the women’s Olympic road race in Rio de Janeiro and was only 12 kilometers from the finish when she crashed hard, knocking herself unconscious and going to the hospital with three spinal fractures. That crash, all by itself, could have spelled the end of a promising career. In just 10 days, however, she was back on the bike. Within a month she’d taken the overall victory at the Belgium Tour.

And she was just getting warmed up.

The next year Annemiek continued her amazing comeback, winning the individual time trial at the UCI Road World Championships. She won the same World Champ title the following year as well. When she got her second chance at Olympic glory at the Tokyo games in 2021 she earned a silver, despite crashing early in the women’s road race, and then took home the gold medal three days later in the time trial event. And, perhaps most impressive of all, she sprinted to victory in the 2022 UCI Road World Championships in Wollongong—despite racing the entirety of the 163-kilometer event with a broken elbow that she’d obtained from a crash earlier that week.

"Re-watching it, it's like, the last kilometre of that race still gives me goosebumps," Van Vleuten said in a cyclingnews.com interview as she recalled perhaps her most unlikely of victories. "I can really feel the emotions of that whole week, of disappointment, and it's maybe the whole of my career summarised into one week… I think maybe this is the best victory in my whole career," she said.

Clearly there’s a theme here—never, ever, give up.

Annemiek’s talent is undeniably world class, but her ability to adapt to setbacks and persevere in the face of adversity—that’s what made her 16-year career as a pro so inspiring to watch. And it’s also one of the reasons we’re proud that Annemiek continues to be a Canyon ambassador.