How has the Netherlands become the powerhouse of women’s cycling?

BarcelonaThe return of the women’s Tour de France has served to certify what everyone already knew: the Netherlands dominate women’s cycling, with the triumph of Annemiek van Vleuten, of the Movistar team. To talk about women’s cycling is to do so from a land that has made the bicycle part of everyday life, with more than 37,000 kilometers of cycle paths between the cities. The Netherlands is not a very big country, but it has such a rich sporting tradition that it allows them to excel in different disciplines. A land with the highest average of people federated in any sport and with one of the highest averages of cycling clubs. No, nothing is a coincidence. In the Netherlands they have believed in their athletes.

In recent years, the Dutch women have been world champions in road (Chantal Blaak) and trials (Annemiek van Vleuten), Olympic champions (Anna van der Breggen) and European champions (Marianne Vos). Veteran Vos led the Tour all week until Van Vleuten took the lead, showing the power of the Dutch women. If Vos has been the great reference in the last decade, as the woman with the most podiums in the last 10 years in the international circuit, behind her comes a new batch that confirms that the roads will continue to be painted orange, the color with which the Dutch compete in honor of their royal house.

Years of tradition

The Dutch love for bicycles is centuries old. A low, flat land, ideal for pedaling to go to study or work. Already in the 1930s, a Dutch woman, Mien van Bree, began to compete and win international competitions before the Second World War, when the Dutch resistance carried documents and weapons on bicycles. Van Bree created the first women’s cycling club at a time when the seeds of Dutch professional women’s sport were laid. When in 1968, in the midst of a wave of change in Europe, an official women’s World Cup was organized for the first time, it was naturally won by a Dutchwoman: Keetie van Hage, who would go on to become world champion six times. Other compatriots would emulate their successes, such as Petra de Bruijn and Leontien van Moorsel in the 90s. The rivals were the French and Italian women, lands where the tradition of races such as the Tour or the Giro inspired women who did not always have the support of a structure at the back, as was the case of the great French champion Jeannie Longo, who would maintain a great rivalry with Van Moorsel in the 90s. “When you arrived in Europe you found great champions, but the one who was more organized was the Dutch team . You could see that they believed in it, that they were serious,” the American Marianne Martin, Tour champion in 1984, explains to the ARA. The jewel in the crown was Van Moorsel, world champion on the road, in the velodrome and in the trials. In 2006 it would be the turn of Marianne Vos, who would become world champion for the first time at the age of 19. In total, she has already been three times on the road and seven times in trials, as well as Olympic champion in 2012. The Dutch women are the women who have won the most Olympic medals in cycling with names such as Vos or Anna van der Breggen, champion in 2016

“We have always felt respected. There is a different culture of doing sports, for sure. In the Netherlands it is normal for everyone to do sports, no one is surprised if a woman competes. And in cycling, having a tradition of victories, there is more help”, Vos has explained on occasions. Each triumph, in fact, has encouraged new generations who have references. In the Netherlands there are currently more than 200 elite clubs with a women’s section, and many more amateurs. In fact, a study by the local Federation in 2014 showed that every year more than one million Dutch people participate in a cycling competition at least once a month. “It is important that we have structure. There are many clubs, many competitions. It is the most normal thing in the world that your friends and family compete. Talking to people from other countries, you realize that in our case it is very normal that young girls are competing. It doesn’t always happen,” says Vos. The great champion, by the way, points to another key factor: the roads.

The bike lanes

“Here we ride bikes all day, up and down. We have safe lanes and roads. We have bike lanes between big cities. When you go around the world you realize that’s not always the case. Here when you’re little your parents already tell you ride a bike to school. We don’t take the car to go buy things we can go buy by bike,” reasoned Vos at a Federation event a few years ago. All the great champions remember their childhood on a bicycle. In addition, there are a lot of cycling tournaments. In schools, in towns, in regions. You already compete when you don’t lift a piece of soil.

And of course, there is support. Both the International Olympic Committee and the Federation and private companies, who understand the potential of sponsoring athletes or hiring them when they retire because having been a great champion is considered to give you a background that serves you in your professional life . Aid to athletes can reach 2,000 euros per month. Companies like Jumbo-Visma, from the Netherlands, which has the best men’s and one of the best women’s cycling teams right now, for example. “The Federation organizes many races, which are used to detect talent. When you enter the program you are not alone, you have help. It has become normal that you can study and compete, it has become normal that you have leave if you are a mother and you know there are programs to make the jump to professional life. We’re getting better at finding the balance between sports and personal life,” said Vos, who warns that he believes an even better batch of Dutch cyclists is coming up behind.