The vision of Annemiek van Vleuten's crash while leading the Rio Olympic Games road race in August is not easy viewing. The 34-year-old Dutchwoman was on her way to the gold medal when disaster struck and she crashed out of the race, suffering a concussion and three fractures to her spine.
Less than a month later and van Vleuten was back winning races, taking the prologue, a stage, the mountain classification and overall at the Lotto Belgium Tour. The Orica-AIS rider finished her road season at the Doha Worlds in October with a 'miracle' fifth place in the time trial.
She then packed her bags and headed to the southern hemisphere for a holiday in New Zealand and the Crocodile Trophy mountain bike stage race in North Queensland to kick off a summer of racing in Australia.
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"For me it was a nice way to see some of Australia and have a bit of an off-season while still staying fit, enjoying myself and meeting a great group of people. I loved it," van Vleuten told Cyclingnews of her experience at the race dubbed the 'hardest' mountain bike race on the planet.
Van Vlueten won several stages at the race but having gotten lost and ridden and extra 40km, she finished the race in second place overall. Regardless of the extra kilometres and long demanding days, it is a race she is planning on returning to.
"Normally, I wouldn't go for a second time but this was such a good experience, one of the best things I've done so far" she said. "The organisation have invited to me to come back and I liked it so much to ride there."
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