[ 📷:Alex Broadway/SWpix.com]
World champion Annemiek van Vleuten has no plans to wind down before her retirement at the end of the 2023 season, confirming she will once again compete at the Giro d'Italia Donne, Tour de France Femmes and La Vuelta Femenina next year.
The rebranded women's Vuelta will be a seven-day race next season and moves from September to May, something which hasn't put Van Vleuten off going for a third GC win at the race in a row.
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"I am clear I want to race both the Giro and Tour again," she told Ciclismo El Pelotón. "It is something that I've already been talking about with my coach and with my team. I still love racing in Italy, and I want to ride one more Giro. It would be a first big block of competition from Flanders to the Vuelta, and a second block including Giro and Tour.
"Stage races reward consistency, which is something that suits me well. I'm very consistent in the Classics, too, but the level is so high on the day that it's harder to win them. And the climbs that are in them are often too short for me. I still like them, though.
"I'm happy to see famous climbs in the [Tour de France] route for next year, with the Tourmalet finish. It's made me excited already. It was important that we have an uphill finish with a climb that has a big name.
“I'm also happy to see a time trial in this Tour de France. I would say that last year we had an awesome start. This year they've fine tuned the parcours a little bit and I think they did a good job."