What’s next for the Dutch women's cycling team? Van Vleuten is clear: "Creating a close-knit team is an illusion"

Loes Gunnewijk will soon step down as the national coach of the Dutch women's cycling team. After many successes, but also several disappointing international races, the Dutch National Team will have to find a new coach for the women's team. And that is not an easy role to fill. One person they won't be calling is Annemiek van Vleuten.

In an interview with NOS, the 41-year-old former rider, who now frequently shares her race analysis as a pundit, explains that being a national coach is a rather thankless job. She was even briefly approached. "It was never an official offer, but when I was asked, I already said no. It's a role you can only really get wrong," Van Vleuten explains. High expectations and big names — perhaps that makes achieving success even more difficult.

Take the recent World Championships, for example. Demi Vollering, on one side, and Marianne Vos and Riejanne Markus, on the other, struggled to align their strategies during the race. Additionally, Puck Pieterse, who was also a favorite, started the race. It was somewhat reminiscent of the Tokyo Olympics, where the Dutch women misjudged the race and missed out on the gold. "It’s really difficult to communicate with each other because you’re racing without earpieces. You could see that Demi had very strong legs, but she forgot to look around her," said Wilbert Broekhuizen, technical director at the Dutch National Team.

Continue below the photo.

Riejanne Markus and Puck Pieterse side by side with Lotte Kopecky

Van Vleuten sees big challenges ahead for the new national coach: "You only see them a few times a year"

Broekhuizen continues: "Mistakes can be made, but you have to learn from them. In the debriefing, we carefully and thoroughly discussed what could be improved for next time." Van Vleuten sees additional difficulties with national races. "As a national coach, you have very little influence over the riders because you only see them a few times a year. Plus, they race all year with earpieces, except in national races. It's a tough situation."

The multiple-time world champion simply believes that forging a close-knit team from the wide pool of Dutch talent is difficult. "A national team remains a temporary setup, and turning it into a cohesive team is an illusion, especially with so many stars on the squad. Gunnewijk did manage to ensure that everyone had clear roles. We saw that in Zurich. However, we also saw a leader (Vollering, ed.) who didn’t make the right decisions and perhaps couldn’t handle the pressure." The improvements now rest on the shoulders of the new national coach. To this, Broekhuizen adds: "I think we’ll be able to announce a new national coach quite soon. Things are looking good."

The calendar for the new cyclo-cross season is now online! Check it out here. Or check out our general calendars for the remainder of the season for the men and women's races.

Read also

Ayuso speaks harshly about UCI after death of Muriel Furrer: "This is truly a disgrace"

Pogacar's Strava says it all: Slovenian superstar was lots and lots faster than his competition

"It’s like they put him in a juniors race": Pogacar's World Championship performance still baffles Boonen, Armstrong and Bruyneel