Queen V

Owen Rogers asks Marianne Vos, the most successful bike rider of her generation, if she is ready to reign again.

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Marianne Vos’s victory in August’s Vårgårda road race was typical of her. Swooping round the outside in the final right-hand bend, she opened her sprint early, checked over her shoulder and crossed the line, left hand characteristically punching the air.

It was a powerful, intelligent victory, and a tipping point. Days later she won all three stages of the Ladies Tour of Norway en route to her second consecutive victory there, then finished second at the GP Plouay. After years of inconsistency, Vos finally had the legs to match her tactical prowess. Two Olympic gold medals and 12 rainbow jerseys in three disciplines are the highlights of a palmarès which only bears comparison with the greatest ever in the sport. But the last of those world titles came nearly five years ago, signalling the end of a six-year reign as cyclo-cross world champion, and while she had a successful 2014 on the road, the following year proved to be Vos’s annus horribilis.

Over-extended

A hamstring injury meant she could only salvage third place in the 2015 cyclo-cross Worlds. Later that spring she broke a rib in a mountain bike race, and struggling to recover from that and overtraining put paid to her road season. She won some races in 2016, but it wasn’t until August this year that she was able to achieve the consistency of those earlier years.