Marianne Vos: “We will have a hard race this year”

May 2 ^nd 2025 - 11:00 [GMT + 2]

The rainbow armbands in her jersey are all but an understatement of the palmares and the utter importance of her totemic figure. Marianne Vos (1987, 's-Hertogenbosch - the Netherlands) is one of the most talented, accomplished and representative athletes of all time in sport. From the saddle, she has not only witnessed but also led the transformation of women’s cycling - from relative obscurity to a place of growing recognition.

Listing the many victories and records Vos has achieved during her nearly two-decade long sporting career would take a couple of paragraphs. Let’s sum it up with the fourteen world titles and two Olympic gold medals she has claimed across multiple cycling disciplines.

As for La Vuelta Femenina by Carrefour.es, the Visma | Lease a Bike cyclist is its winningest rider (tied at four stage victories with fellow Dutch rider Demi Vollering) and has brought home the green jersey of the Points classification on its two editions to date. She has also worn La Roja, the the red GC leader jersey, once - last year, in the journey from Huesca to Jaca’s Fuerte Rapitán, following a frantic flat stage to Zaragoza that remains the quickest race in UCI Women’s WorldTour history.

All her four victories in the Spanish Grand Tour have come in similar fashion - by triumphing with a fast sprint after a long, demanding day out. That’s classic Vos. Her endurance and her turn of speed have been her best assets to nurture a victory count that exceeds 250 as of now and she intends to keep growing as soon as next week. In this interview, the Dutch legend reflects on her connection with La Vuelta Femenina by Carrefour.es, her goals for the upcoming edition starting May 4th in Barcelona, and other topics where her insight is enriching.

In this road season so far, you have raced just seven days and stood on the podium of both the Milano-Sanremo and De Brabantse Pijl, as well as finishing 4th in Paris-Roubaix while your teammate Pauline Ferrand-Prévot scored the victory. How happy are you with how your season is going so far?

I am actually quite happy. I was a bit ill during the Flemish classics, but other than that my form has been very good and we had some good races and results with the team. On a personal note, I’m still missing a really outstanding result, so from that perspective it has not been a perfect campaign. But I'm pretty happy with the feeling and the shape overall.

Back in 2023 you came to La Vuelta Femenina by Carrefour.es with a zero in your victory count for the season, and you managed to unlock it in Spain. Will it happen again this year?

My team and I are aiming for that, yes. We're going to chase opportunities for a stage victory, and the GC is also a goal. Those are our two focuses for the event.

How would you describe your relationship with La Vuelta Femenina by Carrefour.es?

My and my team’s memories are very good. That's the reason I'm very much looking forward to racing it again. I like the style of racing, and I like the course. There are different opportunities, with some hilly stages and some flat ones. Also, the opening TTT is something you don't see that often anymore. I have good memories and that makes me really excited to come back this year again.

What has La Vuelta Femenina by Carrefour.es given to women’s cycling that it didn't have already?

For starters, it's fantastic to have all the three Grand Tours in the women’s calendar. They have their own beauty, their own atmosphere and their own specialists. Besides, the Vuelta is a very well-organized race, and it’s great to have a Grand Tour right after the spring classics. I also think it's a very important event for Spanish women's cycling. Men’s cycling was already very popular in Spain, and you can see now that women's cycling is growing - not only because of the Vuelta. That's something really good to see.

Has any Spanish rider caught your eye as of lately?

You see a lot of Spanish riders in the bunch, and the Vuelta is a great opportunity for all of them to shine. Mavi García is always around, and I hope she will have a good race. Last year, Mireia Benito was really strong and put in a lot of effort for her team. I think she will definitely show herself again next week.

The last stage of La Vuelta Femenina 25 by Carrefour.es will mark the toughest racing day to date on this event, and is a reflection of how race routes are getting harder every year in women’s cycling. Up to which point do you think this trend will continue?

You can have a hard course, but its toughness depends also on how you race it. It’s not only elevation gain that makes a race hard. Of course, it’s great to have some tough, iconic climbs. Stages 5 (Lagunas de Neila) and 7 (Cotobello) will play a huge role in the general classification, and the climbers will stand out there. But last year we had this not-so-climby stage to Zaragoza that turned out very windy, and there were demanding, race-defining echelons all day long. Over the last few years we have seen women’s races get longer, with more climbing in. It's good to have different types of races so that different specialties come up and different riders can go for their opportunities - but it’s not only the mountains that make races demanding. Anyway, I’d say we will have a hard race this year.

Before the interview, you said you were preparing for La Vuelta Femenina 25 by Carrefour.es in Mallorca. Are you used to spending time in Spain?

I don't have a home in Spain, but I do spend a lot of time in the country - both in the mainland and in the islands. I've been riding a lot in Tenerife and Mallorca. Holland is quite flat, and sometimes I do like to be at home - but, in training periods, you look for the best opportunities climate-wise and terrain-wise, trying to find nice weather and some climbing and hilly roads. In that regard, Spain is the place to be when preparing for a race and for the season.

You were the world's number one rider for a decade, and are one of the sport’s brightest legends. How would you define your current status in the women's peloton?

To be honest, my status is something I don't really think about. I’m just focusing on training and racing instead. I've been around for quite a long time, so I think most of the people will say I'm sort of an experienced rider. [laughs]

Here comes a hard question. What's your favorite color?

That's an interesting one! [laughs] I like blue because of the sky and the sea, but I also like green because of nature. Yellow is an important color in cycling, and it's also the one we stand for as a team, and I also like it. I guess it depends on the mood, and on the time of the year… Let's pick green, because of nature.    

Green like the green jersey you have won twice in La Vuelta Femenina by Carrefour.es. In your palmares, we can indeed find at least one achievement for every color. What goals do you have left to accomplish in the remainder of your career?

There is not one specific race that I'm aiming for. My main goal is just to try and get the maximum out of myself, as it has always been - adding value to the team and maybe produce some results if that's the team’s goal. I'm not focusing on results, yet I hope to score the best possible ones.