Vos and Wichman honoured as Dutch mountain bikers of the year

Marianne Vos (Giant Pro XC Team) and Joost Wichman (Rose Vaujany Gravity MTB Team) were among five riders honoured in Sittard as 2013 Dutch Mountain Bikers of the Year.

Vos was recognized as the Best Female Elite cyclist. She raced her mountain bike in 2013 for the first time in years, finishing 11th at the Albstadt World Cup and winning a stage race that is part of the Cyprus Sunshine Cup as well as the Sea Otter cross country and the Sea Otter short track.

Gravity Cyclist of the Year Wichman won the four cross world championships, was third in the Four Cross ProTour in Jablonec and Nisou and was fourth overall in the UCI Four Cross World Rankings.

Cross country racer Michiel van der Heijden (Giant Pro XC Team) was honoured as Best Elite Male Cyclist. He was third at the U23 world championships, fourth at the U23 European championships, third in the U23 World Cup rankings and won the elite national championships.

Annemarie Worst (Giant Dealer Team) was named Best Female Talent. She was seventh at the World Cup in Val di Sole, 11th at the World Cup in Albstadt and eighth at the European Cross Country Championship.

Kjell van den Boogert (Cube-Nutswerk Team) was the Best Male Talent. He was ninth at the World Cup in Albstadt, 13th at the world championship and fourth at the cross country national championships.

The Dutch Mountain Bike Awards have been presented since 2007, first by the Club van 5 and then by the Stichting Mountainbike Platform, an organization which looks after the interests of the Dutch mountain bike scene. It was founded by Bart Brentjens the first Olympic Mountain Bike Champion (Atlanta 1996) and Leo van Zeeland, former coach of the Dutch national mountain bike team and current manager and coach of the Giant Pro XC Team.