Annemiek van Vleuten is putting every effort into smashing Omloop Het Nieuwsblad during opening weekend on February 27 in Belgium. The defending champion brought her new Movistar Team Women's squad to Mount Teide, a volcano on Tenerife in the Canary Islands, Spain, in February, to train specifically for the 1.Pro race that she won in dominant fashion last spring before the calendar shut down due to COVID-19.
"My first race for Movistar Team. At the moment preparing hard (and enjoy hard the stops) with Emma Norsgaard at Teide to be ready for Omloop," Van Vleuten wrote in a post on Twitter ten days ago.
Mount Teide on Tenerife has been the high-altitude training camp of choice for Van Vleuten for the past few seasons, where she has typically spent blocks of time training on her own, while she was under contract with Mitchelton-Scott.
Van Vleuten joined Movistar on a two-year deal that will take her through 2022. She will be the team's leader but she is also committed to helping develop their younger talent, and integrating into the team's existing professional atmosphere.
The team already united at an opening training camp in Almeria, Spain, in January before they presented their men's and women's teams together. Van Vleuten then went to Tenerife to train on Mount Teide with her teammates in February.
"First I stayed always alone or with max 2 people at altitude at El Teide! This year 6x Movistar Team at Tenerife," Van Vleuten wrote on Twitter.
The season will officially get underway for Movistar Team Women at opening weekend's Omloop Het Nieuwsblad and then they will turn their attention to the first Women's WorldTour race of the season will be at Strade Bianche on March 6 in Italy.
Van Vleuten won both races last year, while wearing the world champion's jersey, and plans on defending both titles in the coming weeks.
In her latest blog on Cyclingnews, Van Vleuten said that while she aims to win races with Movistar Team, the cycling world can also expect the squad to keep their lively team spirit, ride as a unit, and start winning with multiple riders in 2021.
