Marianne Vos ends season early after iliac artery surgery

Marianne Vos announced on Instagram that she underwent iliac artery surgery last week at the Máxima Medisch Centrum in Eindhoven, Netherlands.

The 36-year-old said she had been struggling "for a long period of time" with pain and a lack of power in her left leg, and said the symptoms became worse this year.

Vos had surgery on an artery in 2020 and again this February after struggling during the cyclocross season, making her comeback to training 10 days later and starting her season at the Trofeo Alfredo Binda.

She won two stages and the points classification of La Vuelta Femenina in May but has gone winless on the road since, although she did take a UCI Gravel World Series victory in Sweden just a little over a week ago. This time, the surgery "means the end of my 2023 season", she said.

"Last week I underwent surgery on my left iliac artery. After some days in the hospital, I am currently back home to start a careful recovery and rehabilitation program of 10 weeks. Obviously, this means the end of my 2023 season.

"My biggest hope for now is to be able to return to competition without symptoms. I would love to continue riding and racing at the highest level and will surely do my utterly best to be back."

Iliac artery constriction is a common problem among professional cyclists and several prominent racers have had similar surgery in recent years.

Pauline Ferrand-Prevot underwent several surgeries before re-finding her top form with MTB Worlds titles in 2019, 2020, 2022 and 2023. Amanda Spratt and Tayler Wiles also had iliac artery surgery in 2021 and 2022, while Annemiek van Vleuten had the surgery back in the earlier stages of her career.