Annemiek van Vleuten, a former Tour de France winner and multiple-time world champion, announced that she will join Fenix-Deceuninck as a performance mentor in 2025.
"New team, new challenge! Will be joining Fenix-Deceuninck as performance mentor. Look forward to sharing my experience from the past with the next generation and helping them to become better athletes," Van Vleuten said in a post to her social media channels on Friday.
Her new role could include working with some of the sport's top riders, including mountain bike World Champion and Tour de France's best young rider Puck Pieterse and Tour de France's general classification podium finisher Pauliena Rooijakker, among others, in their pursuits on the Women's WorldTour.
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However, she said that while it is confirmed she will work closely with a select few riders, the details have not yet been confirmed.
"We still have to figure that out a bit. It's a bit of a journey of discovery for myself and for the team. But I'm definitely going to think along with the athletes and see how we can get the best out of this team," Van Vleuten said in a story published on NOS.
"The idea is to work with three riders in concrete terms. It is not yet known which three riders it will be. I will join the team at the training camp in January and get to know everyone.
"It could be that I will work with Puck. She will first do her 'cross season and we will leave her alone for a while. I definitely see Puck as a potential Tour winner. She has a lot of talent. But I think we have to guide her. She has to discover herself. And I think she will have to do that by making choices in what she really wants to excel in. In this team, the main thing is that the rider makes the choice himself and that it is also about having fun.
"Since I was approached this spring, I have indeed started following Pauliena with a bit more interest. Then you see someone who has started to discover herself as a classification rider. Of course, I recognize myself in that very much. We might be able to speed up her process a bit by thinking along with Pauliena. And sometimes it's just about giving trust."
Van Vleuten retired from professional racing at the end of 2023 following a successful 16 years that was highlighted by victories at the Tour de France, Giro d'Italia, Vuelta Femenina, Olympic Games and major events at the Spring Classics such as Tour of Flanders and Liège-Bastogne-Liège.
Van Vleuten said that team co-owner Philip Roodhooft reached out to her in the spring to gauge her interest in working with Fenix-Deceuninck.
"He said: 'we have the idea that we still need something to let the riders take the final step. We think that you can contribute to that,'" Van Vleuten confirmed.
"That's a great opportunity for me to develop myself as a coach. I knew I didn't want to be a team leader in the car, because I think others are better at that tactically. And I didn't want to be a trainer either. So this 'loose role' is very nice for me."
Van Vleuten also said that she had discussed potential opportunities working in the professional peloton as a coach with her long-time trainer Louis Delahaije, while also looking into sports psychology. "I think that is perhaps the most interesting part. And where I can contribute most to the development of the riders," she said.
Van Vleuten explained more about her decision to take on a new role with Fenix-Deceuninck on her website annemiekvanvleuten.nl. She said that she was approached by multiple teams but that she chose Fenix-Deceuninck because they were "very pleasant and open".
"I think it is important that women and men in the same team are offered the same facilities. In addition, it quickly became clear to me that Philip Roodhooft really has a clear vision with this team. Riders are recruited because they see talent in them and then plans are made to further develop this talent. It is not a team of riders who are already winners when they join the team," she wrote.
"I was positively surprised by the well-organized structure and everything that has been arranged within this team. I saw this team start as a team where some 'crossers rode a road program together, but this team continued to develop where in my opinion the breakthrough really came in 2023 and we also started to take into account the plans that were made within Fenix-Deceuninck.
"I find it interesting to work with riders and think along with them about how they can improve themselves but also always have to keep the balance. I like how this team thinks about 'performance'. During my career, I have also experienced and seen how important it is to keep that balance, but within that to look for things that could be better.
"What also attracted me is that it is also a great opportunity to develop myself within a cycling team. I thought it was great that Philip presented it to me in this way: as a journey of discovery for both sides. I think that neither of us has a clear idea of how and what I can add to this team as a 'performance mentor', but there is a clear desire from both sides to make a substantive contribution."
