Marianne Vos

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**Marianne Vos**
Personal information

Full name	Marianne Vos
Date of birth	May 13, 1987 (age 19)
Country	Netherlands
Team information
Current team	Team DSB-Ballast Nedam
Discipline	Road, cyclo-cross, MTB
Role	Rider
Professional team(s)
2006-	Team DSB-Ballast Nedam
Major wins
World Road Race Champion (2006) World Cyclo-cross Champion (2006)

Infobox last updated on:
January 17, 2007

Medal record
Road bicycle racing
World Championship
Gold	2006
World Junior Championship
Gold	2004
Silver	2005
European Championship
Gold	2006
Cyclo-cross
World Championship
Gold	2006
European Championship
Gold	2005
Bronze	2006

Marianne Vos, (pronunciation (help·info)) (born May 13, 1987 in 's-Hertogenbosch) is a Dutch cyclo-cross and road bicycle racer. After winning a Junior European and World Championships title in road racing she continued her winning streak in senior cycling by becoming World Champion in both cyclo-cross and road racing at the age of 19.

1 Early years
2 Professional career
3 Outside sports
4 Achievements
- 4.1 2002
- 4.2 2003
- 4.3 2004
- 4.4 2005
- 4.5 2006
5 Trivia
6 External links
7 References

[edit] Early years

Marianne Vos, currently living in small village of Babyloniënbroek, started her career when she was six years old after she was watching her older brother who already was a cyclist.^[1] At first she was only training at her brother's team as she was not yet allowed to participate in races; during the winter she started training in cycle-cross as well. When she was eight, she was finally able to participate in races and was successful immediately.^[1] Vos was mad for sports and besides road cycling and cyclo-cross, also participated in speed skating and inline speed skating. At the of 14 she dropped the inline speed skating, but replaced it with mountain biking. As of 2006, she still takes part in all of these sports, although not as often in speed skating.^[1]

[edit] Professional career

[edit] 2002, 2003

Her first notable national results came in 2002 when she won two National Championships and finished in second position in another one. She became Dutch mountain biking champion and also took the Dutch title at the National Junior road race,^[2]^[3] while she finished second in the Dutch time trial championship behind Roxanne Knetemann.^[4] In 2003 Vos successfully defended her National Junior mountain bike title.^[2] At the time trial championships she again finished in second position, this time behind Maxime Groenewegen while 2002 champion Roxanne Knetemann finished fourth.^[5]

[edit] 2004

Vos excelled in cyclo-cross for the first time in 2004 when she won her first international race in Gieten, beating Birgit Hollmann and Arenda Grimberg.^[6] She finished 3rd in the Dutch Junior road race and time trial being unable to beat Ellen van Dijk who won both events.^[7]^[8] Continuing in her cycle-cross season she added another two wins in Surhuisterveen and Pijnacker-Nootdorp. In the last race she beat cycle-cross legends Hanka Kupfernagel and Daphny van den Brand.^[9]^[10] For the third straight time she became Dutch Junior champion in mountain bike before heading to Verona for the Junior road race World Championships.^[2] Still only 17 years of age and only a first-year junior Vos broke away from the pack in the final of five laps at the major climb of the circuit. No one was able to catch up with her and she kept advantage until she reached the finish line and became World Champion.^[11] At the end of 2004 Vos was chosen as Sport FM Sportswoman of the year 2004^[12]

[edit] 2005

Vos during cycle-cross

As being Junior World Champion Vos claimed her first Dutch Junior national road title by finishing in front of 2004 champion Ellen van Dijk.^[13] Van Dijk was able to defend her time trial title successfully before Maxime Groenewegen, while Vos finished in third position at this event again.^[14] Participating as a senior at the Dutch National cyclo-cross Championship Vos showed her talent among the favourites and finished in silver medal position behind Daphny van den Brand.^[15] She then won her fourth straight Dutch Junior mountain bike title, before winning a Junior World Cup meeting in Houffalize.^[2] She finished fourth at the World Junior cyclo-cross Championship, but was able to win a race held in Heeswijk a week later.^[2] From then on Vos occasionally took part in senior road races. One of those was the Omloop van Borsele which she was able to win by beating Adrie Visser who finished second.^[16] Including Vos' World Championship win in 2004 The Netherlands had won the last three editions of the Junior Championships (the others being Loes Markerink in 2002 and Suzanne de Goede in 2003).^[11] Vos's goal was to add a fourth title to this list by defending her title in Salzburg, but was only able to finish second behind Danish Mie Bekker Lacota.^[17]

Once the road race was over Vos went over to cycle-cross again. Where everyone would have become tired after such a season Vos was going to improve her skills even more. Just six weeks after her silver medal from Salzburg she won her next cyclo-cross races in Harderwijk and Sumar.^[18]^[19] Her next aim was the European cyclo-cross Championships which were held in Pont-Château, France. She now started in the elite field and was expected to assist Daphny van den Brand towards her European title, but instead of that she excelled herself by beating all the favourites including Van den Brand who won silver.^[20] After the European Championship she was also able to win another two cyclo-cross races in Gieten and Loenhout.^[21]^[22] For the second time Vos was chosen as Sport FM Sportswoman of the year 2005'.'^[12]

[edit] 2006

With the cyclo-cross season crossing the 2005/06 border Vos already won her first race of 2006 on 1 January when she won the race in Pétange.^[23] Not even a week later the Dutch National Championships were held in Huijbergen. Again it became a clash between Vos and Van den Brand, this time Van den Brand being the better side and becoming Dutch Champion, while Vos took the silver.^[24] Vos then concentrated on the World cyclo-cross Championships held in her own country in Zeddam. On 29 January 2006 Marianne Vos was in excellent form cycling in the lead of the race from start to finish with only Hanka Kupfernagel and Daphny van den Brand able to catch up with her. Van den Brand had to change bikes and lost her spot in the lead, following in about a minute to take the bronze at the end. The decision of who would take the gold was decided in the last metres of the race when Vos out-sprinted Kupfernagel to claim the World title.^[25]

During the 2006 road race season Vos took part in the Gracia-Orlova tour in the Czech Republic, where she won the 5th stage finishing 2.20 minutes before the pack arrived.^[26] In that same week she won the Omloop van Borsele for the second time in a row, this time beating Vera Koedooder and Bertine Spijkerman.^[27] In Spain she took part in the Emakumeen Bira and was able to win the 1st stage.^[28] She then travelled back to Holland to participate in the National road race Championship. Vos showed up in the group containing all favourites and as the finish approached she showed her sprinting skills by out-sprinting Sharon van Essen and Suzanne de Goede to win the Dutch title in Maastricht.^[29] On 28 June 2006 Vos was named as Dutch Sports Talent of the year 2006 finishing in front of pentathlete Laurien Hoos and gymnast Epke Zonderland. The additional award was handed to her by former swimming legend Erica Terpstra.^[30]

A few weeks later another win was to be added to her achievements list when she was the strongest during the Omloop van Valkenburg where she again finished in front of Suzanne de Goede.^[31] She still had the age of a junior and therefore took part in the European road race Championship in Valkenburg. The final sprint of the race went between Vos and Italian Tatiana Guderzo, which was won by Vos, who won another major title.^[32] She then went on to win two stages and the overall classification in the Tour Féminin en Limousin^[33]. In July, she proved to be a good cyclist in criteriums as well, winning four of those (Steenwijk, Draai van de Kaai, Oostvoorne and Pijnacker) in a row.^[34]

Vos claims World Championship title

In August, she signed a five-year deal with the Dutch Team DSB-Ballast Nedam, starting immediately.^[35] It didn't last long until she won her first race as being a member of the DSB team. At the end of the 4th stage of the Trophée d'Or Féminin Vos passed the finish line first, before Tanja Schmidt-Hennes, a decent preparation for the World Championships.^[36]

With the silver medal won in 2005 in mind, Vos returned to Salzburg to take part in the senior road race at the World Championship of road cycling. As the race went underway, Vos remained in the bunch until Nicole Cooke started the action in the 5th out of 6 laps. Cooke attacked on the second climb of the circuit and only Nicole Brändli and Marianne Vos were able to catch up with her. When the three went over the top, only a few others were able to come back a few kilometres later. Later, Judith Arndt started a breakaway and left the group by herself, taking some distance. Vos made the jump towards Arndt and were leading the race only for a few minutes when the chasers came back. From then on, the group mainly stayed together, apart from some attacks on either the flat road or the second climb. The race went on to a sprint with 15 riders, in which Vos was the strongest to claim another rainbow jersey.^[37]

In the 2006 UCI Cyclo-cross European Championships Vos was unable to defend her title, but managed to win a bronze medal, finishing in third place behind Daphny van den Brand and Hanka Kupfernagel.^[38]

[edit] Outside sports

Vos is an ambassador for Youth United for Sri Lanka (YU4SL), which is a foundation set up by young people whose goal is to help underprivileged people in Sri Lanka. Speed skater Ireen Wüst and several other Dutch celebrities joined Vos as an ambassador.^[39] She combines her sport the upcoming years with her medicine study in Nijmegen.^[35]

[edit] Achievements

List of Marianne Vos' main achievements:^[40]^[41]

[edit] 2002

1st in Dutch National Championship Mountainbiking (Juniors)
1st in Dutch National Championship Road Cycling (Juniors)
2nd in Dutch National Championship Time Trial (Juniors)