A new strategy aims to get back on the top step of the podium, but will it work?
Cor Vos
For years in the sport of road racing, the Dutch women were the most dominant on the world stage. That was true not only when competing in WorldTour races within their trade teams, but also as a national team unit. From 2012 to 2022, a Dutch rider won the World Championships road race on seven occasions. It was the era of dominance by Marianne Vos, Anna van der Breggen, and Annemiek van Vleuten, with a surprise Chantal van den Broek-Blaak win thrown in in 2017.
In 2023, Demi Vollering finished second behind Lotte Kopecky; it was a respectable result, but the following year, not a single Dutch rider ended up on the final podium. The same happened in 2025. The last time the podium was free of orange was in 2014, when Frenchwoman Pauline Ferrand-Prévot bested German Lisa Brennauer and Swede Emma Johansson. Before that, it was 2005, the year Regina Schleicher won for Germany.
For years, having a team of leaders worked for the Netherlands, but in the new age of cycling, when other nations are rising to the same level and riding with more focused intention, just showing up with a team packed with potential leaders is no longer working for the strongest nation in women’s cycling.
Going into the 2025 season, it was time for a change, and the roster the Dutch federation announced is evidence that Laurens ten Dam, new head coach of the women’s road program, is adapting to the new era of the women’s peloton.
Too many leaders, no problem
One of the reasons for the Dutch team’s string of success at the Worlds was because of just how many strong riders there were to choose from, and in 2026, that hasn’t changed. Six Dutch women are ranked in the UCI top-15 in the world, four more than any other nation.
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