Rabo-Liv Dismantle to form New Super Pro Women's Team for 2017
The Rabo-Liv Pro Women's Team is to become Fortitude Cycling. While some big names remain, the team will welcome new faces for 2017
Marianne Vos is a Dutch road, track and cyclo-cross racer who is considered to be one of the greatest cyclists of the 21st Century. Born in May 1987 in ‘s-Hertogenbosch, Netherlands, she holds six World Championship gold medals in cyclo-cross and two World Championship golds from the track. In road racing, it was Marianne who beat Britain’s Lizzie Armitstead to take gold in the women’s road race at the London 2012 Olympics to add to her World Championship golds from 2006 and 2012. She won the Giro d’Italia Femminile (Giro Rosa) in 2011 and 2012, the Emakumeen Euskal Bira in the Basque region of Spain in 2008 and 2011 and the Holland Ladies Cup in 2009, 2010 and 2011. She has finished as the overall winner of the UCI Road World Cup on four occasions. She has also been Dutch mountain bike champion.
One of the true all-rounders of the sport, Marianne’s enthusiasm for cycling was apparent from an early age. At just six-years-old she would watch her brother compete and used to train with his team until she was eight and old enough to compete for herself. In the winter she would use cyclo-cross to train for her road racing, as well as taking part in in-line speed skating. When she was 14, mountain biking took the place of the in-line speed skating.
Marianne is one of a number of female cyclists and public figures who have been actively promoting a campaign to allow women competitors to take part in the Tour de France. She is also an ambassador for Youth United For Sri Lanka, a charity set up by young people with the aim of working for the underprivileged in Sri Lanka.
