Her second place in South Limburg marks Vos’ 26th career podium finish at a World Championship across all cycling disciplines. Alongside teammate Femke de Vries, Vos animated the race on the Dutch gravel roads. Around fifty kilometres from the finish, the race exploded, with the two Team Visma | Lease a Bike riders playing a key role.

Vos formed a strong lead group with Romy Kasper and three fellow Dutch riders. Behind them, De Vries rode intelligently, neutralising several attacks in the chasing group. With 22 kilometres remaining, Vos launched a strong acceleration that only Wiebes could follow.

Deep into the finale on the way to Maastricht, the duo was joined by seven other riders, including De Vries. A late attack from Shirin van Anrooij seemed to be the decisive one, but an elite group managed to come back in the final kilometre. In the sprint, Wiebes proved the fastest, claiming the world title on home soil ahead of Vos. De Vries came in eighth shortly afterwards, a creditable result.

“It was a fantastic race”, Vos says afterwards. “Of course, you know it’s going to be difficult to become world champion again when Lorena is still there so deep into the finale. After Shirin’s strong attack, this was the best possible result for me.”

“I tried to go again, but in the end, I didn’t quite have the legs to make a real difference. Then you know it’s going to be tough. I’m really happy I could still fight for the medals at the end. I look back on a beautiful race”, a proud Vos concludes.