Annemiek van Vleuten's yearly attic clean out auction, where she sells cycling items and memorabilia to raise money for charity, has clearly become a fixture for the retiring professional cyclist. So much so that even when she crossed the line at the Tour of Flanders, bloodied after crashing just before the Koppenberg and losing her final chance to take a record third victory, she still had the presence of mind to salvage some good from a bad day on the bike.
"Normally I would have thrown that suit away, but now I thought; 'save immediately for the auction'," said Van Vleuten in a post on her website. "It is unwashed, the blood is still on it and the numbers too."
"I also kept the leader's shirt from the last race I won, the Tour of Scandinavia, with the numbers still on it," said Van Vleuten. "The suit I rode in at the last World Cup in Glasgow, also comes with (washed) jersey numbers."
The 2022 charity auction raised 17,000 Euro. This year's auction will be held at Roel Peerenboom Fietsen in Wageningen on November 25, with signings and pictures also a part of the day to assist with the fundraising.
"You collect quite a lot of stuff in a year and I have also become good at not throwing anything away anymore, because I now know that it can raise money for charity," said Van Vleuten.
The Movistar rider also has her pink leaders jersey of the Giro d'Italia Donne, the red of the Vuelta Femenina, race numbers and Fizik cycling shoes among the items up for auction.
The retiring rider, who has been known to go scuba diving in her off season, will this year be donating the proceeds of her auction to the Olrik Foundation from Wageningen, "to the 'I'm swimming along' project, with a means tested program that pays for swimming lessons for children.
"That is one of the initiatives they have and I thought it was a very nice initiative that was right up my alley to encourage exercise in children," said Van Vleuten.
"Every child should simply learn to swim and I am very happy that I can contribute to that."
