CyclistPro race history: Marianne Vos wins her first world title in 2006It is 2.32pm on 23rd September 2006 and 135 of the best female cyclists in the world are rolling out from Salzburgs Mirabelleplatz for the womens World Championships Road Race. Ahead lie six laps of a 22.2km circuit featuring two climbs, the second of which to Elixhausen has the potential to be the most tactically important part of the course given it is pretty much a 9km downhill run from there to the finish. It is considered a difficult course too difficult for the sprinters in the bunch, some are saying. Time will tell.Among the riders rolling away from the start is 19-year-old Marianne Vos. She is in her first season at elite level, rides for the DSB Bank team, and has enjoyed a remarkable debut year. She has ten victories to her name, including the European Under-23 Road Race and two stages and the overall at the Tour Fminin en Limousin. In June she became The Netherlands national champion. And that is just on the road. Before shed even turned a professional pedal on tarmac she had performed spectacularly during the 2005/2006 cyclocross season, taking seven wins including the World Championships. Related Posts The best photos from the UCI Gravel World Championships 2024 Gallery: Marianne Vos is the Greatest Of All Time Cyclists 31 Inspirational Women No21: Marianne Vos But today Vos is riding with little or no pressure on her young shoulders. The seven-strong Dutch team has more experienced riders such as Chantal Beltman in their squad. Anyway, most eyes are trained on the likes of Germanys Judith Arndt and Regina Schleicher, winners in 2004 and 2005 respectively, and Britains Nicole Cooke, the worlds number one ranked rider who two weeks earlier had been crowned the winner of the World Cup.The race starts. Breaks go. Breaks are brought back. Arndt works hard to control things for her team. On the penultimate lap Cooke attacks at the bottom of the second climb the British rider will later recount in her autobiography The Breakaway that the timing of this move had long been planned with the intent of forging a small break of talented climbers to go to the finish together.Marianne Vos in the green jersey at the 2024 Tour de France.A.S.O./Thomas MaheuxAt first it works. Only Vos and Switzerlands Nicole Brndli go with Cooke, but Arndt throws herself into the chase and the three are brought back. Attacks and counter-attacks fly. Its an aggressive race and as a result the small group of leading riders now has a gap of more than a minute. Cooke tries again on the final lap. Again Vos and Brndli go with her. Again they are brought back. And so it is that with 1km to go, 15 women are preparing themselves for a sprint to the line.The sprint winds up. Vos is in sixth spot, behind Germanys Trixi Worrack. Cooke is fourth, on Australias Oenone Woods wheel. With 400m to go the road bends to the left. It will prove to be an important moment: Vos hugs the left-hand barrier, while Cooke takes a longer line further to the right. With 200m to go Vos opens up her final sprint and hits the front. No one looks close to catching her and the 19-year-old first-year professional takes a stunning sprint win to claim the rainbow jersey. Worrack comes second, Cooke third.Marianne Vos surprised herself and the world, the Dutch newspaper NRC Handelsblad will later report. It cant be true, Vos says. Im surprised if I win a criterium can you imagine how I feel now?Marianne Vos celebrates victory at the 2024 Gravel World Championships.Jasper Jacobs/Belga/AFP via Getty ImagesThe most complete rider in historyGoing into those World Championships I was totally without pressure. I was an outsider, a first-year elite with nothing to prove. I just had to try my best, Vos told this writer in 2017 for the book Chasing The Rainbow. I knew I had a chance I had already won against all the girls that were in the Worlds and it was a course that sort of suited me. I thought, OK, I might not be the biggest favourite but lets see. I might have a chance for a good result.Once that lead group had formed in Salzburg, Beltman, who was with Vos in the break, told her young teammate that she was the best sprinter in the group and to make sure she was ready should it come to a sprint.She was the one who really pointed it out, Vos reflected. From that moment we discussed things.Beltman told Vos she wanted to try a long-range effort before things came down to a sprint. Vos concurred, knowing it would make the final phase harder for the rest of the group, who would be forced to chase while she could sit on the wheels.We were trying to play our cards, to make the most of the possibilities, and it worked out really well.Vos knew that Cooke and Worrack were the riders to watch going into the sprint. She also knew that every small detail would matter and that by sticking to the left side of the road around that final left-hand bend she would have a slightly shorter distance to travel than the others.I didnt really think that they could maybe close the gap to the barriers and leave me no room, Vos said. But if you feel good you make the right decision and I just felt that was the best side.And so it proved. Fast forward 18 years from that Salzburg win and today Marianne Vos is surely the most complete rider in history.Home favourite Marianne Vos crosses the line to win the 2012 World Championships Road Race in Valkenburg. Photo: OffsideOver an incredible career she has amassed a remarkable haul of titles across road (three World Championships, an Olympic Gold, three Giri, five Flche Wallonne, and a Tour of Flanders), track (two world titles and an Olympic Gold) and cyclocross (eight World Championships). Back in 2006, though, winning major titles was still a relatively new experience for the young Dutchwoman.We all went out as a team to celebrate, she recalled. I was a 19-year-old in a group of somewhat older girls who were already prepared with all their clothes to go out and party.Vos had to search through her suitcase for something to wear, looking for her jeans.Then they forgot me, Vos continued. They were already on their way until at some point Chantal realised, Hey, wheres Marianne? So they came back to pick me up! I had some difficulties to find my place but of course I didnt care. I was World Champion and everything was cool. This article originally appeared in issue 157 of Cyclist magazine. 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