Lorena Wiebes (Team SD Worx‑Protime) was crowned Dutch Cyclist of the Year 2025 at the Wielergala in Utrecht on Monday, taking the Keetie van Oosten‑Hage Trophy after a season headlined by 25 road victories, Milano‑Sanremo, Grand Tour points jerseys and three world titles across gravel and track.
“Something special,” Wiebes said of the award in a post‑ceremony interview with WielerFlits "because this is about the whole season and not one specific race.", before adding that her focus has already turned to winning the Amstel Gold Race in 2026.
Wiebes’s first Keetie van Oosten‑Hage Trophy breaks more than a decade of the prize being shared by a small cadre of Dutch champions, with recent editions dominated by Marianne Vos, Anna van der Breggen, Annemiek van Vleuten and Demi Vollering. The result reflects a shift in hierarchy and in Wiebes’s own profile, from out‑and‑out sprinter to a rider winning the sport’s biggest one‑day races from reduced fields.
Her 2025 palmarès was the most expansive of her career. She won the inaugural Milano‑Sanremo Donne in March, added Gent‑Wevelgem, and banked two stages plus the points classifications at both the Giro Women and the Tour de France Femmes. Off the road she claimed the UCI Gravel World Championship, then doubled at the Track World Championships with gold in the omnium and scratch.
The Amstel target is rooted in a painful memory. In 2024 Wiebes finished second in Valkenburg after celebrating too early, allowing Vos to pass on the line, an error she called “a hard lesson”.
The 2026 edition retains the modern layout with the finish approximately 1.8 km beyond the Cauberg, a profile that can reward fast finishers who survive the Limburg climbs, placing Amstel squarely within Wiebes’s evolving range.
“I am already focusing on winning the Amstel Gold Race in 2026,” Wiebes told WielerFlits, adding that her main hope for 2026 was "hopefully a beautiful season with the team, and not too much bad luck out on the road". After Utrecht, the next verdict arrives on the roads of Limburg.
