Dutch MTB rider Annefleur Kalvenhaar dies after crash

World cycling's governing body, the UCI, has announced that 20-year-old Dutch cyclist Annefleur Kalvenhaar, a rising star in mountain biking and cyclocross, has died following injuries sustained yesterday at the UCI Mountain Bike World Cup in Méribel, France.

The 20-year-old from Wierden, who rode for the Focus XC Team, fell yesterday during cross-country eliminator rounds and was taken to an intensive care unit at a hospital in Grenoble, but died there earlier today.

UCI president Brian Cookson said : "I'm devastated to hear that the cycling family has lost one of its members at such a young age. Our deepest thoughts are with her family and friends."

Kalvenhaar was the current under-23 European cyclocross champion and David Lapparetient,president of the European Cycling Union, said news of her death was "a shock for everyone."

Quoted on Inside the Games, he went on: "The cycling movement, particularly the European family, cries the death of this young woman.

"In this moment of sadness, our thoughts are with Annefleur's family and friends."

World and Olympic champion and reigning cyclocross world champion Marianne Vos said that she was “shocked and saddened” to hear the news.

Vos told Dutch newspaper De Telegraaf: “She died doing what she loved most. She was a great talent on the bike and a very sweet girl too.”

Kalvenhaar rode alongside Vos in both mountain bike races and on home soil at the UCI Cyclocross World Championships at Hoogerheide earlier this year.

She was seen as a rising star of the sport and one who could perhaps in the future assume her compatriot’s mantle as the world’s top female cyclocross rider.