Maike van der Duin has spoken candidly about the health struggles that have kept her off the bike for much of the year, admitting she still has no clear timeline for a return to racing. The 23-year-old Dutch rider for Canyon SRAM zondacrypto, who won bronze at the Olympic Games, has been sidelined for several months with widespread inflammation and says her recovery remains unpredictable.
Speaking to NOS, Van der Duin explained that she hopes to be fit enough to rejoin her team’s training camp in January, though even that goal remains uncertain. “I hope to be ready by then, but that says enough about where I am right now,” she said.
Her health problems began nearly two years ago, marked by unexplained weight gain and persistent fatigue. The issues followed a particularly difficult period in her life. “In the winter of 2024 I broke my ankle, and shortly afterwards I lost my father. When I started gaining weight, I thought it was just my body reacting to the stress of grief and recovery. In my mind, it was simple – if I was gaining weight, I must have been eating too much. I couldn’t think clearly because I was so focused on making it to the Olympics.”
Despite what she described as an “inhuman” preparation period, Van der Duin managed to perform at the Games, but after the Vuelta España Femenina this year she finally admitted something was seriously wrong. “At that race I cried every day. I just couldn’t move forward. I told the team that I didn’t understand what was happening and needed to find out what was wrong.”
Further medical investigations revealed that the weight gain was not due to nutrition but to fluid retention at a cellular level – something that cannot simply be trained or sweated away. Van der Duin has since stepped back completely from structured training to focus on rest and recovery, though she has recently started doing some light rides again.
“It’s stabilised now,” she explained. “The fluid still has to go, and that takes time. There’s no end date to this recovery – it’s not like a broken collarbone. Maybe I’ll be fit in six months, maybe in two years. I honestly don’t know. That’s the most frustrating part.”
Van der Duin will remain with Canyon SRAM zondacrypto for a fourth consecutive season in 2026. Despite her disrupted campaign this year, she still managed several strong results early in the season, including fifth in the team time trial at the Vuelta España Femenina and top-ten finishes at the Tour Down Under and Omloop van het Hageland.
For now, her focus is on getting healthy again. While her trademark power and sprinting ability are on hold, Van der Duin’s determination remains intact – even without a clear horizon yet in sight.
