Natascha den Ouden

Natascha Knaven-den Ouden (born 1973) is a cyclist, physical therapist and cycling team manager from the Netherlands. Den Ouden is a four time Dutch National Cyclo-cross Champion. In her active days there weren't any international cyclo-cross championships yet. She won silver in the individual pursuit, at the 1989 World Juniors Track Cycling Championships in Moscow. At that tournament she became friends with Servais Knaven, with whom she married and got four cycling daughters: Britt, Senne, Mirre and Fee. They all ride for AG Insurance-NXTG, the development team of which Den Ouden is the owner, co-founder and team manager.

Women's cycling in development

Missing international women´s cyclo-cross races The first official Dutch National Cyclo-cross Championships for Women were held in 1988, and Den Ouden was only 14 when she won the silver medal. The women had only one category, which started in the same race as the 15 and 16-year-old boys, but they started one minute later. This meant that the best women had to overtake the slower boys, who didn't want to step aside nor get beaten by a girl. Den Ouden dominated the next championships, and only didn't get gold when she fell twice with a concussion (Gieten, 1991), or didn't compete because she had a torn ankle ligament (1995) or quit crossing (1993). She won her fourth title in 1994, which was the first women-only championships race, with 45 riders. The Royal Dutch Cycling Union didn't want to organise more than a few women's crosses, because of their low profile, Den Ouden was no longer active by the time that the first World Championships were organised in 2000. The European Championships and international competitions started at an even later date.

The first non-national women's road team Competitors in women's cycling races had traditionally been divided into national teams. Olympic Champion Monique Knol was not happy within the Dutch national team and founded her own independent women's road team in 1991, with Den Ouden in its ranks. The intended main sponsor abandoned the project before it started, and then the Dutch chain of candy stores JAMIN stepped in. The first (semi) professional women's cycling team was born.

Major results Sources:

Cyclo-cross 1988 2nd National Cyclo-cross Championships 1989 1st National Cyclo-cross Championships 1990 1st National Cyclo-cross Championships 1991 2nd National Cyclo-cross Championships 1992 1st National Cyclo-cross Championships 1994 1st National Cyclo-cross Championships 1st Zevenbergen 1996 2nd National Cyclo-cross Championships 1997 3rd National Cyclo-cross Championships

Road cycling 1992 2nd National Time Trial Championships 1993 3rd National Time Trial Championships 1994 3rd National Time Trial Championships 4th Overall GP du Portugal Féminin 1st Stage 2 1995 3rd National Time Trial Championships

Track cycling 1989

1990 Junior National Championships 1st individual pursuit 1st Points race 1994 National championships 2nd Individual pursuit 3rd Points race