Anna van der Breggen returned to Strade Bianche on Saturday to produce a stunning result as her comeback continues. Her SD Worx Protime team set things up well in the early stages by sending Femke Gerritse on the attack with just under 50 kilometres to go. This set up the finale of the race perfectly with van der Breggen attacking on Le Tolfe. Ultimately she was unable to follow the final acceleration of winner Demi Vollering on the final climb of via Santa Catarina but her second place gave her huge confidence for future races. After the finish she said: ‘Strade Bianche was an eye-opener. How stressful such a race can be from start to finish. That’s also because the course has changed compared to the Strades I used to ride. Then you had moments of rest where you could get back into position. Now it goes from one gravel strip to another and you’re constantly in the red. Because it was such a hard race, I am really happy that I was able to do this until deep into the final. I would never have dared to think that beforehand. It went better than hoped.
Of course we didn’t have the top favourite with us as we had in previous years. Our plan was to try to get into a leading group and get some girls in front that way. My job was to try to follow Demi Vollering or Elisa Longo-Borghini or if someone went. Our team rode strong today. Unfortunately, we lost Blanka Vas at a crucial moment when she punctured, because she was very good. When I was alone in front with Demi Vollering in the final kilometres, I knew it would be difficult to win. She is just a bit more explosive and my legs were already not feeling too good. The only thing I could do was to start early and not wait for that explosive attack at the end. I therefore went first. If I had had the legs, it would have been a good moment there. But that was all there was to it. Anyway, this second place gives me a lot of confidence for the classics to come. Coming second now in a very tough Strade Bianche, I didn’t expect that beforehand. My next race is the Trofeo Binda next Sunday. After that, I leave on altitude training before starting back in the Brabantse Pijl.’
Sports Director Danny Stam: ‘We executed our race plan as we had planned. We wanted to race offensively. It was nice that we had a pawn in the front with Femke Gerritse. We also had some bad luck. Both Blanka Vas and Mischa Bredewold punctured at a bad time, so we missed a pawn. But otherwise it went exactly as we had hoped. We knew Demi Vollering would go in the final, but the question was how far we would be able to keep up. But that went well.’
‘Anna knows the descent towards Le Tolfe well. At her win in 2018, she rode away from there. I think she did still have that in her head and therefore anticipated perfectly that way. She is getting closer to victory step by step and this makes us happy. Actually, she is further ahead than we had hoped beforehand. The Ardennes Classics are the main goal and then this is a very fine result. You shouldn’t underestimate the impact of not racing for three years. You miss the race hardness. She still needs a bit more time to let that grow, but coming second in such a difficult Strade Bianche is just a great result. We are happy with this.’
Photos courtesy Getty Images, Getty Sport and SD Worx-Protime
