When Anna van der Breggen announced her comeback a few months ago, the cycling world welcomed the news with excitement and expectation. The usual questions were raised about how long it would take her to be competitive after a few years away but undoubtedly the consensus was that she would win races and mix things up in the peloton. After missing some recent races with an annoying cold, van der Breggen lined up at La Vuelta as part of a strong team. She has been in attack mode in many races and the fourth stage of La Vuelta was no exception but this time she turned attack into victory. She rode away with seven kilometres leftand arrived solo. ‘I felt it was a good moment to attack,’ Anna van der Breggen said.
She continued: ‘This is a fantastic feeling. Winning still feels as good as ever, yes. I did not expect this at all, because this was not the plan. We wanted to go for Femke Gerritse again. But it went really fast on the last climb, so we came to the top with a limited group. Mischa Bredewold and Femke Gerritse fought very hard behind to get back. At the front, there were many attack attempts. I was isolated and around me teams all had two riders. And they didn’t all respond to the attack attempts either. That was quite irritating, so I was anticipating.’
‘When the speed came off for a moment on the descent, I felt it was a good moment and just went full steam ahead. Then I looked back and saw I had a gap. So I realised pretty quickly that I was racing for the win. Then I went on steadily. Only it was a bit flatter towards the finish than expected. At one point I saw that they did get close on that long stretch, but I knew that as a solo attacker you had an advantage in the technical stretch with all those turns at the end. If they hadn’t caught me back by then, I knew that would be very difficult.’
‘Whether winning still feels the same as in the first part of my career? Definitely! But I do ride differently now. I enjoy trying things. I’m less afraid than I used to be of failing. I care less if it fails once. As a result, I race much more freely.’
‘This win really pleases me. The Ardennes classics were a disappointment for me. The week before I felt really good. To then have to drop out sick was really unfortunate. I knew I could have done more than what it turned out to be. But then to win a stage solo in the Vuelta in this way now is fantastic.’
‘For Gerrie to keep the red is super nice. We already knew she had this in her. We had already seen it at training. But in the race she had never shown this in this way before. Yesterday she tanked a huge amount of confidence by beating one of the best sprinters in the world with Marianne Vos. I get a lot of pleasure out of it when young riders discover what they have in them and to witness that development up close.’
‘What I expect for Thursday’s mountain stage? Again, I’m just going into it freely and without pressure. I am realistic enough to know that it will be really difficult uphill to go for the podium. Should it succeed, it will be fantastic. And if not, it’s also just what it is. Tuesday was already a beautiful day with a stage win and the red jersey for Femke Gerritse and today I win unexpectedly. It’s just nice racing with such an enthusiastic group, especially when things go well. We have already had some great days with the team here in the Vuelta Femenina. And nobody will take those away from us anymore. Furthermore, we are going to go full steam ahead and then we’ll see if we manage to reach the final podium.’
