Anna van der Breggen: "Proud that I fought for the pink jersey until the very end this week"

Anna van der Breggen ultimately had to surrender her pink leader's jersey on the final stage of the Giro d'Italia Women. In a tactically complex mountain stage, the Team SD Worx – Protime leader first had to deal with an attack by Antonia Niedermaier. When Demi Vollering made a strong bridge to the front group on the final climb and during the long descent to the finish, Van der Breggen found herself entirely on her own, forced to fight against a quartet of riders during the long run-in to the finish line. Despite the loss, finishing third behind Vollering and Niedermaier gives her plenty of motivation for the remainder of the season.

On her own against a quartet
"It was a zware dag," Van der Breggen looks back. "The group with Vollering, Niedermaier, Longo Borghini, and Fisher-Black worked well together, leaving me to battle that quartet all by myself. Combine that with the fact that I had a slightly lesser day today, and you know it's going to be tough. Whether that's due to my crash two days ago? I did have some pain in my back, but that wasn't the issue; after all, you can still have good legs even with back pain. It has simply been a very demanding week, and today there was just nothing more left in the tank."
Tactically sound choices
Still, Van der Breggen doesn't feel like she made any tactical mistakes. "I'm actually quite proud of today. I knew I had to follow on the steep first climb, but I also knew I couldn't go all-out before that point. If I had done that, Demi would have accelerated just as easily, and I would have lost anyway. I tried to keep the speed up a bit and share the workload, but in the end, it didn't work out.
By the way, it wasn't just Niedermaier who rode away; there were already quite a few attacks beforehand. I knew that if I jumped after every single move, someone else would immediately counter-attack. In a moment like that, you simply cannot respond to everything. I had hoped my teammate Valentina Cavallar would be a bit closer, but in principle, I knew what I had to do: follow on the climb. I tried, but unfortunately, it didn't work out."
A major boost for the future
"Of course, it's incredibly disappointing to have to surrender the leader's jersey on the final day once again, just like at the Vuelta Femenina. Especially after such a beautiful week, it really sucks. Today I just felt that there was less in the tank compared to previous days. Yet, pride prevails over what I achieved in this Giro d'Italia Women and what we showed as a team. Beforehand—and especially after the Vuelta Femenina—I really didn't expect to be fighting for the pink jersey until the final day. This is therefore a huge boost for the upcoming races and the training sessions on the schedule."