In the first part of Anna van der Breggen’s career, she made the Ardennes Classics week her own. However, the SD Worx-Protime rider is not at a competitive level this week after suffering with illness and pulling out of the Amstel Gold Race in the early stages on Sunday.
The Dutch team found success through Mischa Bredewold who won the race solo, infiltrating the large breakaway which defined the day. Van de Breggen did some early work on the front in support of her teammates, knowing she wasn’t at her best, before climbing onto the team bus.
The 35-year-old returned to the peloton this year after three seasons away, immediately finding her feet amongst the best with a second place at Strade Bianche Women in March.
She is a seven-time winner of La Fléche Wallonne and completed a rare Ardennes triple in 2017, claiming victory in Amstel Gold, Flèche Wallonne and Liége-Bastogne-Liége.
This week was a big target for Van der Breggen, but she is now in a fight to recover ahead of the remaining races in the Ardennes.
"Anna is not fit," SD Worx-Protime sports manager Danny Stam told HLN after the Amstel Gold Race finish in Berg en Terblijt.
"She didn't feel well on Friday in the Brabantse Pijl and on Saturday she also complained of a headache and sore throat. She started anyway in the hope of getting through it, but that soon turned out to be vain hope. She did some work for the team and then stepped down, partly as a precaution," he added.
With two more big races to follow this week, Stam was keen to calm fears and didn’t rule out Van der Breggen’s participation in La Flèche Wallonne and Liége-Bastogne-Liége. However, the pressure or expectation of a significant result is now off the former world champion’s shoulders.
"Performing optimally will be difficult, but let's not panic. Anna may have caught a bad cold. That could last two to three days, but hopefully she will get better sooner. I don't see it as something to worry about yet."
Kopecky on form
The race was taken away from many of the big favourites at Amstel Gold after the big breakaway including winner Bredewold moved out of reach of the chasing peloton.
This meant that team-mate and world champion Lotte Kopecky just had to follow the wheels in the chasing group alongside big rivals Demi Vollering (FDJ-SUEZ) and Marianne Vos (Visma-Lease a Bike).
Afterwards, it appeared to Stam that Kopecky had merely taken part in an easy training ride, rather than one of the Women’s WorldTour’s hardest Classics. Despite her elite palmarès, Kopecky has never won an Ardennes Classic. However, she appears to be on flying form this week.
“When she got on the bus after the race, I asked her if she had raced, Lotte looked so fresh,” said Stam.
"On the last time up the Cauberg the pace was quite high,” Kopecky said. “Everyone was afraid of each other to run into a counter if they were to go full throttle. On the other slopes too, we rode well, but we also looked at each other a lot, so I don't think we can derive much from this race, but I am pulling myself up by the good feeling I had on the bike."
According to HLN, soon after the race Kopecky left the bus with two bananas and an Easter egg and went off to do some extra training ahead of La Flèche Wallonne on Wednesday.
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