After the women’s Strade Bianche, it was as if Anna van der Breggen (SD Worx-Protime) had never been away from the peloton. In her Women’s WorldTour comeback after three years away from racing, she stood on the podium on the Piazza del Campo in Siena, having finished second behind Demi Vollering (FDJ-Suez).
It confirmed that Van der Breggen is not only still competitive but remains one of the absolute best riders in the world. Some may have expected such a performance from the former world and Olympic champion, but for her, it came as a surprise.
"I hoped for it, but I didn’t expect it yet, and I suffered a lot in the race. I had no idea how long I could keep up, so I’m really happy and pretty surprised that I still had this in the end," said Van der Breggen post-race.
Having decided to return to racing for 2025, the 34-year-old Dutchwoman started her comeback at the Setmana Valenciana, where she finished third overall behind Vollering and Marlen Reusser (Movistar Team), both riders she had under her wings as an SD Worx sport director in the last three years.
At the Omloop van het Hageland, Van der Breggen led out teammate Femke Gerritse to win. At Strade Bianche, however, she stepped back into the role of leader and up to the biggest stage. She couldn't help but admit how pleased she was with her form already.
"Of course, we race to win, but we knew it was going to be pretty hard to win today. I did not expect to finish with Demi," Van der Breggen said.
"I’m really happy with how far I am physically. I have one more race now, then I have a training block coming up, so it’s nice to know what to work on, and it’s also motivating for what’s coming up."
Racing against a former teammate is always special, but the relationship between Vollering and Van der Breggen is even more out of the ordinary as Van der Breggen was not only Vollering’s sport director but her coach, too.
"We know each other really well. She is such a strong rider, and I know what she can do, but she knows what I can do as well. At one point, I need to find a way [to beat her]. But so far, today was really nice to do," the Dutchwoman said.
Having moved back from the sport director’s car onto the race bike, the excitement and emotions of racing were part of Van der Breggen’s day – but so was the pain and the intensity.
"It’s nice to feel this again. But it was also quite intense, especially this race, there’s no part where you can relax, on this course, how it is now, it is a fight from start to finish," she said.
"I saw a lot of crashes today, and you feel that girls are riding on the limit. You do the recon, but the race pace is way higher. It’s a war the whole day."
After the decisive move atop the Le Tolfe climb that got Vollering and Van der Breggen away from the rest of the favourites, the two riders could be seen talking to each other, and Vollering did the lion’s share of the work for the next minutes before Van der Breggen joined in – revealing that she had pulled the age card in this short discussion.
"She wanted me to ride, but I need some time [to recover] to be able to ride. So I said, 'I’m not the youngest anymore, I need more time,'” Van der Breggen smiled.
While Vollering won on this occasion, Van der Breggen's shape and typically clever racing was a sign of things to come for the rest of the Classics. Her next race will be at Trofeo Alfredo Binda next weekend, before she again meets her former protege, Vollering, at the revived women's Milan-San Remo.
