Van der Breggen held firm under pressure from Vollering: 'I actually expected more'

The queen stage of the women’s Giro d’Italia was a fine battle, but it could have played out very differently. The stage over the Colle delle Finestre was shortened, which meant the finish was at the top of that mountain rather than in Sestriere. Demi Vollering won, but pink jersey wearer Anna van der Breggen was also able to celebrate: apart from bonus seconds, she lost no time to her rivals.

Instead of the riders still having more than 30 kilometres to the finish, the line suddenly sat a kilometre below the summit of the penultimate climb. “It was a strange situation today,” Van der Breggen said in a press statement on X. “You prepare for the stage as it is on paper, but then the message comes over the radio that the finish line has been moved to a kilometre below the top of the Finestre, and then we had to adapt.”

The SD Worx-Protime leader has, however, been through far hotter fires in her rich career. That meant she did not panic. “In those moments, you just have to adapt to the situation. Nobody can do anything about it, so it is what it is. Still, it feels strange that you suddenly ride the final climb with the finish line so close.”

Demi Vollering, Van der Breggen’s main rival, accelerated several times, but Van der Breggen gave her no room and then set the pace herself. “Demi had already attacked twice, and afterwards I actually expected more. At that point I just thought: ‘If I ride a good pace, she won’t be able to attack.’ In the end they couldn’t accelerate because of my work, so that was good for me.”

Van der Breggen was unable to fight for the win. She finished fourth, which still meant she lost ten bonus seconds to stage winner Vollering. “I kept wondering where the finish was, because I expected it a little earlier. But in the end it doesn’t really matter to me whether I finished in the top three or not. Of course there were bonus seconds on offer, but I think it was a good day. It was a tough climb, but a wonderful battle.”

Seven stages done, one to go in the Giro d’Italia. But there will be no victory lap like on the Champs-Élysées: the final stage is 145 kilometres long and features more than 2,000 metres of climbing. The hardest section comes well before the finish, but that may actually give her rivals a chance to launch a cunning plan. Van der Breggen is certainly keeping her guard up.

Because she knows Vollering will do everything she can. “Of course Demi will try something, and she will not be the only one. The other riders will try something too. We still have a mountain stage ahead of us where anything can happen, and that stage could well go a bit like today. Tomorrow, however, there is a tough climb a long way from the finish. I just have to stand my ground there and try to stay with my rivals.”

Author: David Bavin-Hobbs - [email protected]