Van der Breggen mostly feels pride after painful Giro finale: “I did not expect to get this far”

After the despair at the Vuelta Femenina, Anna van der Breggen also lost the leader’s jersey in the Giro d'Italia Women on the final stage. The SD Worx-Protime rider got into a difficult situation through tactical games, after which she eventually had to admit defeat to Demi Vollering.

Van der Breggen survived the hardest climb of the stage well, but things went wrong in the easier part of the race. “They attacked and I could not respond to everything,” Van der Breggen said in her reaction to Eurosport, referring to Antonia Niedermaier’s attack. The German was only 1:20 behind the wearer of the pink jersey and, together with Elisa Longo Borghini and Niamh Fisher-Black, built a sizeable lead of around a minute and a half.

Afterwards, however, Van der Breggen does not see how she could have avoided that situation. “I also felt a bit less good today, so I did have to gamble a little. In the end I was left with Demi. That is, in itself, a good situation if we work together.” That, however, did not happen, which was exactly the intention of Vollering. “But Demi was not willing to take a turn. Only her team-mate Lauren Dickson, red.) was riding on the front.”

Van der Breggen tried on the final climb to salvage what could still be saved, but in the end simply came up short. “Vollering then attacked again on the final climb. I tried to follow, but she was simply stronger today. I did everything I could, but I was also taking a scenario like this into account. It is a shame to lose the jersey in the end, but I gave everything. That is the result,” Van der Breggen said, remarkably calmly.

Van der Breggen has no regrets about the tactical game she played with Vollering after Niedermaier’s attack. “If I only work in the chase and Demi does not, then I definitely do not win the Giro. I started the final climb already a bit more tired because of that. Vollering did take a few turns, but she did not really take over. It is what it is. It was not enough.”

Two days ago Van der Breggen crashed, but she does not want to use that as an excuse. “No, I do not think that played a role. It was also just a hard week and a hard day in the saddle. I did have some back pain, but that is not the reason why I lost the Giro here.”

Van der Breggen also missed out on overall victory in the Vuelta Femenina in early May on the final day, but rather than dwelling on the loss, she takes plenty of positives from her nine days in Italy. “But actually I am just very proud of my performance. I did not expect to get this far. If we can improve a little more, there is still a lot possible. Of course I am disappointed, but I am proud of the team and of my own fighting spirit.”

Author: David Bavin-Hobbs - [email protected]