Why Lidl-Trek chooses GC rider Fisher-Black and sends Van Anrooij - despite big Tour dream - on the attack

Van Anrooij already confessed to AD during this Tour that she initially planned to race only the Giro d’Italia Women in 2025, but that plan quickly expanded to all three grand tours. Her recovery went so well that she was on the start line of Milan–San Remo as early as March. Things accelerated from there: in May she rode the Vuelta a España (and won the team time trial with Lidl–Trek), followed by the Itzulia Women, and in June she finished fourth in the Dutch national time trial championships.

Her competitive drive was clear when she expressed frustration after that time trial. “I started an hour earlier than the rest. I don’t get it, last year I finished sixth. I could only go all out during the final ten minutes when the course had dried. Everyone else raced in dry conditions. Otherwise, I might’ve been able to go for the title.” In the Giro d’Italia, Van Anrooij went all-in with aggressive attacks and finished 11th overall. That confidence boost carried her into the Tour de France Femmes.

The Giro was a welcome boost, as Van Anrooij struggled with herself for months after returning, she told this website during the national championships. “I noticed I had completely lost confidence. I didn’t dare to go deep anymore and never wanted to push to the limit,” she said. She added, “That’s why it was a good thing the team selected me for the Vuelta. It felt great to ride at the front again in Spain and push myself to the edge to find my limits again.”

Read more below the photo.

After serving as a domestique in the Vuelta and earning a solid general classification result in the Giro, Van Anrooij entered the Tour with her sights set on a stage win. “I think this attacking racing style suits Shirin best, but that’s my personal opinion,” said team director Jeroen Blijlevens after stage 7 to IDLProCycling.com. That stage saw Van Anrooij spend the day in the breakaway and finish fourth atop the Col du Granier, her first successful attack of this Tour.

If it’s up to Blijlevens, Van Anrooij, despite her personal dream of one day going for a Tour GC, should keep focusing on attacking for now. “She can target the GC, but she’ll need to wait a few more years. You see that with more female riders, it’s usually only when they get a bit older that they become consistent GC contenders. In the Giro, we actually aimed for the GC with Shirin, but she faded and switched her focus to attacking. That’s also why we’ve gone that route with her in this Tour.”

In the Tour, Lidl–Trek is focusing their GC ambitions on Niamh Fisher-Black, the New Zealander who joined the team this past winter from SD Worx–Protime. “Niamh has more freedom here to go for a general classification result. Unfortunately, she had some bad luck in stage 6 and lost two minutes due to a puncture on a descent, at a really bad moment. We weren’t aiming for a podium spot, so it’s not a disaster, but she has incredible potential as a GC rider.”

Read more below the photo.

The most important thing is that Shirin Van Anrooij is smiling again, after a long period where she didn’t even know she was struggling with an iliac artery issue. “Of course there was relief once we discovered something was wrong with the artery,” said Blijlevens. “But then you’re suddenly facing major surgery. And that brings a lot of uncertainty, you don’t know how it’ll all turn out. Shirin had mixed feelings about it, but everything went well, so now she’s happy again on the bus.”

Physically and mentally, Lidl–Trek has a healthy Van Anrooij back “It was quite an intense operation,” Blijlevens continued. “In a way, that’s good, because if things aren’t working, it’s better to have the surgery. But afterward, you have to get used to your body again and rebuild your confidence. You have to take it easy for a while. That process came with ups and downs: one day she’d be freezing and dealing with scar pain, the next she’d feel overheated. But now everything is going well again.”

Bram van der Ploeg (Twitter: @BvdPloegg | email: [email protected])