🎥 Teammates Gerritse and Bredewold in disbelief at Van der Breggen after the finish: "What just happened here?"

“I definitely didn’t expect to win today,” said Van der Breggen in the flash interview after the finish. “It wasn’t the plan either,” the 35-year-old from Zwolle admitted in front of the cameras. “All of a sudden, I found myself off the front. I saw the moment and just went.”

Her last win dated back nearly four years, just before she took a break from racing. “It wasn’t a planned solo, but this is really nice,” Van der Breggen said, staying as composed and down-to-earth as ever.

Van der Breggen launched her winning move at the bottom of the descent that followed a tough final climb, one that had already been marked as a key moment before the stage. “We knew it was going to be a hard one. The plan was actually to go for it with Gerrie again.”

By “Gerrie” she meant teammate Femke Gerritse, who had taken the stage win the day before. “Her name is Femke, of course,” Van der Breggen quickly added with a smile. “This is really special, especially after the great day we had yesterday.”

At the finish line, her teammates were in total disbelief. Gerritse and Mischa Bredewold looked stunned. “Wait... how did that just happen?” they asked, clearly unaware Van der Breggen had slipped away solo and was riding to the win.

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“We believed Femke could win again. She beat Marianne Vos yesterday, one of the best sprinters in the world, and that gave her a lot of confidence.” Gerritse still holds the overall lead at La Vuelta Femenina, while Van der Breggen has moved up to second place, just four seconds behind. Vos sits ten seconds back in third.

SD Worx Protime can head into the next stages with confidence, backed by a sharp Van der Breggen and a fast-finishing Gerritse. “Things are going really well. But today the pace was pretty brutal on the climb, so it will likely split again into a small group. It is going to be a fight. But this one is in the bag,” Van der Breggen said.