Anna van der Breggen: Strong comeback for the Olympic champion in Valencia

She can still do it: Anna van der Breggen put in a strong performance in the first race after her comeback. On the 1st stage of the Setmana Valenciana ("Valencian Week") in Spain, the cyclist from Team SD Worx-Protime was the only one in the peloton to follow an attack by compatriot Demi Vollering (Team FDJ-SUEZ). However, on the longest climb of the day, the Alto de Barx, the 28-year-old Vollering, winner of the Tour de France 2023, proved to be stronger and triumphed as the day's winner after a solo in Gandía. Van der Breggen, the 2016 Olympic road champion, was eventually caught by Swiss rider Marlen Reusser (Team Movistar) and finished third on the day. The best German was Liane Lippert in fifth. "I didn't expect this result. It went better than I would have dared to hope," said van der Breggen after her first race after a break of almost three and a half years. After the 2021 Road World Championships, the 34-year-old ended her active career and switched to the support car of the Dutch racing team SD Worx-Protime as sporting director.

A surprising start in Spain

The appearance in Spain came as a surprise - her team had only announced the start the day before. Three weeks ago, the returnee had declared at the presentation of her team, She is not expected to return to the racing circuit until mid-April at the so-called Ardennes Classics. The announcement left question marks over the form of the returnee. "I had a good winter and during the last training camp in Javea I realised that I had made great strides," she said ahead of the race.

Rivalry with Vollering

The duel with Vollering was highly publicised due to its history, as the former team-mates are now rivals. In 2023, Van der Breggen had led the six years younger compatriot to overall victory in the Tour de France as sporting director. Last year, there was a rift between the team and Vollering - many performances and race tactics remained a mystery to observers. It often remained unclear to outsiders whether Vollering or her Belgian team-mate, world champion Lotte Kopecky, was the leader.

Before the start of the new season, Vollering moved to FDJ-Suez in France. Vollering had previously poured her heart out in the media about how much she had been burdened by working with her old team SD Worx, the rivalry with Kopecky and van der Breggen's comeback announcement.

The Setmana Valenciana is not part of the most important Women's World Tour racing series. Nevertheless, the four-day stage race in Spain has a high-calibre line-up. Last year's Tour winner Kasia Niewiadoma (Team Canyon-SRAM-zondacrypto) is also taking part. Elisa Longo Borghini, who recently won the UAE Tour in impressive style for her new team UAE ADQ, and double world champion Lotte Kopecky, who is currently the leader of Team SD Worx in the Tour de France Femmes, will be missing from the top women's tour specialists. After van der Breggen's strong performance, it will be exciting to see whether she can once again be at the front of the pack in the toughest tours this summer and challenge the team's internal pecking order.