While 35-year-old Anna van der Breggen (SD Worx-Protime) has won many of the biggest races in women’s cycling, the Trofeo Alfredo Binda is missing from her palmarès. She came closer than ever this year as she finished runner-up to Karlijn Swinkels in the sprint of a three-rider breakaway while her teammate Blanka Vas claimed the sprint of the chase group for fourth place.
“Given the situation, this was the best we could achieve,” said Van der Breggen in a team press release.
Team SD Worx-Protime had been put on the back foot when three of their riders including Vas were involved in a mass crash after 90km of racing.
“That was a shame, because there were a lot of attacks at that moment. I then had to put in quite a lot of effort to ensure nothing broke away without one of us. Eventually, Blanka Vas managed to rejoin the group thanks to the help of Lotte Kopecky,” Van der Breggen described the situation.
On the penultimate lap, the Dutch veteran then ended up in a breakaway herself. Among the six riders in front were three from UAE Team ADQ in Swinkels, Eleonora Gasparrini, and Silvia Persico, as well as Mie Bjørndal Ottestad (Uno-X Mobility) and Pfeiffer Georgi (Picnic PostNL).
“It wasn’t really my intention to stay away with that group, as the final sprint of the Trofeo Binda suits Blanka Vas very well. But behind us, not much was happening in the peloton,” said Van der Breggen.
With UAE Team ADQ driving the break and extending their advantage over the chase group, Van der Breggen’s focus turned to making the most of the situation. She pushed the pace on the climb to Casale, losing Persico and Gasparrini, and went all-in on the final climb to Orino, dropping Georgi and eventually Ottestad (who returned on the descent), but could not shake off Swinkels.
“I knew it would be difficult to win [then]. Swinkels is good on the descents and sprints fast too. She’s simply a versatile rider. At no point did I feel I could shake her off. She was alert and kept a close eye on things. If I’d made a move, she would have closed the gap. I had no choice but to wait for the sprint,” explained Van der Breggen.
She lay in wait on the run-in to the finish, sitting at the back of the group until 150 metres to go when she launched her sprint, but Swinkels was too strong and held off Van der Breggen to win.