It’s been a slower start to the spring than they would have liked, but the signs are good.
It wasn’t the start to the Spring Classics that SD Worx-Protime wanted.
Omloop Nieuwsblad delivered an untimely mechanical for Lotte Kopecky and Anna van der Breggen looked conspicuously off the pace. Strade Bianche didn’t deliver much joy either. Van der Breggen’s largely anonymous 18th was the team’s best result in a race where it had won seven of the race’s 11 editions.
From the outside looking in, it was easy to criticise. Was this a team past its prime? A team of perhaps former champions that had lost their edge? Had SD Worx-Protime been left behind by more-modern superteams like FDJ United-Suez and UAE Team ADQ?
There’s no doubt SD Worx-Protime now has greater competition than it did a few seasons ago – and that’s a good thing for the sport. But while the Classics didn’t start the way the Dutch outfit wanted, perspective is important.
The spring is still young, with much racing to come. And while SD Worx-Protime didn’t win at Trofeo Alfredo Binda on Sunday afternoon either, the team’s performance suggests things are heading in the right direction.
Van der Breggen (left) would certainly have preferred to win on Sunday – she’s never won Binda before – but second was an encouraging result.
The results sheet tells part of the story. Van der Breggen in second place, in the winning group of three, just behind winner Karlijn Swinkels (UAE Team ADQ). Blanka Vas winning the bunch kick for fourth. Kopecky just behind in seventh. SD Worx-Protime was the only team with more than one rider in the top 10, and they had three.
But arguably more important than those results was the way they raced on the day, Van der Breggen in particular.
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