Beaten by a stronger rider - Mixed feelings for Anna van der Breggen, Demi Vollering after 'toughest' career time trial in Kigali

It is not common for the powerful Dutch team to have to settle for anything less than the rainbow jersey, but that is what happened as Anna van der Breggen and Demi Vollering rode to the silver and bronze medal, respectively, to new world champion Marlen Reusser of Switzerland, in the elite women's individual time trial at the UCI Road World Championships on Sunday in held in Kigali, Rwanda.

"I prefer winning, but I think that is the same for everyone. I am really happy with the silver medal. I think before this time trial, I had no idea where I could end up," said Van der Breggen in a post-race press conference at the Kigali Convention Centre.

"So, finishing second is not bad; the first loser, but I'm losing to Marlen Reusser. I know how strong she is, and I think she deserves to be the world champion in the time trial. Overall, I'm really happy with the silver medal."

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The elite women kicked off a landmark moment in cycling as the first riders off the starting ramp at the first-ever road World Championships held in Africa. Forty-nine riders from 36 nations raced a brutally difficult course with three climbs (one of the cobbled) at altitude through throngs of crowds out to celebrate the moment in what Vollering called the toughest time trial of her life.

"Yes, definitely," Vollering said. "I don't know what it was. Usually, a hard time trial course suits me, but today, I was not able to do the performance I wanted to do. Maybe it was a little bit of everything. It doesn't matter, in the end, I was third, it went to a stronger rider, and she did a really good job."

Perceived exertion rather than data

There were mixed feelings between the two riders, with Van der Breggen appearing pleasantly surprised by her silver medal, while Vollering appeared disappointed in her bronze medal performance.

Van der Breggen has secured five medals in the individual time trial at the Worlds during her career, including the world title in 2020 in Imola. She is also a two-time national champion in the discipline, but having only recently come out of a three-year retirement, she was a dark horse for this event.

She said her Dutch national team coach, Laurens ten Dam, played a role in her decision to race the individual time trial and that she spent time at altitude to prepare for this event in Livigno during the weeks leading up to her arrival in Kigali. She said the altitude of roughly 1,450 metres was not the only obstacle, but also the sharp hills, and based her performance on perceived exertion rather than data.

"It was not only the altitude. I don't know, but maybe ... I've been to Livigno to prepare for this, and I had a little bit the same feeling there, so I think it was mostly the altitude," Van der Breggen said.

"I did not use my pacing like I normally do. I did everything based on feeling. I also did some time trials in Livigno, where I totally blew up, so I arrived here, did some training, and it was the same feeling.

"I decided to just go with my feeling and try to do it. If you're heart rate is high, then you can't do much more. I just paced it really carefully in the beginning. I went on feeling, and I could feel that I was still totally empty, so that was a good decision for me."

To recon or not to recon

Van der Breggan also spent time training on the course last November and said knowing the course was important to her success, while many other riders, including her teammate Vollering, only arrive two days before and didn't have the same amount of time to get to know the intricacies of the 31.2km course that started at the BK Arena to the Kigali Convention Centre, including the climbs, cobbles, descents and high-speed corners.

"It helped. If you arrived here two days before, the course was closed the day before, and you could see it only once. That is not a lot. Technically, this was not a difficult time trial, so I could do the corners and that was OK," said Van der Breggen, who had fully previewed the courses last November.

"For me, it was important to make a decision if I wanted to do the time trial or not. If you decide to do it, then you need to put in the time, and you need to be 100% motivated. I hesitated, but then I decided to go for it. It's a good opportunity. And because I saw the course before, I liked it a lot. I needed to try this, it was special and it suited me, too."

It is not Van der Breggen's first time racing in Africa, having won Cape Epic in 2019; she also spent time riding outside of Kigali in her training camp last November to get to know the area, and more generally, the country outside of sport. So far, she said these World Championships have been well organised and she was well-prepared.

"To be honest, now that we are here, you don't feel too much like you are in Africa. We are here in a nice hotel, and it's not that different from a normal World Championships. But, the time that I was here in November, to come here, we could see more of the country, and I went more into the inlands," Van der Breggen said.

"For me, it is always nice to see different parts of the world and to know which country you are going to; what is going on in this country, and I mean, I think it's special to race here and that we have a World Championships here. For coming here, as an athlete, everything is organised well. It's a beautiful country."

'Third is a reward for my fight' says Vollering

Vollering was part of the group that came in just two days before the individual time trial, and while she had one day to preview the route, on closed roads, many athletes were in the same situation.

She also felt that travelling to Kigali sooner to preview the courses might not have given the best opportunity to know the roads, which would have been open to traffic.

"A lot of riders only came two days before, so you are equal to everyone. In the end, when the roads are open, it is hard to do training here in the city, so if you were here a week before, it is not that nice because you could not do hard efforts in between the traffic. In the end, it's the choices you make. The choices were made for us, but in the end, everyone did it like this," Vollering said.

Vollering was visibly disappointed with her bronze-medal performance, but also said that she was glad that she did not give up.

"I didn't expect that I was third because when I crossed the finish line, my feeling was so bad, I thought that I was 20th, and that it was really not my day. When they told me I was third, I was surprised, and my first reaction was, 'No way, I was third,'" she said.

"I don't know if I can be happy or not. I think this medal is like a reward for the fact that I kept going, the fast that I kept it alive until the end because I was so tempted to give in because it was a big struggle and suffering from the beginning."

Vollering said she had prepared well for this race, and couldn't pinpoint one thing that went wrong, but noted several things that could have affected her performance, including the difficulty of the course, the altitude, air quality and possibly the onset of her period.

"It was a little bit of a surprise because I came here in good form, with good legs. I did perfect preparation, I don't think I've ever prepared so well. I was a little bit surprised by the legs from today. I'm mostly disappointed, but that I was third was a reward for my fight," Vollering said.

"Everyone suffered with the circumstances. That I was still third with the effort says that some struggled today, too. I did altitude camp, did my training at altitude and did everything I could. I don't know. You cannot choose your best legs whenever you want them.

"In the end, I am also a woman, and my period also needs to come in perfect moments, and you can't decide this. I don't know [if this was the issue], but it needs to come, so maybe the body is fighting against it. I don't want to think too much about it because it gets mental, and I don't want to do that."

Asked if her performance in the individual time trial could indicate what to expect in the elite women's road race on Saturday, Vollering said she hoped to turn things around, but the Dutch team would stick to their plan.

"Just stick to the plan and hope the legs will be there that day. What can you do? You need to keep believing, trust the process, hope that I will be there, and miracles can happen. The most important thing is that you keep believing. In the road race, we will try our best again."

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