'It's way better than I expected for me' - Anna van der Breggen surprises herself with third place on hilly stage 5 at Tour de France Femmes

Anna van der Breggen (SD Worx-Protime) was back at the pointy end of the race on the Maupuy climb and descent to Guéret, and then sprinted among the selection of favourites to finish in third place and move into fifth overall on stage 5 in her debut at the Tour de France Femmes - surprising even herself.

The former Olympic and world champion and Grand Tour winner retired from cycling after the 2021 season to take up a role as a sports director, but missed the racing and returned to the peloton after three years away.

While SD Worx-Protime have had a successful run in the sprints with Lorena Wiebes, who has won two stages, it's been a turbulent Tour de France for their GC ambitions after Lotte Kopecky confirmed she would forgo her initial plans for the yellow jersey and aim for supporting the team for stage wins instead.

Van der Breggen, who intended to support Kopecky's bid for yellow, was always a wildcard for this race, but said she would continue to support the team. But after her performance on stage 5, the Dutch rider moved up two places and into fifth place overall, ahead of the mountain stages.

“To be honest, I expected more of an explosion on that last climb, but nobody really went. The pace was high – you can see it’s a small group in the end, but I expected a bit more fireworks on the climb," said Van der Breggen after the punchy stage from Chasseneuil-du-Poitou to Guéret, and at 165.8km, it marked the longest stage of the Tour.

"But the stage was also so long, and the speed was high all day. I think everybody was feeling a bit that the real punch is out, so I think that’s the result of the hard days before and the long stage from today."

In the front group of seven, Kasia Niewiadoma-Phinney (Canyon-SRAM zondacrypto) took the lead on the descent from Le Maupuy, and Van der Breggen attempted to get away on the last kilometres before the finish in Guéret.

Her first move came with 2.8km to go, but she quickly realised the time was not right and sat back down. She tried again around 750 metres from the finish, but Le Court-Pienaar was on her wheel right away. In the end, Van der Breggen still managed to sprint to third place on the day.

“I know my sprint is not as good as Kim’s, or the rest of the group. I was hoping to find a moment I could attack, but the pace was quite high, so it’s difficult. I tried one or two times, and then I saw the 200-metre sign, so I thought ‘I better start first’ because when you're slow in speed, you need to start first,” Van der Breggen described the finish.

Five stages into the Tour, Van der Breggen moved up to fifth overall, 27 seconds behind Le Court-Pienaar with the four hardest days still to come.

“I’m good. I’m really happy I’m with this group. These climbs are short, so they don’t say too much about the long climbs, of course, but so far, it’s way better than I expected for me,” Van der Breggen was happy with her performance so far and looking forward to the big tests ahead.

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