'The level is higher, and that's something good' – Anna van der Breggen hails progress of women's cycling ahead of Tour de France Femmes debut

With world champion Lotte Kopecky taking the Tour de France Femmes day by day following a back injury sustained at the Giro d'Italia Women, the Belgian's teammate Anna van der Breggen may just be taking up the GC slack for SD Worx-Protime at this year's race.

The veteran Dutchwoman, this season making her comeback after a three-year retirement from racing, is a veteran of 13 editions of the Giro d'Italia but will this year be making her debut at the Tour.

Through six months of racing so far, Van der Breggen has scored podiums at Strade Bianche and the Vuelta España Femina, winning a stage at the latter, before going on to finish sixth at the Giro earlier this month.

It perhaps wasn't the GC result the 35-year-old had hoped for, but she told Cyclingnews and Cycling Weekly at SD Worx-Protime's hotel in Vannes that women's racing has ascended to another level since her retirement in 2021.

"For sure, it is harder now. The level went up and there are more strong riders," Van der Breggen, who worked as a directeur sportif before deciding to make a comeback, said.

"If you look at the races, there are more teams that are riding more professionally. You see more trains in the sprint stages and also for leading out into the climbs. It's totally different from before, and that's something that has really developed.

"Also, the pace in general – in the past, it was comfortable to go over some small climbs, but now sometimes you're really already on the limit before the real race has even started. The level is higher, and that's something good. It shows that everybody is training well and taking it seriously."

The added difficulty of a faster peloton with more contenders and more riders hitting a higher level than before may have made things harder for Van der Breggen racing-wise, but she was quick to point out the positives for the sport as a whole.

So too with the Tour de France Femmes, which she admitted isn't her favourite race due to the sheer scale of the event compared to other stage races, including the Giro d'Italia. The increased attention and, as a result, the growth of women's cycling is only positive.

"It's a really good thing for women's cycling that this race is here now and that it's this big, but it's something personal," she said, referring to her own racing preferences.

"I also like smaller races like the Giro we just did. That's one of my favourite races and this is not, but it's good that we have this race and that it's getting bigger and bigger."

At the Giro, which Van der Breggen has won four times in the past, she ended up in sixth overall, 3:23 down on double champion Elisa Longo Borghini. She had been in contention for the podium before slipping back on the penultimate stage up Monte Nerone.

Kopecky, meanwhile, started strong with second in the Bergamo time trial before her back issue forced her out of the race after five days. The race did, however, end on a positive note for Van der Breggen, with a second place on the challenging final day in Imola.

"It was quite a tough edition this time in the Giro, so it made me pretty clear that this Tour is not going to be easy at all," she said. "The level is high, and also going into Tour, you could see that riders here are getting into shape.

"There are some new names also who are suddenly there. I think it's closer than we thought before. I hope to be in this GC fight more, which I wasn't at the Giro.

"I had some really good preparation for the Giro, so I expected more from the Giro for sure, but having that race in the legs and with some rest now, hopefully I can be better."

Van der Breggen said that her goals for the Tour were "difficult to say", with her team stating that stage wins are the aim, with uncertainty in the air over any possible GC challenge from either her or Kopecky.

Should the race feature an absence of SD Worx-Protime riders towards the top of the standings, Van der Breggen continued to sound a positive note about the progress of the sport as a whole.

"It's not like we have three riders and then, then there's a big gap; you can say there are six or seven riders, so it's going to be quite interesting in this GC fight," she said.

"You can answer that. What is it like now, before the Tour, that you have no clue who is going to win? That's a nice feeling, right? That you're excited. It's a good thing. Of course, when you're in a team you want to win, but this makes cycling really attractive."

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