Anna van der Breggen wins women's Dutch time trial title

Anna van der Breggen (SD Worx) stormed to victory in the women's individual time trial at the Dutch Road Championships. The world champion was the only rider to cover the 32km course in sub 40 minutes with a winning time of 39:58 in Emmen. Ellen van Dijk and Lucinda Brand (both Trek-Segafredo) finished second and third, as Annemiek van Vleuten (Movistar) finished in fourth place.

"This is a good feeling! I knew I was in a good shape, but I didn't know what to expect, as we hadn't had time trials yet this season. I won my last races, but a TT is something else," van der Breggen said.

The time trial was cancelled due to COVID-19 in 2020, but this year the women competed two laps of a 16km route in Emmen for the return of the time trial at the 2021 Dutch Championships. The total 32km event included two climbs over the Muur van Emmen. 

Van der Breggen set the fastest time at the intermediate checkpoint in 19:53, which was ten seconds faster than Van Dijk, 22 seconds faster then Brand and 24 seconds faster than Van Vleuten.

Van der Breggen continued to pull time away from her competitors over the second lap of the race finishing in 39:35, beating Van Dijk by 13 seconds, Brand by 32 seconds and Van Vleuten by 53 seconds.

Van der Breggen last won the time trial national title in 2015. She arrived to the event in Emmen after completing an altitude training camp where she was preparing to defend her titles at the Giro d'Italia Donne and Olympic Games road race in July.