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Few riders have raced along or towards Anna van der Breggen greater than veteran Ellen van Dijk (Lidl-Trek), with the latter assured that her Dutch compatriot can be competing for wins and temporarily again to her perfect as she returns to racing for SD Worx-Protime in 2025, 3 years after retiring.
Van Dijk and Van der Breggen have been cornerstones of the Dutch ladies’s Global Championships staff for all the 2010s, along the likes of Marianne Vos and Annemiek van Vleuten. They raced at 8 elite highway races in combination between 2012 and 2021, together with Van der Breggen’s two victories in 2018 and 2020, and have been incessantly carefully matched in time trials, taking 4 ITT global titles between them too.
Having witnessed Van der Breggen’s power, coaching, and center of attention first-hand, Van Dijk is sure that her countrywoman will temporarily be one of the vital very best riders as soon as once more.
“I’m convinced she’s gonna come back straight away really strong. I think for sure she will reach at least the level she had when she retired already and I expect her to be straight away competitive for the win.”
Van der Breggen bowed out of racing on the very best of the game forward of the 2022 season and the beginning of her new activity as a directeur sportif, on the other hand, introduced in June that she can be again within the skilled peloton in 2025.
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However the Dutchwoman may be mindful that so much has modified since her ultimate race on the Worlds in 2021, with larger professionalism, extra money, and larger occasions such because the Excursion de France Femmes all getting into the ladies’s biking panorama.
Van der Breggen believes that she’ll wish to succeed in a brand new top degree to compete as she did ahead of, as a former Olympic champion, four-time Giro winner, seven-time L. a. Flèche Wallonne winner, and multiple-time global champion. Nonetheless, Van Dijk sees this as no factor for the 34-year-old.
“When she quit, she was on the highest level and she is a great rider. Anna was really at the top of the top and she knows what she needs to do to be at that level,” stated Van Dijk, additionally acknowledging that Van der Breggen will take note of what the highest degree is, having helped mentor 2023 Excursion de France Femmes winner Demi Vollering to the place she is now as her former trainer.
“It’s not like she didn’t do anything for three years. She was still training, of course, in a different way, but she was not racing. However, she knew already for a year that she wanted to come back.
“I think like she is aware of precisely what degree she must be at. She additionally is aware of, as an example, Demi’s degree and what she has to coach for. Together with her ability and her personality and the entirety in the best way I see her coaching and doing issues now, I am completely satisfied she can be there once more.”
Van Dijk clarified that she hasn’t actually seen Van der Breggen in training but that having known her for a very long time believes there’s no way she isn’t training at maximum capacity for a fiery return and clash with the likes of Vollering, who moved teams to FDJ-Suez from SD Worx-Protime in summer.
“No, I if truth be told do not see her coaching, however it is simply the rumours you listen – individuals are speaking about it, in fact,” Van Dijk says with a smile. “No, it is simply that she trains so much, is on numerous coaching camps, and that she’s no longer taking it flippantly announcing ‘Oh, I can see the place I’m going’. She’s going for it.
“She made this decision and I wouldn’t assume it any other way. If she puts her head to something, I’m sure she will be ready.”
