It is perhaps logical that Van der Breggen was so clearly ready for a new life. Before putting an end to her career, she wanted to experience the Olympics one more time. So when those were postponed by a year due to the corona pandemic, she decided to keep cycling for another year.
Van der Breggen calls it a bonus year. “It went very well, I was still able to win many competitions”, she refers to, among other things, her fourth overall victory in the Giro Rosa and her seventh victory in a row in the Waalse Pijl.
“I have enjoyed being on the bike and experiencing things very consciously. That is something that I may have done too little in the past. And I have been able to prepare better for what is to come.”
What went wrong at the Games?
The Olympics didn’t turn out quite as she had hoped. “Tokyo was disappointing for me. The process there was nice, but in terms of performance, the road race was a disappointment. My form was also less.”
The road race ended in disgrace for the Dutch team, which started as a high favorite. The leading group was given way too much space, allowing the unknown Austrian Anna Kiesenhofer to solo to the gold.
“I don’t think you can point to one thing that went wrong; it was a combination of several things,” Van der Breggen looks back on the much-discussed course. “Leaving a group drive away for eleven minutes is too much, I now understand that. It was also not clear who would do what, what the roles were. And it was a lack of knowledge of the Austrian, underestimation of your competitors.”
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