Five years after winning an uphill time trial at the 2021 Giro, Van der Breggen did it again on Tuesday.
One minute and four seconds. That’s how much time Anna van der Breggen put into the time trial world champion during stage 4 of the Giro d’Italia.
The stage was a majority uphill individual time trial, where Van der Breggen rode a time trial bike with lighter wheels, and Marlen Reusser, wearing a rainbow jersey that once belonged to Van der Breggen, opted for a full road setup. The equipment wasn’t what made the difference in the end; it was Van der Breggen. The SD Worx-Protime rider was just on another level, not dissimilar to the Van der Breggen of old.
“I really did not expect this. It’s incredible [to wear the maglia rosa again], I’m really happy with it. I worked really hard the last two years to get to this point again, and winning in this way means a lot to me,” Van der Breggen said after the stage.
The last time Van der Breggen won a Giro stage was in 2021. The stage was stage 4. The course? An 11.2 km climb. On that day, Van der Breggen won the stage by one minute and six seconds over her then-teammate Demi Vollering. She was already in the pink jersey going into the time trial after winning both the opening team time trial with SD Worx and then winning the second stage.
By stage 10, Van der Breggen held a 1:43 lead over her then-teammate Ashleigh Moolman-Pasio. Vollering finished third overall, 3:25 down. Interestingly, that was also the last time Vollering raced the Giro until this season.
On Tuesday, in Nevegal, the calendars turned backwards. You could have been forgiven for looking around and thinking, “Is it 2021 again?”
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