"My Tour de France Femmes is going much better than expected" – Van der Breggen poised for yellow jersey assault

Anna van der Breggen’s long-awaited debut at the Tour de France Femmes is turning into a quietly impressive comeback. The 35-year-old, riding for Team SD Worx – Protime, finished third on stage 5 and now sits fifth in the general classification, just 27 seconds behind race leader Kim Le Court. Despite four Giro d’Italia titles and two world championship wins, Van der Breggen never had the chance to race a women’s Tour before retiring in 2021. With Lotte Kopecky absent from the stage wins so far, all eyes have shifted to Van der Breggen as the team’s key contender.

Kim Le Court claimed the stage 5 win with a well-timed move in the final stretch. "I know I'm not the fastest in a sprint like this, so I tried to attack first. But I'm happy with it. The feeling is good." Van der Breggen, meanwhile, was content with her third-place finish. "It's great to finish in this elite group. I know I don't have the fastest final sprint, so it was important to be first. I was looking for a gap, but unfortunately it didn't happen. Third was the best I could do."

Reflecting on the day’s effort, Van der Breggen added: "This was a super long and tough day. For 160 kilometers, it was really hard, and we were fighting for our position. So it's understandable that most of us felt a bit out of sorts."

With several mountain stages ahead, Van der Breggen remains cautious. "It's great that I'm getting through this tough stage well. But it's not yet a benchmark for the really long and tough climbs. But I'll take this into account. Now I'm going to try to recover well and then we'll see."

Still, her early results have been encouraging. "My Tour de France Femmes is going much better than expected. That's a good feeling. However, this doesn't say much for the future. The real giant climbs are still to come."