“You can start asking whether Vollering made the right choice” - Experts highlight glaring time trial difference that helped Anna van der Breggen seize Giro d’Italia control

Anna van der Breggen did not simply beat Demi Vollering in the Giro d’Italia Women’s first major GC test, according to Sporza commentators Ine Beyen and Ruben Van Gucht. In their view, the SD Worx - Protime leader also exposed a visible difference in how the two Dutch rivals handled the same broad equipment choice on the climb to Nevegal Tudor.

Van der Breggen and Vollering both opted for time trial bikes on the 12.7km uphill test from Belluno, while world time trial champion Marlen Reusser chose a road bike. Yet the post-stage discussion centred less on the bike choice itself and more on how Van der Breggen appeared to use the extensions far more consistently than Vollering.

“They both rode with a time trial bike, but Van der Breggen rode much more in the extensions than Vollering,” Beyen said during Sporza’s post-stage analysis.

Van Gucht pushed that point further after Vollering lost 1:10 to Van der Breggen, who took the stage win and moved into the Maglia Rosa with a dominant ride. “You can start asking whether Vollering made the right choice,” he said. “My view is: if you choose the extensions, then you have to use them as much as possible, and she did not do that.”

The scale of the result made the technical detail harder to ignore. Van der Breggen stopped the clock in 31:38, beating Reusser by 1:04 and Vollering by 1:10. Antonia Niedermaier finished fourth at 1:26, while defending champion Elisa Longo Borghini lost 1:51.

Vollering had started quickly and was ahead of Reusser at the first intermediate split, but she faded later on the climb. Van der Breggen, meanwhile, was already 36 seconds faster than Vollering at the first checkpoint and continued to extend her advantage towards the finish.

Beyen admitted Vollering might have been the more obvious pre-stage pick, but the ride itself left little room for debate about who had been strongest on the day. “We might have backed Vollering more before the stage, but Van der Breggen did fantastically,” she said. “They both rode with a time trial bike, unlike Reusser, but Van der Breggen was much better than Vollering.”

For Van Gucht, the performance was difficult to reconcile with the way the season had looked before the Giro. Van der Breggen had been beaten at the Vuelta earlier in the year, yet on Nevegal she produced a time trial that neither Vollering nor Reusser could approach.

“She lost the Vuelta to riders who are good, but who you would still rate below the level of Vollering and Reusser,” he said. “But now she does it with such a phenomenal gap that it is difficult to explain. She must really have had a super day.”

The result ended Elisa Balsamo’s opening spell in pink and moved the race onto very different ground. Balsamo had controlled the first three days, first inheriting Stage 1 after Lorena Wiebes’ expulsion and then winning Stages 2 and 3 on the road. Nevegal was the first day built for the GC riders, and Van der Breggen made the biggest statement possible.

The size of the win also shifted the pressure around Vollering. She arrived at the Giro as one of the defining favourites, but she now has to chase a rider who suddenly looks much closer to the dominant Van der Breggen of old.

Sporza’s analysts were not ready to treat the race as settled. The time loss was heavy, but the hardest mountain stages are still to come and the team balance around the main contenders could yet become decisive. “We are not going to write Demi Vollering off for the overall victory,” Beyen said.

That point is especially relevant after SD Worx - Protime’s turbulent start to the Giro. Wiebes is already out of the race after the Stage 1 bike-weight controversy, and the team had arrived with part of their Giro structure built around their dominant sprinter. Van der Breggen now has the Maglia Rosa, but defending it will demand something different from winning a controlled uphill time trial.

FDJ - SUEZ, by contrast, are built fully around Vollering’s GC challenge. “You also have to look at the teams around both riders,” Beyen said. “Van der Breggen and SD Worx-Protime have already lost a few riders and they have a part of their team set up around Wiebes. FDJ-Suez does have a team that rides solely and only for Vollering.”

Van Gucht also widened the frame beyond the Giro, with Vollering’s position at the top of women’s stage racing now facing a renewed challenge from Van der Breggen.

“The main conclusion, for me, is that the suspense in the Tour de France has been saved,” he said. “We still have to take into account that Vollering is going to get a little bit better. I am happy that there are riders who have made the step up to Vollering’s level.”

The immediate focus remains the Giro, where Van der Breggen carries both the jersey and the pressure into the coming mountain stages. Vollering still has time, team support and terrain ahead, but the first major GC test has left her with a clear deficit and a technical question attached to it.

On a day when both Dutch rivals chose the time trial bike, Van der Breggen looked more committed to the position that made it count. Vollering now has to answer on the road.