"You never know what happens" - Van der Breggen still hopeful of GC makeover at Tour de France Femmes

The Tour de France Femmes has seen yesterday the obliteration of the overall classification by Annemiek van Vleuten in the Vosges. Anna van der Breggen, legend of the peloton and DS in now rival Team SD Worx, has talked about the outcome of today's stage.

“In the beginning, she was going well and it’s good to see,” Van der Breggen said regarding Demi Vollering who was the only rider able to initially follow van Vleuten's attacks. “You could see that it was getting harder on the second climb just over the top, motivated to stay on her wheel and to try to be with Annemiek until the top".

Eventually Vollering could not take the pace in the second of three climbs, and had to ride the final half of the stage alone and minimizing the losses to the Movistar Team rider. "...She tried very hard but she just didn’t make it to the top. It’s fighting against the road and yourself. She did great, second place is very good. Tomorrow is another day.”

Having shrugged questions regarding her own feelings towards missing the competition, she focused on her team and the result of Vollering who now sits in second place, 3:14 minutes behind van Vleuten. “You always need to try it but I think it is clear that tomorrow is similar with hard climbing, and if nothing happens, and Annemiek is the strongest on the climbs, then we should focus on the place that Demi has now and on the good performance she is doing,” she said.

Onto the final day of racing up to La Planche des Belles Filles, van der Breggen was clear that the team is still ready to fight for the win. “You should always keep on fighting because you never know what happens," she concluded.