Anna van der Breggen (born 18 April 1990) is a Dutch former professional road bicycle racer, who rode professionally between 2009 and 2021 for Team Flexpoint, Sengers Ladies Cycling Team, Rabo–Liv and SD Worx. She won the gold medal in the women's road race at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro,[3] and has won the Giro d'Italia Femminile on four occasions.[4][5] In 2018 and 2020, she won the women's road race at the UCI Road World Championships.
Considered one of the most versatile riders of her generation, Van der Breggen excelled in both the one-day classics and stage races, particularly when run on a hilly terrain. Apart from the Olympic road race title and three Giro Rosa titles, other notable wins include La Flèche Wallonne on seven consecutive occasions, Liège–Bastogne–Liège two times, the Tour of Flanders, Amstel Gold Race, Strade Bianche, Omloop Het Nieuwsblad and the European Road Race Championships.[6][7][8][9][10] In addition, she has won the general classification and numerous stages in smaller stage races.
In 2017, she won all three Ardennes classics races in one week, which earned her the nickname Queen of the Ardennes.[11] She went on to secure her second Giro d'Italia win the following summer.[4] In April 2019, she won the La Flèche Wallonne Féminine, her fifth consecutive win in the race.[12] In 2020, she won both the Individual Time Trial as well as the Road Race at the UCI World Championships.[13]
Following her retirement at the end of the 2021 season,[14] Van der Breggen now works as a directeur sportif for her final professional team, UCI Women's WorldTeam Team SD Worx–Protime.[15] In June 2024, she announced that she would return to racing for the 2025 season.
- ^ Frattini, Kirsten (8 January 2020). "2020 Team Preview: Boels Dolmans". Cyclingnews.com. Retrieved 20 January 2020.
- ^ "Team SD Worx". UCI.org. Union Cycliste Internationale. Archived from the original on 13 January 2021. Retrieved 13 January 2021.
- ^ Wynn, Nigel (7 August 2016). "Anna van der Breggen wins Rio 2016 Olympics women's road race; Lizzie Armitstead fifth". Cycling Weekly. Retrieved 8 August 2016.
- ^ a b Cite error: The named reference
Giro2018was invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ "Van der Breggen wins Giro Rosa, Muzic takes final stage". SBS Cycling Central. 20 September 2020. Retrieved 27 September 2020.
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CN Ardenneswas invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ "Flèche Wallonne: Anna van der Breggen & Julian Alaphilippe win". BBC Sport. Retrieved 24 April 2019.
- ^ "Anna van der Breggen claims double gold at world road championships". TheGuardian.com. 26 September 2020.
- ^ "Anna van der Breggen: Olympic champion to retire next year after rescheduled Tokyo Games". BBC Sport. 11 May 2020. Retrieved 13 January 2021.
- ^ Abraham, Richard (16 February 2022). "Anna van der Breggen on retiring, becoming a sports director and the future of women's cycling". Rouleur. Gruppo Media Limited. Retrieved 8 June 2022.