The profile of the stage four time trial of this year’s Giro d’Italia Women had us all scratching our heads. An uphill course against the clock is certainly not unheard of – but an 8.2 percent gradient climb, reaching 14 percent at its peak, is a rare beast.
It wasn’t just the brute of the climb, however, which forced team mechanics to the drawing board, but more the fact that the TT was essentially a two-part course: flat (and a bit downhill) for what was essentially a warm-up, and then a plot-twist at kilometre four, where the climb lifted off over the next seven until the summit in Nevegal. A cruel exam in pacing if there ever was one.
The organisers will have had fun chuckling at the hotch-potch of TT skis, disc wheels and aero road bikes in the warm-up area, as their participants got creative with bike set-ups. If artistic vision and mechanical innovation were hallmarks of Italian 16th century culture, then this was bike riding a la Renaissance, and the grimaces of riders as they crossed the finish line old school da Vinci. Some, like 29th-placed EF Education-Oatly’s Kristen Faulkner, opted for a bike change mid-way through – alas, to little avail. Others, like Urška Žigart (AG Insurance-Soudal) forfeited radios for marginal gains.
The velo variety show at the start was telling of the fact that no one really knew how best to approach it. Confusion abound. But was it worth it?
If there ever was a test of pure endurance without the helping hand of their domestiques for our top contenders, it was going to be a big hill against the clock. As expected, the GC took quite the shaking-up. The digging was dug deep, as evidenced by a crumpled Demi Vollering (FDJ United-Suez) who could barely sit upright in the recovery area after clocking an average speed of 23.226. That result would eventually land her in third behind Marlen Reusser.
Marlen Reusser was bested by Van der Breggen by over a minute (Image credit: Getty)
The world time trial champion had naturally breezed into first place, taking hold of the leaderboard with a time of 32.42 and ousting climber Žigart along the way. At the end of the stage, the Movistar rider confessed she had a little more to give – but not enough to equal Anna van der Breggen’s monster lead. Reusser was astonished at the ride of her opponent:
“I don’t know. I think I did a good TT, but not a really good TT today. I missed the moment to go really deep today. I just felt too good, so I think it was too easy. Not so good from my side,” she said. “But also Anna is faster by a minute!? That’s a lot. It was a really good performance. Chapeau!”
And when questioned over her choice of a road bike compared to a TT bike - the set-up favoured by Van der Breggen - she attested that it wouldn’t have made a difference:
“If you’re slower then of course you think you should have chosen the other bike, but it’s always easy to say later it’s because of this or this. Maybe it was smarter to ride a TT bike, but I wouldn’t say if I had a TT bike I would have won.”
Reusser is right. Van der Breggen could have had a lead weight attached to her bike, and she still would have won. Okay, maybe not, but the point still stands. Aptly donned in the maglia azzurra, the four-time Giro victor climbed through the intermediate checkpoint as the fastest rider, before powering finish line in a time of 31.38 at an average of 24.164 km/h – a whole minute and four seconds ahead of Reusser.
It’s a victory made sweeter by the adversity SD Worx have had to overcome already this Giro, who suffered the extraordinary expulsion of Lorena Wiebes after stage one, and the stage three crash which forced Mikayla Harvey to abandon the race.
"Wearing the pink jersey in the Giro, it’s a dream," she said after the stage. "I will enjoy it with Lorena, who is not here. I think she will be really proud, and I’m proud of her."
It’s a lesson to the peloton, too, that experience really is the teacher of all things. Stage four’s uphill time trial was certainly not Van der Breggen’s first rodeo. The last time she won a Giro stage was in 2021, when her time clocked one minute and five seconds on her then-teammate Vollering on an uphill 11.2 kilometre course.
For Vollering, and for the many others at this year’s race who were present at that 2021 Giro, Van der Breggen’s domination will be reminiscent of years gone by. She’s won this race before, and there’s little doubt she can do it again. The other favourites face a tough task in closing the gap as the race heads into the Dolomites. For the cynics who were skeptical of how the former world champion would fare when she came out of retirement at the start of 2025, it’s yet another sign they should hold their tongue.
Anna van der Breggen wears the maglia rosa after stage four (Image credit: Getty)
“I hope I'm an example that you need to keep fighting and in the end it will come again," Van der Breggen said after the race. "You are never there in one step. For me, it feels like I've worked really hard these past two years to get to this point. Winning today in this way really means a lot to me."
The Dutch rider took the maglia rosa from Elisa Balsamo, who automatically received the lead after Wiebes was disqualified on stage one. The Italian proved she was worthy of the jersey by prevailing in the sprint finishes of stages two and three, and fought hard on the climb from Belluno to Nevegal. But stage four was never designed with a sprinter in mind, and the Lidl-Trek rider placed 123rd, 18 minutes behind Van der Breggen.
The Giro was out to get SD Worx, but their veteran struck back. Magnificent in pink and with the high mountains calling her name, Van der Breggen could win the Giro d'Italia for a fifth time. If there’s anything an uphill time trial is good for, it’s an Anna van der Breggen win.
