Anna van der Breggen will pin on a race number for the first time in over three years tomorrow as she returns to competition at the Setmana Ciclista Valenciana. The Dutch rider, who retired in 2021 to take up a directeur sportif role with SD Worx-Protime, has decided to make a comeback and will test herself in the four-day stage race in Spain.
The 34-year-old confirmed she has enjoyed a strong winter of training and is eager to get back into the peloton. “I have had a good winter and during the last training camp in Javea, I could feel that I was making progress again,” she said in a team statement. “I am ready to race again and really looking forward to it. Setmana Valenciana is an ideal race to start with, especially as our training camp has been in this area.”
Van der Breggen last raced at the 2021 World Championships in Leuven, where she finished 89th. Since then, she has been working as a directeur sportif with SD Worx-Protime but announced in June 2024 that she would be making a return to racing. Now, eight months later, her comeback is officially happening.
Photo Credit: Dario Belingheri/Getty ImagesAlongside Van der Breggen, SD Worx-Protime will also field Steffi Häberlin, Mikayla Harvey, Mischa Bredewold and Laura Stigger at the Spanish stage race.
With the Olympic road race champion from Rio 2016 back in action, all eyes will be on how she fares in her first outing after such a long break. While her long-term ambitions remain unclear, she appears keen to see how she stacks up against the current peloton.
Meanwhile, her teammate and world champion Lotte Kopecky will not begin her road season until 22nd March, when she lines up for the rebooted women’s edition of Milan-Sanremo.
