Anna van der Breggen

Anna van der Breggen

Anna van der Breggen after winning the gold medal at the 2016 Summer Olympics
Personal information
Full name	Anna van der Breggen
Born	(1990-04-18) 18 April 1990 Zwolle, Netherlands
Height	1.67 m (5 ft 6 in)
Weight	56 kg (123 lb)
Team information
Current team	Rabo–Liv Women Cycling Team
Discipline	Road
Role	Rider
Professional team(s)
2009	Team Flexpoint
2012–2013	Sengers Ladies
2014–	Rabo–Liv
Major wins
UCI Women's World Cup La Flèche Wallonne Féminine (2015) UCI Women's World Tour La Flèche Wallonne Féminine (2016) Stage races & Grand Tours Giro d'Italia Femminile (2015) Tour de Bretagne (2012) Festival Luxembourgeois du cyclisme féminin Elsy Jacobs (2014, 2015) Ladies Tour of Norway (2014) One day races Olympic Games Road Race (2016) European Road Race Trial (2016) European Time Trial championships (2012) Omloop Het Nieuwsblad (2015) La Course by Le Tour de France (2015) National Time Trial Champion (2015)
Medal record Road bicycle racing Representing the  Netherlands Olympic Games 2016 Rio de Janeiro Road race 2016 Rio de Janeiro Time trial World Championships 2015 Richmond Time trial 2015 Richmond Road Race European Games 2015 Baku Road Race Representing Rabo–Liv World Championships 2015 Richmond Team Time trial
Infobox last updated on 20 June 2015

Anna van der Breggen (born 18 April 1990) is a Dutch racing cyclist.^[1] While participating in the Team Time Trial at the 2014 Road World Championships in Ponferrada, Spain, van der Breggen broke her pelvis in a crash sustained by her Rabo Liv team.^[2] However, she recovered to win her first race of 2015, the Omloop Het Nieuwsblad. In 2015, she won a bronze medal in the Road Race at the inaugural European Games, and was awarded won the Gerrit Schulte Trophy for the best Dutch of cyclist of the year.^[3] She won gold in the women's road race at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio.^[4]

Career

Sengers Ladies Cycling Team

2012

She turned professional in 2012 with the Sengers Ladies Cycling Team. In July, she won three of the four stages of women's Tour de Bretagne. She eventually won the overall classification, with a lead of almost three minutes. Van der Breggen also took victory in the time trial at the Tour Féminin en Limousin as well as the gold medal at the European cycling championships. As a result, she was selected for the 2012 UCI Road World Championships, whilst playing a domestique role for team leader, Marianne Vos, managed to finish fifth.

2013

Van der Breggen had a low key 2013 season, with the highlight of the season being a fourth-place finish at the Trofeo Alfredo Binda-Comune di Cittiglio. She was, however, selected to compete in the 2013 UCI Road World Championships where she finished fourth. In preparation for the 2014 season, she announced she would be joining the Dutch Rabobank–Liv Giant team.

Rabo–Liv

2014

Van der Breggens first season with the Dutch Rabo outfit proved to be highly fruitful, as well as outlining her stage racing potential. Van der Breggen scored multiple stage victories throughout the season, with notable wins coming from the overall classification at the Ladies Tour of Norway and Grand Prix Elsy Jacobs, as well as a runners up spot at the Lotto Belisol Belgium Tour and a third-place finish at the most prestigious race of all in the women's calendar, the Giro d'Italia Femminile.

2015

Van der Breggen has a career best campaign throughout the 2015 season. In first spring classic of the season - Omloop Het Nieuwsblad - van der Breggen managed to escape the leading group of riders as they headed onto the Molenberg along with Ellen van Dijk. The duo remained together for the last thirty kilometers with van der Breggen taking the sprint victory. The following week, she participated in Le Samyn des Dames, getting into the breakaway on the final lap with Emma Johansson and Chloe Hosking. Van der Breggen went on to record victories at La Flèche Wallonne Féminine and La Course by Le Tour de France as well as taking numerous podium positions at top one day races . Van der Breggen highlighted her stage race potential once again, by taking the overall classification at the Grand Prix Elsy Jacobs carrying the jersey from the prologue to the end of the race.^[5] Van der Breggens greatest victory came by securing the maglia rosa at the Giro d'Italia Femminile the most important race in the women's calendar and the only female Grand Tour.

2016

The 2016 season began under similar conditions as the previous one, Van der Breggen successfully defended her title at La Flèche Wallonne Féminine taking a second successive victory. Van der Breggen was part of a breakaway of seven riders in the final 10 km.

In July van der Breggen confirmed she would leave Rabo–Liv to join Boels–Dolmans for the 2017 season onwards.^[6]

On 7 August van der Breggen won gold in the women's road race in the 2016 Olympics in Rio. This was after her teammate, Annemiek van Vleuten, who had been in the lead earlier, crashed on the way down from Vista Chinesa and had to be hospitalised.^[4] Following her Olympic victory she was made a Knight of the Order of Orange-Nassau.^[7]

Major results

See also

• UCI Women's Road World Cup
• List of women's road bicycle races

References

External links

• Anna van der Breggen profile at Cycling Archives
• Anna van der Breggen profile at ProCyclingStats

European Road Champions – Women's time trial
Under-23 (1997–present)	1997–98: Diana Žiliūtė 1999: Tetyana Styazhkina 2000: Lada Kozlíková 2001: Nicole Brändli 2002: Olga Zabelinskaya 2003: Virginie Moinard 2004: Tatiana Guderzo 2005: Madeleine Sandig 2006–07: Linda Villumsen 2008: Ellen van Dijk 2009: Ellen van Dijk 2010: Alexandra Burchenkova 2011: Mélodie Lesueur 2012: Anna van der Breggen 2013: Hanna Solovey 2014–15: Mieke Kröger 2016: Anastasiia Iakovenko
Elite (2016)	2016: Ellen van Dijk

Dutch National Road Champions – Women's time trial
1991: Ingrid Haringa 1992: Lenie Dijkstra 1993: Petra Grimbergen 1994: Maria Jongeling 1995: Jet Jongeling 1996: Willeke van der Weide 1997-2002: Leontien van Moorsel 2003: Jolanda van Dongen 2004: Mirjam Melchers 2005: Suzanne de Goede 2006: Loes Gunnewijk 2007: Ellen van Dijk 2008: Mirjam Melchers 2009: Regina Bruins 2010-2011: Marianne Vos 2012-2013: Ellen van Dijk 2014: Annemiek van Vleuten 2015: Anna van der Breggen 2016: Annemiek van Vleuten