Seeing Anna van der Breggen on the front of a reduced bunch on the final slopes of Lagunas de Niela during last year's Vuelta Femenina might have been a throwback, but it was hardly a surprise. With four overall victories at the Giro d'Italia Women, an Olympic gold medal, three rainbow jerseys and a host of other top-drawer victories to her name, the SD Worx-Protime rider spent years in rarified company as one of the best riders of her generation.
Quiet, modest, unassuming and always inscrutable, we'd grown accustomed to her grinding the opposition into the tarmac, simply riding away from her rivals when the race was at its hardest and the road at its steepest. Only one woman could beat her: Annemiek van Vleuten, who regularly bested her compatriot, setting up many memorable battles.
