Crossing the Liege-Bastogne-Liege finish line in Ans, Anna van der Breggen has completed editing the new chapter of women's cycling history. The reigning Olympic and European champion concluded an incredibly successful week, taking victories in all three Ardennes classics and setting an incredibly high benchmark for the editions to come.
The Boels Dolmans rider prevailed on her team's home ground on the route of the Amstel Gold Race last Sunday, went on to take a third victory in La Fleche Wallonne on Wednesday and yesterday concluded spring racing with a solo victory in Ans. The first ever women's Ardennes triptyque will be remembered, however, not just due to van der Breggen's astonishing winning streak. Remarkably, the Olympic champion finished all three races ahead of her teammate Elizabeth Deignan and Polish champion Katarzyna Niewiadoma (WM3 Pro Cycling), while a reborn Amstel Gold Race saw the jury unable to call the sprint for third place and award it ex aequo to Niewiadoma and Annemiek Van Vleuten.
"I never expected to win this [the triptyque]. It was an important week and I hoped to win one of them. I think Liege-Bastogne-Liege is a beautiful race, so if I could win this one, I'd be really happy. But to win three of them it's just wow," Van der Breggen explained calmly in a post-race interview with a small group of journalists.
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"I think it was a hard race. It has climbs but it doesn't get flat even for a moment. When you start climbing with 60 kilometres to go, then it's hard, and it doesn't stop. It's a great race to have on a calendar."
The Dutch rider stressed the significance of the Ardennes week for the team and echoed Deignan's comments after the Amstel Gold Race, when the Brit explained the approach last year's dominant team took at the start of the year.
"Three WorldTour races in one week – that's special. If you are in shape, you have three good races instead of one. If you're really good at the beginning of the spring, that's also great, but then it's difficult to keep the shape until this week. I think riders have to make a choice for this week," she said.
Right choices
"Lizzie is in the wheel"
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