It's been more than three years since Anna van der Breggen last took part in a road race, but the former World and Olympic champion is set to pin on a race number again today in Spain.
The SD Worx-ProTime racer will be taking part in the four-day Setmana Ciclista Volta Femenina de la Comunitat Valenciana, which starts on Thursday 13 in Alzira and finishes on Sunday in Alicante.
According to a team press release, the Dutch star previously did not want to put a date on her comeback, but a test at her last training camp showed she is ready to race.
Now 34 years old, Van der Breggen rode her last race at the 2021 World Championships in Leuven and has spent the last three years as a sports director with Team SD Worx - Protime.
"I had a good winter and during the last training camp in Javea I noticed again that I have made strides;" Van der Breggen, a former World and Olympic Champion who had a hugely successful career, said in the press release.
"I am ready to ride a race again and am looking forward to it immensely. In that respect, the Setmana Valenciana being in the area where we have our training camp makes it an ideal course to start again.’
Besides Anna van der Breggen, SD Worx-Protime will also bring Steffi Häberlin, Mikayla Harvey, Mischa Bredewold and Laura Stigger to the startline of the Setmana Valenciana this Thursday.
Featuring a rugged course throughout, Thursday's opening stage of the Setmana is a 112-kilometre hilly trek between Alzira and Gandia in the eastern side of the province. The Cat. 2 Alto de Barx, 18 kilometres from the finish, is likely to split the field and perhaps lay the ground for a small bunch sprint to decide the first day's leader.
Setmana Valenciana is a race in which Van der Breggen has good memories. In her only previous participation back in 2020, she both won a stage and the overall classification, something which will have likely done no harm to her motivation to get her racing wheels in motion again there, five years later.
