ΑΝNΑ VAN DER BREGGEN

Over her nine-year professional career, Anna van der Breggen won a staggering 62 races. Here, she sits down with Deena Blacking to share the training, fuelling and recovery expertise that underpinned her greatness

- Deena Blacking

It has never been harder to make it to the top level in women's cycling. The number of Women's World Tour (WWT) events has doubled over the past decade there are 25 this year, including the inaugural Tour de France Femmes. To get into the WWT peloton, never mind win races, a rider needs to be truly exceptional. So how did Anna van der Breggen rack up no fewer than 62 professional wins over her career?

The Dutch rider, who retired last year, is one of the most decorated riders of her generation - twice world champion on the road and Olympic road race champion in 2016. Van der Breggen's career developed in parallel with the women's peloton; as the competition grew fiercer, she just kept winning. She is, without doubt, one of the greatest road cyclists ever.

Keen not to lose her extraordinary racing nous, van der Breggen's old team SD Worx has kept her on as sports director. In the same spirit, I wanted to find out what fitness wisdom she accrued over her career, to share with Cycling Weekly readers. The 31-yearold agreed to meet with me at a recent SD Worx training camp in Calpe, Spain, for a face-to-face conversation about training, performance and generally how to stay on top form season after season.

Accept the challenge, then give it your all