Van der Breggen admits painful Giro truth after losing pink to Vollering

“I did everything I could today,” Van der Breggen said to Eurosport after finishing the race third overall. “It’s sad to lose it here, but I fought with what I could.”

Van der Breggen had started the ninth and final stage in pink, 49 seconds ahead of Vollering. By the finish, that advantage had vanished. Vollering’s attack on the Colletta di Brondello broke the race open, carried her across to the leaders and turned the Giro upside down in the final hour of racing.

For Van der Breggen, the defeat came less as a surprise than as a slow, uncomfortable confirmation of what she had already felt in her legs. By the time she reached the finish in Saluzzo, the answer was painfully simple: she had not been strong enough.

“They attacked,” she said when asked about the move that put Antonia Niedermaier (Canyon//SRAM), Niamh Fisher Black (Lidl-Trek) and Elisa Longo Borghini (UAE Team ADQ) up the road. “I cannot follow every attack. The legs today were a bit less, so I needed to choose.”

That choice became the centre of the stage. Van der Breggen found herself with Vollering behind the leaders, but the situation was never equal. Vollering had less reason to contribute fully. Van der Breggen, wearing pink and isolated, had everything to lose.

“I end up with Demi, which was good if we worked together,” Van der Breggen said. “But Demi wasn’t pulling, only her teammate was.”

That left Van der Breggen caught between two bad options. Pull too much, and she would arrive at the final climb already weakened. Refuse to chase, and the race could move further out of reach. “If I work and Demi not, then for sure I’m not gonna win it,” she said. “Because then I start to climb already a lot less.”

Even when Vollering did come through, Van der Breggen felt it changed little. “In the end, she did some pulls, but it was not really pulling,” she said. “I’m alone, so I need to make a decision, and I lose anyway if I pull really a lot.”

There was frustration in the situation, but not in the tone. Van der Breggen was careful not to turn her explanation into criticism. Vollering raced from a position of strength and used it. Van der Breggen understood the logic, even if she was the one paying the price for it.

“I knew she would attack on the climb,” she said. “I tried to follow, and today she was stronger in the end.”

The decisive acceleration came with just under 40 kilometres remaining. Van der Breggen initially responded, but only briefly. Once the gap opened, Vollering never looked back. She bridged to the front group, moved into the virtual lead and carried enough time to the finish to seal overall victory.

Van der Breggen was asked whether the effects of an earlier crash had played a role in the result. Again, she refused to hide behind an easy explanation.

“Of course, the crash is doing something,” she said. “I had some back pain, but I don’t think that’s why I don’t win it. I was not strong enough today.”

It was a blunt assessment from a rider who had come far closer to winning the Giro than many might have expected. Van der Breggen returned to the top of a Grand Tour classification fight, wore the pink jersey deep into the race and forced Vollering into a final day comeback of real quality.

The final classification will show Vollering as the Giro winner, Niedermaier as runner-up and Van der Breggen in third. It will not fully show the tension of a final stage in which Van der Breggen had to make one difficult decision after another while defending a lead that was shrinking beneath her.

She lost pink on the road to Saluzzo, but she did not lose perspective.

“For sure I’m really proud of the team, what we achieved this week,” Van der Breggen said. “And also of the fight I had today.”