{"id":1969148,"date":"2026-06-02T14:56:29","date_gmt":"2026-06-02T11:56:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=1969148"},"modified":"2026-06-02T14:56:29","modified_gmt":"2026-06-02T11:56:29","slug":"giro-ditalia-women-stage-4-van-der-breggen-blows-up-battle-for-pink-in-mountain-tt","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=1969148","title":{"rendered":"Giro d’Italia Women Stage 4: Van der Breggen Blows Up Battle for Pink in Mountain TT"},"content":{"rendered":"
Anna van der Breggen blew away her rivals and blew up the race for pink at the Giro d\u2019Italia Women on Tuesday\u2019s 4th stage.<\/p>\n
The Dutch veteran on SD Worx-Protime blasted to her first time trial victory in five years on a severe mountaintop test that marked the first GC shakeup of the race.<\/p>\n
It was an obliteration that leaves \u201cAVDB\u201d well-placed for multi-mountain stages on Wednesday and Saturday.<\/p>\n
The 36-year-old now has a commanding GC lead over top rivals Marlen Reusser (Movistar) and Demi Vollering (FDJ Suez) after they finished 1:04 and 1:10 back on stage 4 on Tuesday.<\/p>\n
Italian star Elisa Longo Borghini (UAE ADQ) lost 1:51 to Van der Breggen in a huge early dent to her title defense.<\/p>\n
\u201cI really didn\u2019t expect it. It\u2019s incredible,\u201d Van der Breggen said in her winner\u2019s interview. \u201cI\u2019m really happy with this.<\/p>\n
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\u201cI hope I can be an example that you always have to keep fighting and keep working hard, and that eventually it will come. I have worked so hard over the past two years [since my comeback] to get here,\u201d she said. \u201cTo win like this means a lot to me.\u201d<\/p>\n
As expected, overnight race-leader and three-peat sprinter Elisa Balsamo (Lidl-Trek) slid out of the top of classification on Tuesday. Her next chance comes in a pan-flat stage on Thursday.<\/p>\n
What bike works best?<\/h2>\nVan der Breggen obliterated her rivals Tuesday in the Giro\u2019s mointain TT.<\/span> (Photo: Luc Claessen\/Getty Images)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
GC contenders bookmarked Tuesday\u2019s 4th stage as the first definitive stop in the race for the pink jersey.<\/p>\n
With around 750m of gain in just 12.7km, the Bulluno TT would set the tone for a lot more climbing to come.<\/p>\n
Riders were split between climbing on their time trial bike or opting for a road machine on the two-part course. Reusser and Longo Borghini gambled on using their lightweight road bikes while Van der Breggen and Vollering gutted it out on their TT rigs.<\/p>\nThe Giro didn\u2019t make the stage 4 time trial easy for the specialists.<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
It turns out aero really is everything \u2013 even on a 750m climb.<\/p>\n
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Racing in the blue skinsuit of \u201cbest climber,\u201d Van der Breggen held rock solid in the TT extensions through the steep haul to Nevegal and reaped a pink jersey reward.<\/p>\n
Vollering, Longo Borghini, and Reusser won\u2019t have it easy clawing back their GC gaps to Van der Breggen in the climbing tests to come.<\/p>\n
The dominator of the pre-pandemic era proved only last month at the Vuelta Feminina she\u2019s on her best form since she hung up her wheels at the end of 2021 \u2013 the same year she won her fourth pink jersey.<\/p>\n
Giro d\u2019Italia Women stage 4 results:<\/h2>\n\n<\/div>\n
[analyse_image type=”featured” src=”https:\/\/velo-cdn.outsideonline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/GettyImages-2279442767.jpg”] Jim Cotton Updated June 2, 2026 09:31AM Anna van der Breggen blew away her rivals and blew up the race for pink at the Giro d\u2019Italia Women on Tuesday\u2019s 4th stage. The Dutch veteran on SD Worx-Protime blasted to her first time trial victory in five years on a severe mountaintop test […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[226,71],"class_list":["post-1969148","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-politics","tag-crawlmanager","tag-velo-outsideonline-com"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1969148","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1969148"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1969148\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1969148"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1969148"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1969148"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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