'If I want to return as a cyclist, it's now or never' - Anna van der Breggen announces surprise return to professional cycling in 2025

Anna van der Breggen has announced that she will return to the professional peloton in 2025, three seasons after she retired as a rider.

The news was announced at a surprise press conference organised by her SD Worx-Protime team on Thursday afternoon.

The two-time world champion stepped off the bike and into the team car after the Leuven World Championships in 2021, becoming a directeur sportif for the team she had raced for since 2017.

"I find my job as a team leader beautiful and challenging, but I realise that I can still do this job in ten years' time," she said. "If I want to return as a cyclist, it's now or never. I am looking forward to it immensely."

"The motivation is great to get back on the bike after three years," she continued. "It's an exciting decision. If I didn't feel the motivation, I would never be able to do this. That was also the reason why I decided to stop in 2021 after the Tokyo Olympics. I had been doing the same thing for years and felt I was tired. I was able to win a lot of competitions, but physically and mentally it also takes a lot out of you. 

"After a three-year period where I looked at cycling from a different angle, I feel that the motivation and the will to cycle is completely back. I am excited to come back. To suffer on the bike again and to race with the team again. I realise now how much I love the game, the sport and the competition."

In a glittering career, the now 34-year-old won the Giro d'Italia Women on four occasions, and took victory in almost all of the major races, including a record seven victories at La Flèche Wallonne, seven in a row. She won the World Championships road race in 2018 and 2020, and the Olympic Games road race in Rio in 2016. She also won the time trial at the World Championships in 2020.

Since retiring, she has expertly guided SD Worx on their way to being the best team in the peloton, with huge victories for Demi Vollering, Lotte Kopecky and Lorena Wiebes. 

"My mindset will be different," Van der Breggen said. "I will be less focused on wins in certain races or on having clear goals. After this long break, I feel it is a privilege to be able to ride races and be a cyclist again. For me, it is no longer so much about ticking off races or victories, but more about enjoying the sport and the competition. 

"In the next six months, I will train a lot and work on my fitness. I am curious to see what level I can get back to. Of course I aim to become a better cyclist than in my previous period. Whether that succeeds always remains the question."

"Do I still want to be a winner?" she asked. "Of course I feel competition in me. I always want to win. However, that doesn't mean you always  can win. That's fine too, because that only makes the victories you have more beautiful. When you have to struggle to get somewhere, it just makes the rewards later more beautiful. In any case, for me it is a privilege to be a cyclist again soon in 2025."

"We had already noticed for some time that during stage races Anna increasingly started cycling a bit herself," Danny Stam, the team's manager, said. "We are happy to have another world-class cyclist in the team with her. We hope she can grow to that high level again. We are confident about that. If Anna has doubts about something, she won't do it. That certainly applies to this big step."

The news she is un-retiring comes after it was announced that Vollering, SD Worx's GC leader, and the defending Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift champion, will be leaving the team at the end of the season.