Before the start from Lausanne we had circled her as one of the possible protagonists, but the Tour de France Femmes for Anna Van der Breggen has been a roller coaster. The Dutch champion did not start today from La Voulte-sur-Rhône to face the seventh stage, the queen stage featuring the formidable Mont Ventoux. 

The Team SD Worx Protime athlete, after a podium finish at the Giro and the Vuelta, had arrived at the Tour to compete for the general classification and aim for a stage win and a top 5 overall. From the first day, however, she did not feel at her best and put herself completely at the service of her teammate Lorena Wiebes, who went on to win two stages. "From the first stage Anna didn't feel her best. We continued to hope she would improve, but unfortunately the improvement didn't happen. We decided not to take unnecessary risks and to give her the rest she needs," explained sports director Danny Stam, emphasizing how the decision to withdraw was also made to avoid worse consequences.

Van der Breggen's difficulties became more evident in the subsequent stages and particularly during the individual time trial when she delivered a performance well below expectations. Yesterday she was among the first to show difficulties on the climbs and finished the day more than 13 minutes behind the stage winner.