Just six weeks after competing in her final UCI Road World Championships the 31-year-old Dutch rider was at the UCI headquarters in Aigle, Switzerland, on a week-long course for Sport Directors.
Next month she will travel with UCI Women’s WorldTeam Team SD Worx for an end-of-season training camp, not as one of the athletes, but as one of their Sport Directors, alongside the man who was her own Sport Director, Danny Stam.
“As an athlete you turn up to training camp and it’s all organised. Now I have to do the organising,” laughs the triple UCI World Champion (road race and time trial) and 2016 Olympic Champion (road race). “I’m actually busier than I was when I was an athlete at this time of year. But I didn’t want to have a long break. I am excited about this new job and wanted to get going straight away.”
UCI training course attracts 84 participants
Anna van der Breggen was one of 84 Sport Directors on the week-long course at the UCI World Cycling Centre that finished on 12 November with an exam. UCI and UCI World Cycling Centre staff as well as external experts led sessions on a wide range of topics including team administration, rider safety, technical regulations, anti-doping, UCI governance and judicial bodies. Of the 13 women on the course, six benefitted from a scholarship to attend. The UCI introduced the scholarship programme in 2015 to encourage more women to become Sport Directors.
“It’s been very good,” said the Dutch champion, who is a trained nurse. “As an athlete you don’t know all the rules. You don’t need to know them. Now I have done this course I feel more competent and have more knowledge. It was also great to meet so many Sport Directors from men’s and women’s teams.”
As an athlete, she realizes just how important the job is.
“For me, when I started cycling, the Sport Director was the person who knew everything. I always tried to do well for the Sport Director. It is somebody who helps you focus on being a good cyclist.”
Anna van der Breggen will find herself giving advice to women who last season were her teammates. A situation that has its advantages and disadvantages.
“I know them very well. I know them as riders but also as people. I have done my whole career with some of them, like Amy (Pieters). I understand it might be strange for them. I actually asked Amy and Christine (Majerus) before saying yes, and they told me to go for it! I’ll help these girls but I certainly won’t tell them how to do it! It will be easier with the younger team members. But I know they trust me, and they will tell me if something is wrong.
“I guess it will be difficult if I have to say something negative… but I’ll let Danny do that!
Happy with her decisions
Serenity and self-assurance ooze from Anna van der Breggen, who chose to give up competitive cycling at the height of a career that has seen her win three Olympic medals, nine UCI World Championships medals and countless victories on the UCI Women’s WorldTour including the overall individual ranking in 2017.
“It’s a decision I made. I’ll take my bike to training camps and when I get tired I can jump in the car. I think it will be a relief, especially when they have to get back on the bike and go again and again and again….
“Cycling was a really good part of my life. It helped me grow. I am a totally different person now than when I started. I am more secure and happy with decisions I have made.” Anna van der Breggen finds it hard to pinpoint a career highlight… her 9th place in the Tour of Flanders for Women at the beginning of her career was as satisfying and exciting as victories as one of cycling’s established stars a few years later.
“It’s important to be happy with what you do. I used to feel a lot of pressure, expectations from the media and teams, but then I learned that it is how it is. You just have to accept and be happy.”
Having found that happiness and serenity, Anna van der Breggen hopes she can transfer it onto her riders.
“You need to know the riders and say the right thing. Mental preparation is as important as physical preparation. Everybody is different and it is our job to make it one team. It’s a big responsibility and I’ll do my job as best I can!