Anna Fell del Bregen has already announced that she will retire after the 2021 season, but even after a highly successful career, she is hungry for more. [Olympic gold in 2016, a world road race title in 2018, three Giro Rosa victories, and nearly 50 other wins, plus the time trial rainbow jersey. There are few victories left for her in women's cycling, but she is still finding new goals as she enjoys the final chapter of her career.

"I don't need to finish my bucket list. After donning the rainbow jersey on Thursday, she admitted. 'I'm enjoying cycling right now, so if I win I'll be more relaxed. If I don't win, I'll try harder next time."

Van der Breggen described how she took advantage of the COVID-19 pandemic to focus on time trials in the spring. Races were cancelled for months, but she successfully used her anxiety about the 2020 season to her advantage.

"I had to find new motivation because of the COVID-19 issue. It was a really strange time. You can't train if you don't know when the race is going to start or if it is going to start.

"Time trials became my new goal this year. It became a bigger goal because the Olympic time trial is really great. That's why I chose the time trial."

"I've been training for the time trial for a while now, and I'm really looking forward to it.

"I found time trial training to be fun. To enjoy time trials, you have to train for time trials. I used to train, but not as much as I do now, and it was a burden. But this year I had time to train. I was also lucky to be able to go outdoors, because in Holland we didn't have the strict door closures."

Despite van der Breggen's personal success and happiness, she also found time to think about Chloe Dygert after her terrible crash during the time trial.

The American started 90 seconds behind Van der Breggen, but lost control of her bike on a downhill and crashed into an unprotected barrier. He sustained serious injuries to his left leg and knee and was transported by helicopter to a specialized hospital in Bologna for treatment.

"I feel really bad for Chloe. This is the worst thing that could have happened to her," Van der Breggen said. Chloe is a world champion and she didn't race this year. The worst that could happen is a crash." [In time trials, it is always difficult to judge how fast you are going into the corners. Today it was windy and I really felt it with the disc wheels."

Van der Breggen will focus on Saturday's women's road race.

She is a strong contender for the 28.8 km Imola circuit (5 laps, 143 km total), but will again share the team lead with Marianne Vos. Annemiek van Vleuten will also travel to Italy to try her hand at road racing, despite breaking her wrist in the Giro Rosa.

Van Vleuten and van der Breggen were often fierce rivals, but they were also world championship teammates. Many questioned van Vleuten's willingness to try road racing, but van der Breggen was cautious when asked for his opinion.

"I haven't talked to Annemiek yet, so I don't know how she feels about her wrist. I think she has to make a decision to understand if she can climb and brake well without pain," van der Breggen said.

"We have a strong Dutch team so we are really motivated and looking forward to Saturday. I think it's a beautiful circuit. I've heard it's very hard. I haven't seen it yet, I haven't thought about it, but I'm going to start doing that on Friday."