SPEAKER: Anna Van Der Breggen, another supremely confident
and composed once again, .
ANNA VAN DER BREGGEN: It started as a small thing,
which I liked to do.
And I still like to do it, but it's getting bigger.
And that's a good thing, because I'm getting better in it.
And I start liking it more and more.
Cape Epic is a whole new adventure,
and I'm already excited thinking about it.
So that's a good thing in cycling,
if you have a sort of excitement and looking forward to it.
And that's something which you need in sports,
I think, to be good and to become better
than you are at the moment.
So maybe that's what I'm looking for.
ANNIKA LANGVAD: I tell Anna, that it's not to win.
That's how I've got her on board.
I promise her we're not going to go for the win.
I don't think this should be recorded.
This partnership that is so special in the way that is
among biker and the road racer.
Doing this race together, I think
one has to define their success a little bit
differently than only going for the win.
I mean, just the fact alone that you
can take an Olympic champion, road wheel champion,
adapt her to a mountain biker in no time,
and get her through one of the most toughest races
out there on the calendar at all.
And I think it's a massive success just by itself,
but that's just my opinion.
ANNA VAN DER BREGGEN: I never felt
before that, for example, my arms
were more tired than my legs, and my hardest road races.
You also cannot do more than you did,
and you're totally exhausted.
This was more like not only being exhausted, but also
feeling all your muscles, and like the blisters
on your hands, and the muscle soreness of some crushes.
My neck was like somebody put needles in all the time,
and in road racing, you recover really fast.
And when I'm off the bike, I feel quite good.
But here, when I go off the bike, it feels even worse.
Like on the bike in the position, it was quite fine.
But when I went off the bike, I barely could walk.
Like you feel your back is not able to go straight anymore,
and that's a strange feeling.
I can tell you.
ANNIKA LANGVAD: I tried to really, really maintain
a space between us where, you know, you can tell me anything.
I can tell you anything, and just to go that direction
is very, very important.
And it's actually the foundation you
need for a good partnership.
ANNA VAN DER BREGGEN: Doing the Annika thing, again,
and I thought it was a turn.
But actually, it's the thing I like from Annika,
that she's always--
when she has a number on, she goes for it.
And I'm only thinking of, do I stay in the wheel?
And we go for sure faster than everybody else,
so that's the thing I start kind of liking about you.
ANNIKA LANGVAD: Tomorrow, we'll tell you the same.
ANNA VAN DER BREGGEN: I was hoping
it would be a little bit more easy, I think,
but the feeling you have here at the finish line,
I would not imagine to feel like that.
I feel muscles I never felt before.
I have two blisters on my hands already.
I mean, my knee looks like shit.
It's also fun.
They fix us up around here, and then you
do it the next day again.
ANNIKA LANGVAD: She is such a strong and decorated rider.
And she's also often, you know, always
among the favorites whenever she stands
on the line, no matter what kind of start line it is,
so I had to deal with the pressure both of us almost.
But kind of having to guide her through the Cape Epic
at the same time, so it definitely wasn't easy.
ANNA VAN DER BREGGEN: I suffered a lot.
I laughed a lot.
I cried also a bit.
Yeah, it's a crazy race to do.
Yeah, it was worth it.