THE GRAND FINALE

Would you rather your child was extremely smart or extremely kind?

This is one of the questions I was most looking forward to asking Anna van der Breggen. “Would you rather” is something my team-mates and I play when we’re bored on long rides or travel days. It kills time and sometimes gives an unexpected insight to somebody you thought you knew very well. Katie Archibald had asked me this specific question while training that morning. We’d taken our time to weigh up the pros and cons of raising a lovable fool, versus a terrible person with the potential to one day cure cancer.

Anna chooses kindness, as had I. So there is little need for debate between us. I feel a little defeated that my big existential question hasn’t produced the long character assessment I was hoping for. But I needn’t be disappointed. Her