Considered one of the most versatile riders of her generation, Van der Breggen excelled in both the one-day classics and stage races, particularly when run on a hilly terrain.

She also won the time trial at the Tour Féminin en Limousin as well as the gold medal in the women's under-23 time-trialling event at the European championships.

She opened the year with top-10 finishes in the Ronde van Drenthe,[22] Trofeo Alfredo Binda,[23] and the Tour of Flanders,[24] and started showing her stage racing potential throughout the season.

[29] In April she won La Flèche Wallonne with an attack at the foot of the Mur de Huy, and recorded several podium positions in one-day races.

Van der Breggen was in third position overall behind maglia rosa wearer Megan Guarnier, when she moved into the race lead on the penultimate day after winning the individual time trial to Nebbiuno.

[39] She finished at two seconds from Linda Villumsen in the time trial,[40] and was narrowly beaten by Lizzie Armitstead in the road race after she started the sprint from afar.

In the sinuous descent that followed, van Vleuten distanced Abbott and looked on her way to win the race, when she crashed into a concrete banking with 10 kilometres (6.2 miles) to go and needed to be transported to hospital.

Van der Breggen beat Johansson and Longo Borghini in the three-up sprint on Copacabana Beach to become Olympic road race champion.

[55] At the World Championships in October, she was a disappointing 13th in the time trial and 87th in the road race,[56] telling reporters she "didn't have the legs anymore after a long season".

[65] After Tom Dumoulin's win in the men's Giro d'Italia held in May, it was the first time a Grand Tour was won by both a Dutch man and woman in the same year.

She won the race, in abysmal weather, after an attack on the penultimate gravel sector of Colle Pinzuto at 17 kilometres (11 miles) from the finish.

Van der Breggen made her decisive move on the Kruisberg and increased her lead over the Oude Kwaremont and Paterberg to claim her first Tour of Flanders win.

[73][10] The following week she won the opening time trial and finished fourth overall in the Healthy Ageing Tour,[74][75] before attempting to defend her titles in the Ardennes classics.

[11] She finished 38th in the Amstel Gold Race after an early crash,[76] but won her fourth consecutive Flèche Wallonne three days later, on her 28th birthday.

[80] The following month she raced at the European Road Championships, where she was narrowly defeated in the time trial by countrywoman Ellen van Dijk, securing a one-two for the Netherlands.

[79] Van der Breggen started her 2019 season relatively quietly, making her first two road appearances in the spring at Omloop Het Nieuwsblad and Strade Bianche: in the latter race she worked as a domestique for team-mate Annika Langvad, who finished in second.

[86] In May she won the overall at the Tour of California, as well as taking the opening stage after attacking on the final climb of the day to cross the finishing line alone.

[87][88] Later in the year, Van der Breggen won the GP de Plouay – Bretagne with a solo attack 10 kilometres (6.2 miles) from the finishing line.

[89] At the Road World Championships in Yorkshire, she took two silver medals: in the individual time trial she finished behind champion Chloé Dygert and ahead of Van Vleuten,[90] whilst in the road race she acted as a marker in a chase group attempting to reel in her team-mate Van Vleuten, who made an ultimately successful long-range solo attack with 104 kilometres (65 miles) to go.

[95] Shortly afterwards she took the gold medal in the individual time trial at the European Road Championships in Plouay, finishing 30 seconds ahead of Van Dijk.

[97] She went into the lead on the penultimate eighth stage, where she was pipped to the stage win by Elisa Longo Borghini after the pair went clear of the rest of the leading group on the final climb, taking the pink jersey from Katarzyna Niewiadoma, who in turn had inherited it after previous leader Van Vleuten crashed out of the race on the previous day.

[100] Shortly after the Worlds, Van der Breggen set a new record for wins at Flèche Wallonne when she won the race for a sixth time, moving one clear of Vos, outclimbing Cecilie Uttrup Ludwig and Demi Vollering up the final ascent of the Mur de Huy to clinch victory.

[101] In 2021, Van der Breggen won her fourth Giro Donne,[102] as well as other races including La Flèche Wallonne Féminine (for a record seventh time),[103] the Vuelta a Burgos Feminas,[104] and Omloop Het Nieuwsblad.

[14][108] Following her retirement,[14] Van der Breggen now works as a directeur sportif for her final professional team, UCI Women's WorldTeam SD Worx.

[109] Van der Breggen lives in Hasselt, in the northeast of the Netherlands,[110] with her husband Sierk Jan de Haan, who is a coach for UCI WorldTeam Visma–Lease a Bike.