Don’t tell Elisa Longo Borghini she can’t sprint. Mostly because she will actually tell you that herself. But also because she is one of the most gritty riders in the peloton. After ceding three seconds to race leader Grace Brown, and one second to third place Kasia Niewiadoma, Longo Borghini didn’t give up.
With her strong Trek-Segafredo team leading her, she claimed perfect positioning in the final kilometers and delivered a sprint that surprised everyone. Longo Borghini crossed the line in 3rd and grabbed a four-second time bonus to leap over Grace Brown and win the Women’s Tour by one second.
A more thrilling finish for an already inspiring week of racing in the UK couldn’t be better scripted.
Quotes Elisa Longo Borghini:
“We decided to go for the intermediate sprint, and I was 4th so I was like okay, that’s the 2nd place and that’s it. But then all my teammates kept my morale up, and said we try at the finish and we’ll do the lead-out for you. I was really doubting, but when you see such a team that is motivated and they are really believing in you, just want to give them back everything.
“In the end, they all did a perfect job and Audrey (Cordon-Ragot) led me into the final 500m. I know that in corners I am good, and I let some riders in front of me to take their draft, and I made my own sprint.
“Really, In the end it, it was just perfect teamwork. I am really thankful to all my teammates and staff here working for me. Trek-Segafredo again showed how much teamwork is worth in cycling.
“We knew the finale was pretty technical and we studied it this morning with (director) Ina Teutenberg. This is also why in the end I think they all believed I could do it because of the corners. But again, I have to give big thanks to my team Trek-Segafredo.
“I didn’t know where Grace was, I was just focused on taking the bonus seconds at the finish.”
“I had practiced sprinting with my boyfriend Jacopo (Mosca) for town signs. We stopped for a bit and were joking a few days ago that we regretted this after the sprint in Stage 3 when I was third. I think we will be back sprinting for town signs again soon.
“Lizzie sent me a nice message yesterday and said remember my sprint in 2019. That was such a close battle again with Kasia Niewiadoma and she made it, so yeah it was nice to hear from her about that.
“This is a big relief to win this race because it has been a strange spring for me. Now I am back to my normal level. Also, it’s nice to win an overall classification, this has not happened to me many times in my life. It’s only the 3rd tour I have won; this one is up there as one that ranks high.”
