Elisa Longo Borghini made no mistake in the uphill sprint that ended Stage 5, timing her jump at the 150-meter mark and powering over the line for the win.
When you know you have good legs, the confidence is also high, and it allowed Elisa to play an aggressive finale. After teammate Ellen van Dijk led the pace in the first kilometers, Elisa launched her first attack.
“I felt really strong, and I wanted to pay back all the work that my teammates did,” explained Longo Borghini. “This climb is long but not steep and it’s hard to make the difference, plus we had a headwind, so it was like attacking and hitting a wall. In the wheel you stayed really comfortable actually, so I attacked to try and make the others tired.”
Elisa tried again moments later, but it was soon apparent the headwind was playing against her, and a change of tactics needed.
“I tried a couple of times, but with the headwind it was hard to make a selection, so then I trusted my sprint,” continued Longo Borghini. “I went shorter than yesterday - at 150 meters I opened my sprint.”
Elisa sprinted to 3rd in Stage 4 and afterward said that she had gone too early. Her patience paid off on Black Mountain.
“Everyone was really committed today. Ellen (van Dijk) was in the break, and all my teammates were really helping me. Then Ellen was driving the first 3kms of the climb so it was up to me to finish it off.”
In the final meters the road turned, and with the headwind now to the side, Elisa had the edge she needed. The final 150 meters were all hers.
“I just wanted to finish off the teamwork that started already at the beginning of this week. And this is also for the staff who works from morning to evening for all of us – this is for the entire Trek-Segafredo team.”
It was the first win for Longo Borghini in the Women’s Tour.
“My first win, but I felt like I had already won a stage in 2019 when we won with Lizzie (Deignan). It’s a nice feeling, and it’s nice to race in the UK with all the great fans here, and all the kids on the side of the road, that’s nice to see. Such a good way to educate them on health and sport and its importance.”
The Women’s Tour ends tomorrow with a flat stage and it will undoubtedly see a big fight for the time bonuses on offer with race leader Grace Brown and Longo Borghini tied on time, and Kasia Niewiadoma in third at two seconds.
But Elisa was not thinking about that quite yet.
“Right now, I will relax and enjoy this win and we will think about the last stage tomorrow – tomorrow is tomorrow,” she smiled.
Photo ©Sprint Cycling
