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If at first, you don't succeed…
It took nine years of try, try again for Elisa Longo Borghini to net her first solo climb onto the top podium step in the women's Giro d'Italia after she outgunned Anna van der Breggen (Boels-Dolmans) in a two-up sprint in Stage 8 of the Giro Rosa.
After almost a decade of coming oh, so close, including a third place in Stage 3 this year – an implausible tenth time Longo Borghini has been on the podium's lower steps – Longo Borghini's tenacity paid off. And how sweet it is!
To add to her list of impressive palmares in the Giro, Longo Borghini finished six times in the top 10 in the overall classification, including a second place in 2017, and won the Best Young Rider and Mountains classifications in 2012 and 2016, respectively. It was hard to believe it was only this year that she claimed her first individual victory and added a cherry to that long-awaited cake, her first team trial win and Maglia Rosa after Trek-Segafredo claimed victory in the first stage.
"It's very emotional. I knew that I was strong when I came here, and first of all, I found myself in pink, which was incredible. And in the second stage, I lost a lot of time, so we decided to go for stages, and I tried for the win many times this week, and it never worked out. This win is really special, especially after this very tough period and after the lockdown when I was thinking about my country a lot. I just really want to give emotions to people here. And it's also the first victory of the season for me! I am very happy.
“It’s very emotional. I knew that I was strong when I came here, and first of all I found myself in pink which was incredible. And in the second stage I lost a lot of time, so we decided to go for stages, and I tried for the win many times this week and it never worked out. This win for me is really special especially after this very tough period and after the lockdown when I was thinking about my country a lot. I just really want to give emotions to people here. And it’s also the first victory of the season for me! I am very happy.
“On the last climb Lizzie led me out and after one kilomter, Anna attacked and I just followed her. I knew that she was going for the GC and it would be a good opportunity for a stage win and it worked out.
“I want to thank my team Trek-Segafredo, the Italian police, my family - all my beloved ones. If I am here and able to perform so well it’s because my family, friends, and the ones I love made it possible so thank you very much!”
Photo ©GettySport
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