Marlen Reusser finishes runner up after being hampered by illness on decisive stages
Elisa Longo Borghini won the Giro d'Italia Women for the second year in a row on Sunday(Image credit: Getty Images)
After eight days of racing, Elisa Longo Borghini (UAE Team ADQ) stood atop the Giro d'Italia Women GC podium for the second year in a row, having defended her 2024 victory.
It was an emotional victory for the 33-year-old Italian champion who had switched teams ahead of the 2025 season, moving to UAE Team ADQ after six years with Trek-Segafredo and Lidl-Trek.
"It's been an incredible journey together with my team, UAE Team ADQ. It's been eight days completely full gas. We created actions, we believed, every single day, and we stayed humble," Longo Borghini said.
"We went very bold yesterday, and we got this victory that is the result of many days of training together and building up the team towards this goal. I cannot be any more thankful to my teammates; it is because of them that I wear this jersey now. They all were super committed, they never surrendered. I'm just speechless."
Going into the hilly final stage from Forlì to Imola, only 22 seconds ahead of Reusser, Longo Borghini and her team were ready for any and all attacks on the maglia rosa.
"I was very focused on Marlen today. I thought she would attack on the last climb. When I saw that she wasn't moving, I was like, 'maybe she will give the chance to Liane Lippert', and she did, but that was not a threat for me," she said.
"When I saw Anna van der Breggen moving together with Liane, I was just like, 'Oh, fine. ' I was relaxing a little bit because it was really stressful the whole day, we were super ready to react to any attack, but in the end, they weren't happening."
Longo Borghini celebrates her Giro win with her UAE Team ADQ teammates (Image credit: Getty Images)
Unbeknownst to the Italian, Reusser had been struggling with illness for the last three stages, which meant that the Swiss rider wasn't at her best on stage 7 to Monte Nerone, where she lost the overall lead.
"I really wasn't sure if I could start at all today. Yesterday was so bad, so I'm super happy that I could somehow save this second place at least. I'm very, very sad that I became sick, and I'm super proud of the team that they kept motivating me, and that we tried it.
"I think we can be very proud of the fight. I gave it all and now I'm just … I'm happy also for Liane that she won, but I'm just so tired, so down."
Having emerged as the closest challenger to Demi Vollering (FDJ-Suez) in May and June and beating the Dutch superstar at the Tour de Suisse Women, Reusser said that the illness cost her the overall Giro victory.
"I am still confident I could have won it if I hadn't become so sick" she said. "And I'm really sad for this because you work for so long, I know from life that things aren't always going well. And the last months, almost a year now, it's going well, I have such a good shape, and it's often in life that these opportunities come."
Reusser then pointed out that she did not begrudge Longo Borghini the victory.
"I'm still grateful to be second, that's very, very nice at this moment. Elisa is a really strong bike racer, and I don't want to say she didn't deserve it.
"She really fought hard yesterday, she was brave, she attacked so early, and she deserves it. But next time, I want to face her in full health again."
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Lukas Knöfler started working in cycling communications in 2013 and has seen the inside of the scene from many angles. Having worked as press officer for teams and races and written for several online and print publications, he has been Cyclingnews’ Women’s WorldTour correspondent since 2018.
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