Elisa Longo Borghini showed her fighting spirit on the eve of the decisive mountain stage at the Giro d'Italia Women, going on the attack on the descent of the late climb and managing to stay away and gain time on her GC rivals.
Célia Gery (FDJ United-Suez) won the stage in Salice Terme, outsprinting Lucinda Brand (Lidl-Trek) and Chantal Pegolo (Isolmant-Premac-Vittoria), with Longo Borghini fifth behind Canada's Alison Jackson (St Michel-Preference Home-Auber93).
She failed to pick up any bonus seconds but finished five seconds ahead of the peloton that included her GC rivals and race leader Anna van der Breggen (SD Worx-Protime), who crashed hard with 50km to go.
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Longo Borghini, the 2024 and 2025 Giro Women's winner, remains in sixth place overall before the Colle delle Finestre stage 8 on Saturday. She is now 2:07 down on Van der Breggen but only 1:07 down on second-placed Vollering, with Marlen Reusser (Movistar) and Isabella Holmgren (Lidl-Trek) only a free second ahead of her in the GC.
Longo Borghini lost 1:50 to Van der Breggen in the Nevegal time trial and a further 15 seconds on the mountain stage to Sante Stefano di Cadore. She was hit by the seasonal flu that turned into a chest infection in the spring and needed to take time out to fully recover, which impacted her Giro training.
However, she refused to surrender as she fights for a top-five or podium spot.
"I'm getting better day by day, and that gives me confidence. You never have to give up, you always have to fight, fight, and one day you will be rewarded," she said after stage 5.
The Italian national champion was well placed near the front of the peloton in the Pietragavina climb and then surged across on the descent and joined the break with 19km to go. Her UAE Team ADQ teammate and fellow Italian Silvia Persico, who also crossed to the break, then worked all out for her team leader.
Longo Borghini's effort was brave but could have led to a far bigger time gain. The six-rider attack was 30 seconds ahead of the peloton with just five kilometres to race, 25 seconds ahead with four kilometres to race, and still 22 seconds clear with three kilometres to race.
Persico gave her all until 2.5km to go, and then Longo Borghini worked on the front to try to stay away.
Jackson and Lucinda (Lidl-Trek) also worked hard to stay away, but their efforts favoured Gery, who was able to sit on in defence of Vollering's GC ambitions and then use her fast finish to win.
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