'A really uncertain moment for me' – After spring goals were sunk by illness, can Elisa Longo Borghini float back to the top at the Giro d'Italia Women?

Elisa Longo Borghini has already had a series of goals derailed this season by illness and has been away from racing for nearly eight weeks, so the question is: will she be lining up at this year's Giro d'Italia Women with the form to challenge for a third title in a row?

The signs were certainly promising for the Italian before she became unwell, with a strong season start that included overall victory at the UAE Tour after a winning run to Jebel Hafeet and also a victory at Trofeo Oro in Euro before a strong performance at Strade Bianche – she was first to the top of Santa Caterina and ended with fourth. However, later in March the 34-year-old came down with a bout of seasonal flu that morphed into a chest infection.

That meant Longo Borghini missed out on the key target of Milan-San Remo, with the illness emerging on the eve of the late March race. She came back at the start of April for Dwars door Vlaanderen, where she was defending champion, and also for the tough battle of the Tour of Flanders but it wasn't the hoped for reboot. The UAE Team ADQ rider was finding it "impossible to breathe, especially when I had to go deep".

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Regardless, Longo Borghini came eighth at the cobbled Spring Classic, leaving her wondering what could have been had she dodged that bout of flu.

"If I look back at Flanders, I was still top ten with a chest infection and coughing and not breathing, so this means that my shape was extremely good, and I knew that, and I could have been there fighting for the victory if I just was healthy," Longo Borghini told Cyclingnews as she was training for the Giro on Mount Teide in Tenerife.

"We also know, on the other hand, that you don't win races with a 'but'."

There were no ifs and buts, however, about what the rider needed next and that was time away from racing to recover.

"Basically I could not really breathe, and I kept coughing for what, for me, was forever," said Longo Borghini, who was unwell through to the second half of April. That means while her rivals were building form at the Ardennes Classics or the Vuelta Femenina, the 2024 and 2025 Giro winner was in recovery mode rather than building on the hard earned condition of earlier in the season.

"It's like starting from scratch," said Longo Borghini when asked how much impact the illness break had, but added that now "I'm healthy and well, and I'm just trying to do my best."

Nothing to lose

For a rider like Longo Borghini, her best is something not to be underestimated. If there is one thing the Italian champion isn't going to shy away from, that's embracing spending the time on the bike to chase form and there is also unlikely to be any other race that could provide a more compelling incentive.

Not only has she won the Giro d'Italia the last two years, so will be once again lining up as defending champion, but even before she got her hands on the maglia rosa there was no questioning her commitment to the home Grand Tour which will "always be the top priority". The seasoned professional has only missed the event once since she started out her cycling career in 2011, and that occurred way back in 2013 when she crashed at the Italian Championships the week before and sustained injuries that prevented her from lining up.

Longo Borghini envisages that the first year when the race is no longer on her schedule will be "maybe when I stop cycling" and that is not likely to be any time soon.

"I was talking to my husband the other day, and I was like, 'I'm gonna do this until they shoot me off the bike'," the rider who is married to Lidl-Trek racer Jacopo Mosca said with a chuckle.

"I just have the passion for cycling. Cycling is love for me and I like the lifestyle… I like everything about cycling, besides the fact that I'm far from my husband for a long time."

Is that passion and commitment, however, enough to put her in a position to once again challenge for the top spot at the Giro d'Italia even with an undoubtedly challenging lead in?

"I have nothing to lose," said Longo Borghini. "So I will just ride as if there's no tomorrow, and then I'll see where I'm standing.

"I'm just trying to get back into what I love to do in my daily life, which is riding bikes fast, and after that we will see."

Changed dynamics and uncertainty

It's never easy to win the Giro, which has a reputation for embracing challenging climbs and has a long history in women's cycling – with the women's race first run in 1988 – and this year's route will certainly be no exception.

An uphill time trial on stage 3 is where the GC battle is likely to really kick off but there is no question over what the Queen stage is. On day eight the race will take on the Colle delle Finestre, just short of 20km in length with the final 8km on ummade gravel roads and then after that's done there is still the ascent to the finish in Sestriere. It's a day on the bike Longo Borghini is quick to pick out as one that excites her, with the rider happy with the decision to "put some mythical climbs in the Grand Tours".

"But I maybe I can say that to you now, because I'm sitting on my bed and I'm comfortable, but when I will be riding the Finestre, I may be regretting having answered this question with that answer," she joked.

Then there is also the final stage which is a standout, because it passes through her husband's home town so his family are expected to be out in force to cheer a hopefully pink-clad Longo Borghini on.

It's not, however, just the terrain that's going to make it a challenging chase for the maglia rosa this year, with the added dynamic of a change in the position of the race, which usually runs in July but this year kicks off the nine stages of racing on May 30.

This stretches the gap between the Italian race and Tour de France Femmes, opening up the potential for more riders to target both with Demi Vollering (FDJ United-Suez) among the additions to the start list this year that are likely to go in with overall ambitions.

Plus, of course, for Longo Borghini this year instead of going in to defend her title with solid racing momentum behind her, the Italian will be stepping in as far more of an unknown quantity, and not just to her rivals, as after a considerable time out of the peloton she launches from altitude and straight into racing at the Giro d'Italia.

"Sometimes you come back from altitude and you're feeling extremely well, and sometimes you need some races to adapt," said Longo Borghini.

"It's a really an uncertain moment for me right now, so I'm just taking whatever it comes out of the Giro, and I'm going there with it in mind to go for for the best possible GC place. But on the other hand, I know where I'm coming from, and I know that I could have limits and, yeah, you just have to accept them."

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