When Elisa Longo Borghini (UAE Team ADQ), wearing the maglia tricolore as the Italian champion, sprinted past Niamh Fisher-Black (Lidl-Trek) on the last metres of the final stage of the Giro d’Italia Women, a whole country rejoiced.
Longo Borghini may not have been able to defend her 2024 and 2025 overall Giro victories, but for the first time in many months, she could at least celebrate a winning sprint. Her season had been interrupted by illness, keeping her out of most of the Spring Classics and the Spanish stage races.
She did not race for eight weeks before the Giro Women began on Saturday. She recognised any result would not be a solo effort, with sacrifices part of the equation for racing.
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“This is a victory that goes to all the people that love me. We celebrated a lot of riders that are finishing their careers, but we never mentioned one of the best domestiques in the world, my teammate Alena Amialiusik. This victory is also for her because it's her last Giro.
"This is for you, Alena, and thank you very much for everything you did for me,” said Longo Borghini in the stage winner’s flash interview, explicitly thanking her teammate of the last two years.
At the press conference that followed the podium ceremony, the Italian Champion looked back on the last three months, becoming philosophical as she talked about the physical and mental struggles she went through.
“When an athlete is struggling, it is hard to manage your emotions. Watching the races on TV is depressing enough, and you have to start almost from zero. When you’re tired after only an hour and a half on the bike, you start asking yourself a lot of questions.
"There was a moment when I got dressed to ride, put on my cycling shoes, and then I sat down on the floor and just said, ‘no, not today’. It’s easy to see riders winning and say, ‘what a great life they have’. I’m not working in a mine or in a factory, but I have to make my own sacrifices, and it was hard to get to this point again. But it all turned out well in the end,” said Longo Borghini.
The 34-year-old went on to explain why she chose her words so carefully, when she is clearly a very emotional person.
“I say maybe one percent of what I think, and write down the rest. It’s a passion of mine, but I don’t think anyone will ever read what I write. Partly I’m a bit embarrassed, but it’s also very emotional,” she said.
The stage 9 victory was a great relief for Longo Borghini, but not because she had won and confirmed that she was in good shape again. It was because she had raced the way she prefered, laying everything on the line in pursuit of victory.
“It’s not about having returned to winning ways. I feel lighter because I could show my true value. I believe that’s what makes a person truly happy, not just in sports, but in work and life as well: Being able to express yourself and do what you want as well as you can.
"I could have finished second today and still been happy, because I fought for it. Having given it everything I had is what has always brought me great satisfaction. I don’t want to win just for the sake of winning; I want to win because that is how I express myself 100 percent.
"Results are what is written about, but this personal satisfaction is priceless,” Longo Borghini finished the press conference with an insight to the motivation that drives her to race the way she does.
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