Elisa Longo Borghini cut a disconsolate, if philosophical figure after finishing just off the podium at the European Championships Elite women’s road race in Slovenia on Saturday.
After finishing fourth, she admitted a mistake might have cost her at least a chance to fight for one of the medals, after Dutch woman Demi Vollering took the win with a solo breakaway.
It was a typically aggressive and battling performance from Longo Borghini and one which might have deserved a medal. She put her Italian squad to work as the race approached the two circuits around the finish town of Šenčur, putting the finishing touches to the work the Dutch had done in controlling a two-woman break which had escaped early in the race.
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When the Dutch upped the pace on the first ascent of the brutally steep climb to Možjanca, she was one of the seven riders to survive over the top, through the finish line and onto the same climb for a second attempt. Only here did she begin to suffer, slipping backwards as Vollering made the race-winning move over the top. And though she’d been distanced, she fought to regain the chasing group, contributing to the chase with Marlen Reusser (Switzerland) and Kasia Niewiadoma-Phinney (Poland).
Her plan only went awry when Niewiadoma-Phinney crashed in the final corner, edging Longo Borghini off her line and supering her sprint. She eventually finished fourth, on the same time as third-placed Reusser.
"It felt like I did a rookie mistake on the last corner," she told Eurosport afterwards. "I wanted to take it in the second place, but Kasia slipped, and she kind of took me off my trajectory, but it's nobody's fault, I mean, this is something that happens in cycling. I had to be smarter, and today I wasn't. Yeah, disappointed with myself with positioning, but for the rest, all good.
"The first lap was pretty easy. The second lap I had to take my own speed, and I knew I didn't have to go over my limits because otherwise I would have blown up. Just junior mistake took away the medal, but it's okay."
After winning the UAE Tour Women in February, Longo Borghini’s early season was blighted by illness, forcing her to change tack and move her priorities to later in the year. Despite this setback, she’s had a good year, so far taking six victories and some other notable successes.
She returned from her illness to win the closing stage of the Giro d’Italia Women, admitting how hard she had struggled to regain her form before taking a well-earned third place overall at the Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift.
At the World Championships last month, she guided the Italian team to victory in the Mixed Team Relay before taking third place in the road race, again behind Vollering. The Italian has another obstacle to overcome next week when she will once again don the azure skin suit in the European Time Trial on Wednesday.
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