Elisa Longo Borghini happy with strong spring campaign despite slipping to third overall at Vuelta Femenina

Elisa Longo Borghini wasn’t initially billed as Lidl-Trek’s main hope for glory at the Vuelta Femenina, but after a brilliant spring campaign and the withdrawal of leader Gaia Realini, she assumed the mantle.

After wins at the Tour of Flanders and De Brabantse Pijl – the latter ahead of eventual Vuelta winner Demi Vollering (SD Worx-Protime) – Longo Borghini was in a strong position for the first Grand Tour of the season, but it was to prove a week of contrasting fortunes for Lidl-Trek as crashes forced some of their big names out of the race.

The Italian national champion eventually finished in third spot on the podium, exactly two minutes behind Vollering, but conceded second place by 11 seconds to Riejanne Markus (Visma-Lease a Bike).

Longo Borghini had been just 52 seconds behind the maillot rojo after a strong showing on the penultimate stage, where she claimed third. But she had only a slim margin of 22 seconds over Markus and after cracking on the hors catégorie climb to the Valdesquí ski resort on stage 8, she slipped to third overall.

Read more: Vuelta Femenina stage 8: Demi Vollering wins overall title and final mountain stage

Nonetheless, it continued a strong first half of the season for the Italian.

“I was not at my very best level, but I fought hard with my teammates as we did believe until the very end that we could keep the second place,” she said. “In the end, it wasn’t possible and I finished third. This is sport – sometimes you win, sometimes you lose. But, third place in the Vuelta is not a bad result, hey? You have to smile, it’s still a good result.”

Lidl-Trek’s dreams of victory in Spain looked to be rapidly disintegrating after powerhouse Ellen van Dijk was forced to withdraw due to the aftereffects of her crash late on stage 1, although they still held on to win the opening team time trial and put Realini in the red jersey.

But Realini too would be forced to withdraw after crashing hard on stage 5, leaving the Italian national champion the best-placed of the squad in the general classification and their only remaining shot at the podium.

“The team rode well, but it was a bit unfortunate for us at the beginning because we lost Ellen after the time trial, and then a few days later we lost Gaia, but we kept believing, we kept fighting,” Longo Borghini added.

Read more: Vuelta Femenina: Gaia Realini and Kasia Niewiadoma both out ahead of stage 6

“I have to say that the course was a great one, overall. No stage was easy – we always raced full on. I didn’t come here in my optimal form after the tough spring campaign I had.

“I don’t think I made any mistake. I just gave my 100% and this is what I got. I go home now, and I’m still happy. I am in the purple jersey as leader of the UCI Women’s WorldTour, and I have been very consistent during my spring. Now it’s time to rest, reset and start thinking of the second part of the season.”

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