Elisa Longo Borghini calls time on ‘complicated’ 2023 season

Italian national champion Elisa Longo Borghini has brought her 2023 season to a close after a year that has been punctuated by different bouts of illness and injury, preventing the Lidl-Trek rider from being at her best.

In a season that the 31-year-old compared to a rollercoaster, Longo Borghini took big wins at the Giro d’Italia Donne and the UAE Tour, but also suffered with various bouts of illness and injuries that made for a somewhat stop-start year.

“My 2023 season has come to its end,” the Italian wrote in an Instagram post. “Well, it has been a complicated year, with too many setbacks and a lot of obstacles on my way. I felt I’ve never really reached my full 100%.”

After winning the UAE Tour in February, Longo Borghini was sidelined from the early Spring Classics through illness, missing her home races Strade Bianche and the Trofeo Alfredo Binda. She returned to racing for the later Classics, but then sat out the first block of stage racing in May.

On her return, she took third overall at the Tour de Suisse and both the road and time trial titles at the Italian national championships, before winning the fourth stage of the Giro Donne. However, her Giro fate took a turn just two days later, when she crashed dramatically on a descent and was forced out of the race.

Read more: Giro d'Italia Donne: Elisa Longo Borghini wins stage 4 from late move

She returned from injury for the Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift, but abandoned before stage 7, before confirming that she would be taking a break from racing due to a “deep skin infection in the upper left thigh area” and related sickness, missing the World Championships.

The former Paris-Roubaix winner eventually returned to racing earlier this month at the Tour de Romandie, but failed to finish the final stage, and will not pin on a number again this season.

“It was like being on a rollercoaster, with too many downs but also some very high peaks,” was how the Italian described her 2023 season.

“It was definitely a hard time for me, but I was anyway able to enjoy some great moments with my team,” she said. “In every race I fought hard, always aiming and looking for the victory. And well, despite the difficulties, I was anyway able to leave my mark.”

Amidst the injuries and illnesses that have blighted Longo Borghini’s 2023 season, the positive moments have been good: she was the first rider to win in new Lidl-Trek colours with her stage win at the Giro, and her 1-2 with Gaia Realini on the Queen stage of the UAE Tour.

However, for a rider who has won almost all of the biggest races in women’s cycling, Longo Borghini will definitely leave 2023 with some frustration. Confirmed for Lidl-Trek for 2024, the Italian is hoping to be back at her best for the new year.

“Now it's time to leave everything behind... time for reset, rest and restart, stronger than before!”

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