Over the past 12 years, Italian racer Elisa Longo Borghini has established herself as one of cycling’s great all-rounders. She tells Cyclist about her sporting upbringing, how she conquered her self-doubts, and how she hates coming second
Words ANDY MCGRATH Photography DAVID POWELL
‘We see more and more in modern cycling that there are people capable of doing amazing things in both the Classics and stage races,’ says Elisa Longo Borghini. ‘For me, Tadej Pogačar is one in a million, a born champion. Then you see Wout van Aert – he goes more for stages than the GC, but he still wins a bit everywhere: up Mont Ventoux and then in cyclocross.’
And what about herself? ‘I mean, I’m average in everything, so I’m not a good one.’
Add self-deprecation to her repertoire. Few other riders can compare with Longo Borghini, who has Paris-Roubaix, the Tour of Flanders and Strade Bianche at the top of her palmarès. She has stood on the podium at the women’s Giro d’Italia and challenged for the Tour de France Femmes. She has Italian national time-trial titles and Olympic Road Race medals. She can even milk a cow. Beat that, Tadej and Wout.
As we sit in a restaurant in Bruges over coffee (Segafredo, naturally), next to wine crates compacted into a feature wall, it seems the Italian’s career is ageing like a fine bottle of her local Barolo. She has been taking stubborn, prestigious victories at cycling’s top table for more than a decade.
Even with her longevity and versatility, the recent years have been full of surprises. The 31-year-old Lidl-Trek (the new name for Trek-Segafredo) rider has discovered that the best-laid plans can go to waste, and has learned to roll with it. Her 2022 Paris-Roubaix glory came days after wanting to not race it after a bout of sinusitis.
On that 30km solo ride to victory, her lead rarely exceeded 25 seconds. Her rivals regularly saw her, but they couldn’t catch her. Bouncing around the cobbles and gritting her teeth on the offensive, there’s no better evocation of her racing style and mental strength.
‘I’m just born like this. Even in life I’m a bit like this. I think it’s just my character,’ she says.
Longo Borghini can rarely be accused of leaving energy to burn. This season she came to the Tour of Flanders weeks after a positive Covid-19 test left her feverish and bed-bound. She was dropped a couple of times after pulling for the last 20km for teammate Shirin van Anrooij, but came back and sprinted to third – a result ‘not even in my wildest dreams’.
Mind matters
A lack of finishing speed is perhaps Longo Borghini’s on
