Elisa Longo Borghini is looking forward to a new adventure: "I'm going to an ambitious team and I'm happy with my choice"
Cycling
After 6 seasons with Lidl-Trek, Elisa Longo Borghini decided it was time for a change of scenery. The Italian signed in this cycling market for UAE Team ADQ, the women's team led by Tadej Pogacar in the men's team. In 2024, the 33-year-old veteran rider scored seven victories, most notably her win in the final general classification of the Giro d'Italia Women.
"I have lived a great season, full of emotions and results, but next year I will wear a new jersey," she says in conversation with TuttoBiciWeb. "I felt that the time had come to play again, to live a new experience. Now I'm 33 years old and I can't wait any longer. I have to do things while I have time. I'm going to an ambitious team and I'm happy with my choice. But I can only thank Lidl-Trek, and Luca Guercilena in particular, because we have had some wonderful years together."
2025
Longo Borghini gave hints of the races she might attend in 2025. "One thing is for sure: I will race the UAE Tour, then the Italian races: Strade Bianche, Trofeo Oro in Euro, Milano-Sanremo and then Flanders. Roubaix no, but I will take the start at the Brabantse Pijl, the Flèche Wallonne and Liège."
She also confirmed which was the best of her 7 wins in 2024: "The Giro d'Italia. For years I chased this coveted maglia rosa and finally I got it." After a great duel with Lotte Kopecky, the Italian managed to be the strongest in the end. "I was convinced from the day before that I would win. I was sure that I would recover better than Kopecky after the double ascent of the Blockhaus, and I did."
In what was otherwise a brilliant season, she missed one of his big goals. "Abandoning the Tour de France because of a training error was really banal and disheartening," she confesses. A fall in a training meant she couldn't take the start of the French Grand Tour. "I felt like a handicapped person and an idiot. But maybe thanks to not racing the Grande Boucle, I made it to the World Championships in good shape." She took bronze in Zurich behind her usual rival Kopecky and Chloé Dygert.
Despite the disappointment of the Tour 2024, her big goal for 2025 is different: "The Strade Bianche. It's a race I think I can win. I'd like to fill that gap." Despite being one of the most veteran riders in the peloton, she has no intention of stopping at the moment: "I signed a three-year contract, but in any case I would like to go to the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles."
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- yeah, that’s a more fair assessment. “reaching mathieu’s level” doesn’t mean you’re planning to replicate his whole career. the former IS doable, potentially. it’s just the latter that likely is not.OCexile25-12-2024
- That’s not entirely true. Every person follows their own development path and peaks differently. Remco and Primoz had hardly started cycling before elite level. Jonas was pretty much under the radzr until he unexpectedly had to take over responsibility at JV. Some guys only get real good in their thirties others have peaked mid-twenties. You can’t tell in advance how and upto what level they will progress, obviously his career might not have MVDPs length but nothing says he could not end up doing a few seasons at his level.Mistermaumau25-12-2024
- well, del grosso is 21 right now. when mathieu was a year younger than that, he was already winning elite level world championships, not U23. i think del grosso will be a very good pro for years, but if he was really going to be the next van der poel someday, he’d already have to be at that level right NOW. van der poel was showing signs of true greatness when he was 15-16. THAT’S what generational talent looks like.OCexile25-12-2024
- Yeah.... gear 😅.mikolajjj24-12-2024
- It shouldn’t be about expectations in the first place should it? Besides, if you look at everyone’s calculations as a whole they don’t add up in the first place. There’ll be 2-3 riders with a 50% chance, a dozen with 10 or 20% and dozens more with a 5% so we’re expecting at least 2 if not 3 winners. Remind me again who won before her? Says it all about using data to decide on participation.Mistermaumau24-12-2024
- Ok, happy I’m not too interested in this team coz’ the account of what happened is really hard to follow.Mistermaumau24-12-2024
- The UCI is worse than USA CyclingVeganpotter24-12-2024
- It's not like they wanted her to not win😅 She had an outstanding Olympics. But there's a reason why she wasn't expected to win the road race and that's ok. Things like this happen and it's great...better than seeing expected winners win.Veganpotter24-12-2024
- Bruyneel ? The man with a lifetime ban from cycling...why do you keep giving him and his doper mate, Armstrong, a platform?DJ24-12-2024
- yeah, agree. on the subject of being a “complete rider,” i do think that’s getting more interesting. mathieu seems to have decided he wants to get much better at climbing the the high mountain passes. he appears to be looking for new challenges, which should be interesting to watch. in most cases you’d dismiss a goal like that at age 30, but it’s mvdp. he’s never going to climb with the real climbers, but if he can improve enough it could open up stage wins when the parcours isnt just purely toothy and punchy.OCexile24-12-2024