After a stop-start season, Elisa Longo Borghini’s (Lidl-Trek) main hope for 2024 is to remain healthy. The Italian started 2023 with a bang, winning a stage and the overall at the UAE Tour, but despite numerous placings in the Spring Classics, two national titles and a stage in the Giro d’Italia Women, it was a season of hard knocks for the 32-year-old.
"First of all, I’d like to be healthy. I want to be in a position where if I’m losing a race it’s at full health and not because I’m sick. I just want to have stable health, and the Ardennes are the first major objective. Then I'll target one of the three Grand Tours, the Olympic Games and then the World Championships," she told GCN.
"Before getting COVID, and it was the first time I had it, I was in my best shape ever. After that and all the injuries and illnesses, I never pushed the same numbers. I was of course in good shape but never at my top form and there was always something holding me back. I’m far from my best shape but I have time to reset, rebuild and race."
"It’s a Giro where you really can’t lose your focus because all the stages are tricky apart from the second one. For all the rest, you really need to be in the game because you lose the risk of losing time in a lot of places. The last weekend is difficult, the hardest part of the race, but the opening time trial is also key. You need to start well in the Giro, and I really like the route. I’m optimistic," Longo Borghini analyzes next year's Giro d'Italia Donne.
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