Elisa Longo Borghini: "They kept saying: you are ready... They were right"

After two brilliant seasons, Elisa Longo Borghini had struggled to reach her best level this year, however her timing has been perfect as she came into Paris-Roubaix as a weapon for Trek-Segafredo and like her teammate Lizzie Deignan last year, she took a strong win based on team strength.

After the finish, Borghini admitted: “To be honest, it has been a very difficult spring for me. I had respiratory problems for a month and was unable to perform as I would have liked. I knew I was worth more than I showed. It was frustrating. It was a bit of a rough time."

Whilst much of the focus was on Ellen van Dijk, Lucinda Brand and Elisa Balsamo throughout the day, the Italian champion timed her move perfectly with 34 kilometers to go to distance the peloton and force SD Worx to do the bulk of the work.

“Like I said, if you have respiratory problems, you can't breathe properly and you can't follow the other women. Breathing is everything in cycling. I had to take a step back to take two forward. So I skipped the Amstel Gold Race and Brabantse Pijl, and had antibiotics. I eventually got rid of the infection. And if I feel good, I win," she added. "Even though I didn't perform as expected, they brought me to this race. I thought I wouldn't be ready, that I didn't want to. But they kept saying: you are ready, more than ready, you can do this. They were right.”

With Lucinda Brand and Ellen van Dijk uncoordinating the chase behind, Borghini rode to the finish in a brilliant return to the top, having 23 seconds to spare at the finish, wrapping off a brilliant team performance.

“Honestly, I wish I could call all my teammates on the podium. It was a real team effort. I have to thank everyone. This is also a bit for Elisa [Balsamo], who was disqualified. Sometimes you just grab an sticky bottle in the race. The rule is the rule, but I still feel bad for her," she concluded.

It won't take long before she gets back on the saddle, as she will be racing Flèche Wallone and Liège-Bastogne-Liège in the coming week where she'll be eyeing further success.