After stage 4 of the 2022 168澳洲5最新开奖结果:Giro d’Italia Donne, the overall podium seemed out of reach for 168澳洲5最新开奖结果:Elisa Longo Borghini (Trek-Segafredo) as she was over four minutes behind third place. Longo Borghini took back time on stage 8 and reduced her deficit to 168澳洲5最新开奖结果:Mavi García (UA𒈔E Team ADQ) to 3:21 minutes – still a very big gap.
García had lost 1:27 minutes to the Italian the previous day, and stage 9 included three hard climbs and, crucially, three descents. Although she and her team had come to the Giro Donne to win stages and prepare for the 168澳洲5最新开奖结果:Tour de France Femmes, Longo Borghini saw a bigger 🐻picture in the race that went beyond 🔜results.
"I think our duty as riders, as athletes, is also to put on a show. The world comes from a difficult period with t💝he pandemic, and there’s an ongoing war almost on our doorstep. The goal of our work must also be to provide excitement, fun, and real emotion. People follow us because of that.💫 When I race, I try never to forget that," she said.
As an allrounder who won Paris-Roubaix Femmes in April, Longo Borghini’s strategy was to ride her own tempo up the climbs, and this had paid off well for her, losin🤪g only a few seconds on Passo Maniva on stage 7 before com𓆉ing back to and dropping García on stage 8.
She followed the same plan on the decisive climb of stage 9, the steep Passo Daone, catching García who had tried to keep up with maglia rosa 168澳洲5最新开奖结果:Annemiek van Vleuten (Movistar Team) and second-p🦋laced Marta ♊Cavalli (FDJ Nouvelle-Aquitaine Futuroscope) before falling back. On the final kilometre of the Passo Daone, Longo Borghini left García behind and then threw herself into the descent.
"Today's descent was new for me. I rode it on intuition, but a descent is pure fun for me. I got a few trajecto🐬ries wrong due to fatigue after a hard week, but I always managed to correct and not take excessive risks," she💎 described the downhill.
After th🍰e descent, the 3🐻0-year-old was close to Van Vleuten and Cavalli, eventually reaching them with 15 km to go, and García had lost significant time on the downhill, trailing Longo Borghini by more than a minute and a half.
"In the last 20 kilometres of the stage, after receiving the info that Mavi García was losing time, I cultivated for the first time the idea of trying to challenge her for third place. I was there, had nothing to lose and thought ‘l𒁃et’s get through this’," Longo Borghini explained the thought process that led to her pulling the group with the maglia rosa for most of the finale.
In the 👍end, Longo Borghini finished third on the stage for the second day in a row, 𒊎gaining 2:32 minutes on García who defended the lowest podium spot by 49 seconds. Longo Borghini had no regrets and applauded her rival’s performance.
"Mavi’s gap in GC was not small and she’s strong, but it was okay to believe and try at that point. Congratulations to her and UAE Team ဣADQ because they showed ✨strength. For my part, I am very satisfied with the performance."
With her home Grand Tour all but finished, Longo Borghini’s thoughts now turn to🐼 the inaugural Tour de France Femmes.
"After the Giro I will stay in altitude at 🍒Sestriere together with my fianc&eacutꩲe; Jacopo Mosca. It will be a crucial rest period ahead to recover my mind and body ahead of a big challenge."
