Italian nationwide champion Elisa Longo Borghini (UAE Workforce ADQ) can be one of the vital major contenders on the first-ever girls’s Milan-San Remo, as she seems to take her first victory of 2025 and doubtlessly make historical past.
As probably the most skilled riders within the skilled peloton, Longo Borghini has observed the panorama of the ladies’s calendar trade dramatically during the last decade, and now will in the end have the risk to race her house Monument.
“I’m very happy that this year there will also be a Milano-San Remo for us women. It was a Monument Classic that was missing, and it’s very important for the entire movement – another sign of how much women’s cycling is growing,” the 33-year-old stated forward of the race.
“As an Italian and the Italian champion, it will be an honour for me to take part in this race, which has a unique charm. San Remo is something special, part of cycling history, and I think racing it, tackling those legendary roads, will be an incredible experience for all of us.”
Dressed in the tricolore jersey, all eyes can be on Longo Borghini, however she’s a long way from only a symbolic favorite at this race. The punchy end will have to go well with her neatly, and after suffering with sickness at Strade Bianche, she can be motivated to dance again this weekend.
“I believe it suits my characteristics quite well. But I also think we have other riders in the team who could perform very well on this kind of course,” she stated, relating to her teammates like Silvia Persico, Eleonora Gasparrini, and the all of a sudden emerging Maëva Squiban.
Because it’s the primary version of the ladies’s race, it’s laborious to expect how the ways will play out on Saturday. The lads’s race was once as soon as hailed as a sprinter’s Vintage however has continuously been gained with solo strikes and from small teams in contemporary historical past.
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From the assembled line-ups, it looks as if maximum groups are making ready for a extra attacking race, with few rosters in reality devoted to dash efforts.
International champion Lotte Kopecky (SD Worx-Protime) will make her season debut firstly in Genoa, and is sort of assured to take a look at to assault over the Tre Capi, in all probability with competitors like Demi Vollering (FDJ-Suez), Puck Pieterse (Fenix-Deceuninck) and the Italian champion on her wheel.
Must a larger team live on to the end, Trofeo Alfredo Binda champion Elisa Balsamo (Lidl-Trek) and Marianne Vos (Visma-Rent a Motorbike) will certainly be favourites, however Longo Borghini can be in search of a extra selective race.
The Italian has reconned the 156km path this week, making ready for an unpredictable race.
“The competition will be strong, and just like in the men’s race, the finale could play out in many different ways,” she added. “I believe it will be the same for us.”
In addition to her motivation for the race itself, Longo Borghini underlined how particular it might be for the ladies’s peloton to in the end have its personal Milan-San Remo, after a number of years of guarantees from organisers RCS Recreation. s
“We will certainly be honoured to be at the start of this Classic, and together with my teammates, we will give our best to try to win – or at the very least, to be protagonists in the race.”
