Elisa Longo Borghini retains Giro d'Italia Women title as Lippert wins final stage
Longo Borghini (Team UAE ADQ) sealed her second victory at her home Grand Tour, after losing just four bonus seconds to Switzerland's Marlen Reusser (Movistar) on the final stage, winning the title by 18 seconds overall.
Germany's Liane Lippert, also from the Movistar stable, won the race's eighth and final stage with a late break alongside Anna van der Breggen (Team SD-Worx). The pair broke away in the final kilometres inside the Autodromo Enzo e Dino Ferrari, with Lippert crossing the finish line first.
Reusser and Longo Borghini came home in the chasing group, eight seconds behind, with the Swiss rider claiming a four-second bonus for finishing third. It was not enough to win back the maglia rosa, which Longo Borghini had taken from Reusser with a bold attack to the summit finish at Monte Nerone on Saturday.
'Right now, I'm honestly without words,' Longo Borghini said afterwards, having won the overall title without claiming a stage win. 'This Giro has been intense, emotional, unforgettable. I knew I had to dig deep and fight until the very end.'
'My teammates were phenomenal, and this maglia rosa is for them,' the 33-year-old added. 'We worked so hard, and to win like this, defending the jersey on such an iconic circuit, it's just incredible. Cycling is a rollercoaster … moments like this make all the sacrifices worth it.'
For Lippert, a second stage win of the week was a good consolation after failing to deliver overall glory for Movistar teammate Reusser. 'We lost the maglia rosa but we promised each other to fight to the very end,' the 27-year-old said. 'Today, Marlen worked for me and I wanted to give her a reason to smile. I knew I had to follow [Anna] Van der Breggen and the perfect scenario played out for us.'
Australia's Sarah Gigante (AG Insurance-Soudal), who won stage seven, finished third overall and claimed the blue jersey for the best mountain rider, having also prevailed on stage four. Pauliena Rooijakkers (Fenix-Deceunick) and Antonia Niedermaier (Canyon-SRAM-Zondacrypto) finished fourth and fifth overall.
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