There was both a feeling of déjà vu and the sensation of witnessing a new dawn when Elisa Longo Borghini conquered the Jebel Hafeet on Saturday. The Italian star had already risen to victory on the same slopes in the United Arab Emirates when she ruled the inaugural edition of the UAE Tour Women, back in February 2023. Since then, she has experienced spectacular ups, including victory in the Giro d’Italia Women, and downs, with nagging physical struggles.
But Longo Borghini managed to hit the reset button and come back stronger than ever. On Saturday, the third day of the UAE Tour Women, she was dominant again, but with new colours, those of UAE Team ADQ, the team she’s now tasked to lead to the highest summits of the UCI Women’s WorldTour, in the wake of her leading performances for Lidl-Trek.
“I’m proud because the UAE Tour Women is our home race,” Longo Borghini said after she sealed the overall victory on Sunday. “At the beginning of the season, the team made a clear call that we had to be fit for this race. But winning the GC [general classification] plus the second place and the intermediate sprint and team classifications, it’s incredible.”
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