‘We see more and more in modern cycling that there are people capable of doing amazing things in both the Classics and stage races,’ says Elisa Longo Borghini. ‘For me, Tadej Pogačar is one in a million, a born champion. Then you see Wout van Aert – he goes more for stages than the GC, but he still wins a bit everywhere: up Mont Ventoux and then in cyclocross.’
And what about herself? ‘I mean, I’m average in everything, so I’m not a good one.’
Add self-deprecation to her repertoire. Few other riders can compare with Longo Borghini, who has Paris-Roubaix, the Tour of Flanders and Strade Bianche at the top of her palmarès. She has stood on the podium at the women’s Giro d’Italia and challenged for the Tour de France Femmes. She has Italian national time-trial titles and Olympic Road Race medals. She can even milk a cow. Beat that, Tadej and Wout.
As we sit in a restaurant in Bruges over coffee (Segafredo, naturally), next to wine crates compacted into a feature wall, it seems the Italian’s career is ageing like a fine bottle of her local Barolo. She has been taking stubborn, prestigious victories at cycling’s top table for more than a decade.
Even with her longevity and versatility,
