Trofeo Alfredo Binda: Elisa Longo Borghini unstoppable with long-range move

Elisa Longo Borghini (Trek Segafredo) time trialed her way to her second victory at the Trofeo Alfredo Binda on Sunday.

The Italian struck out solo at 25 kilometers to go on the hilly circuit around Cittiglio and profited from a group of five struggling to coordinate a chase effort. The 29-year-old crossed the line 1:42 ahead after her unmatchable solo through home terrain.

Marianne Vos (Jumbo-Visma) took second-place having done much of the pulling in the pursuit, beating Cecilie Uttrup Ludwig (FDJ Nouvelle Aquitaine Futuroscope) with a powerful sprint for the podium slots.

Longo Borghini’s victory made for a veritable Italian festa as the national champion won on her local circuit, guided to the line by her compatriot Giorgia Bronzini from the director’s car. It was also a swift response to her disappointment after losing out to SD Worx’s tactical play at Strade Bianche earlier this month.

#TrBinda
What a massive win for our Italian National Champ!!! pic.twitter.com/4af94SHWa4

— Trek-Segafredo (@TrekSegafredo) March 21, 2021

The victory was Longo Borghini’s first of the season, and the result of a strong collective effort that saw three of her teammates combine to string out the peloton before she made her winning move on the Orino climb. Trek-Segafredo’s team win also made for a powerful response to the early season dominance of SD Worx, who failed to place a rider in the top-10 in what made for a rare divet in their hot start to the year.

The result capped a stellar weekend for Trek-Segafredo having seen Jasper Stuyven win Milano-Sanremo on Saturday.

“It’s ‘all-or-nothing,'” Longo Borghini said, echoing Stuyven’s comments after Sanremo. “Jasper inspired me a little bit yesterday, and I also thought about ‘it’s all or nothing.’ Sometimes you have to poker, and if there is an option to attack I will always choose to attack.”

Trek-Segafredo sets up Longo Borghini

After some 110km of brief, short-lived attacks, Trek-Segafredo used its collective strength to launch the winning move.

Audrey Cordon Ragot made a short acceleration off the bunch before Tayler Wiles and Ruth Winder combined on the penultimate climb of the Orino at 25km to go. The American duo attacked and countered to string out the peloton on the lower slopes of the shallow ascent before Longo Borghini hit out solo.

Behind her, the bunch shattered and a group of Vos, Uttrup Ludwig, Soraya Paladin (Liv Racing), Katarzyna Niewiadoma (Canyon-SRAM) and Mavi Garcia (Alé-BTC) formed the chase group.

Borghini just blew up the race. #trbinda pic.twitter.com/IRMVIRc0HC

— daniel mcmahon (@cyclingreporter) March 21, 2021

Vos motors the malfunctioning chase

Longo Borghini soon gained a dozen seconds over the fivesome and extended her lead to 20 seconds heading into the final 17-kilometer lap.

Behind her, Vos did much of the work in the chase group as the pursuit malfunctioned. Despite all Vos’ efforts, the bunch was unable to winch its way closer to the charging Italian, who managed to extend her lead through the wide-open highway leading to the final climb of the day.

Longo Borghini didn’t let off through the back-half of the circuit and extended her lead all the way through to the finish line to secure a dominant win.