Elisa Longo Borghini (UAE-Team ADQ) powered to a first ever win at Dwars door Vlaanderen, marking herself out as a key threat in this weekend's Tour of Flanders.
Her victory, she said, was "revenge" after being caught so close to the line in Milan-San Remo.
After launching a solo break and shaking early breakaway Marlen Reusser, the Italian rider held off an elite chase group across interminably long straight Flandrian roads – with riders behind including Puck Pieterse, Lotte Kopecky, Elisa Balsamo and others unable to make inroads into her 20-second margin.
Kopecky won the sprint for second place, with Balsamo third.
"It was revenge for Milan-San Remo where they caught me at 150m," Longo Borghini said afterwards. "I was very hungry for victory today – I came here looking for nothing less than that. I really wanted to prove that I was strong."
She had begun the season well with a with at the UAE Tour, but there had been frustration in recent weeks, she said, and thanked her trainer for keeping her calm.
Asked whether frustration was the best fuel, she replied: "I'm always bouncing back from a big disappointment usually, so that's proof that sometimes it works."
Describing her break, she said: "Basically I found myself alone on the cobbles, and from then I just went full, I knew I wanted to win and I succeeded."
How it happened
With the Tour of Flanders on the horizon, the best riders in the women's peloton took to the start in Waregem keen to test legs and gauge form ahead of the big event. Not that the 1.Pro-ranked Dwars door Vlaanderen is anything to be sniffed at, with seven classified climbs and plenty of cobbles over its 128km length.
With the bergs backloaded towards the second two-thirds, it predictably took some time for the first big attacks to come. It was 2023 Gent-Wevelgem winner Marlen Reusser (Movistar), with a move on Berg Ten Houte at around 70km to go.
She was joined by Femke Gerritse (SDWorx-Protime), Amber Kraak (FDJ-Suez) and Lucina Brand (Lidl-Trek) to make a powerful quartet, with Swiss rider Reusser looking the strongest.
The climb of the Eikenberg, with 40km to go, spurred both escapees and chasers into action, with Reusser and Kraak going clear at the front at the same time as Longo Borghini launched from the chasing peloton.
At 25km the Italian caught and passed Reusser – who by now was out front alone – and never looked back.
With an impressive bunch of riders chasing from behind, sometimes getting as close as 20 seconds on what were long, straight roads on which Longo Borghini was clearly visible, the catch seemed inevitable.
But a combination of Longo Borghini's power and an inability to arrange a coordinated chase behind saw the Italian draw further away, until, going into the final few kilometres, it was suddenly too late for the chasers.
Results: Dwars door Vlaanderen 2025
1. Elisa Longo Borghini (Ita) UAE-Team ADQ, in 3:12:49
2. Lotte Kopecky (Bel) SDWorx-Protime
3. Elisa Balsamo (Ita) Lidl-Trek
4. Puck Pieterse (Ned) Fenix-Deceuninck
5. Mischa Bredewold (Ned) SDWorx-Protime
6. Liane Lippert (Ger) Movistar
7. Vittoria Guazzini (Ita) FDJ-Suez
8. Maria Confalonieri (Ita) Uno-X Mobility
9. Elise Chabbey (Swi) FDJ-Suez
10. Marte Berg Edseth (Nor) Uno-X Mobility, all at 29sec
