Trofeo Tessile & Moda Donne: Elisa Longo Borghini soloes to victory in Oropa to take second win of the week

Italian national champion Elisa Longo Borghini (UAE Team ADQ) climbed to a solo victory in the Trofeo Tessile & Moda Donne, claiming the win at the top of the ascent to the Santuario di Oropa.

The final, 6.7km climb saw a whittling-down process amongst the big names, with Longo Borghini going away with Marlen Reusser (Movistar) in the finale.

The Italian then attacked the Movistar rider with 3km to go, and soloed to the win, adding to her victory at Tre Valli Varesine on Tuesday.

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Reusser held on to take second at the misty summit, whilst Urška Žigart (AG Insurance-Soudal) finished third as riders finished in ones and twos after the final climb broke things apart.

A new addition to the calendar for 2025, the women’s Trofeo Tessile & Moda attracted five WorldTour teams, and saw the peloton take on 95.3km in northern Italy, culminating atop the 6.7km Oropa climb, with average gradients of 7.9%.

A 10-rider breakaway was away in the flatter early part of the race, but they were all reeled in ahead of the finale.

As expected, the race came down the final ascent, with a small group of WorldTour riders battling it out in a gruelling drag race, with Longo Borghini proving the strongest to end her season on a high.

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“It’s never easy to win,” she said about winning after starting the race as a clear favourite.

“You always have to put a lot of effort, and today I was motivated to win here, it’s my region in Piemonte, and it’s a climb that I really like, even if it’s my first time climbing it properly in a race. I felt very honoured to be able to race up here.”

Sunday’s race marked the first time a major women’s race has featured the Oropa climb, site of an iconic Marco Pantani victory, and most recently a display from Tadej Pogačar in the Giro d’Italia.

“It’s a big honour to be able to climb up to Oropa where Pantani made history. Yesterday I made all my teammates watch the famous climbing from Pantani,” Longo Borghini said.

“It was nice and I do believe that this race can have a nice future, I hope for maybe a longer race and a bigger field and then I hope this race will become a nice autumn Classic.

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