Longo Borghini's bold move was a team order: "Van Anrooij waited, I was allowed to try"

Elisa Longo Borghini must have been quite confident on Sunday when she broke away with Katarzyna Niewiadoma in the Tour of Flanders, leaving her teammate Shirin van Anrooij in the lead alone. Lidl-Trek ultimately played their numerical advantage, finishing with two women on the podium. "This means a lot to me."

Longo Borghini started with thanks to her coach, husband, and team. "The team supported me well after my crash due to a flat tire. It's incredible, Shirin was a powerhouse, and we ended up first and third, in a race like this. That's a huge team effort."

The Italian champion's courage to make her move also came from letting the rest exhaust themselves. "I let SD Worx-Protime do most of the chasing work, and Jeroen Blijlevens said I could try on the Paterberg. I knew Niewiadoma wanted to come along, and we were two. From there, I knew: full throttle to the top, and then I win this."

"Our strength is our team," Longo Borghini emphasizes when asked why she chased Van Anrooij. "Shirin waited; it was a move directed from the team. I'm not a party animal, but we're definitely going to celebrate this with the team."

Niewiadoma very happy with second place

Niewiadoma seemed to already know it wasn't going to be a win for her. "It was such a tough race due to the weather conditions. I'm happy with my podium place; it promises a lot for the upcoming races," she told Eurosport. "The condition is good, and I really focused on the Tour of Flanders and the Ardennes. It was cool to drop everyone with Elisa on the Paterberg."