Why did Longo Borghini ride so hard for Niewiadoma at the Tour de France Femmes?

Elisa Longo Borghini has without doubt been one of the most talked-about figures at this Tour de France Femmes. The Italian champion of UAE Team L'Imad raised eyebrows with some strong comments about the hierarchy within her team, but on the bike she has also been among the best riders almost every day. The way she has been racing, however, continues to get people talking — including after Stage 8.

Longo Borghini has grown stronger as the Tour de France Femmes has progressed, after appearing to be slightly short of her best during the opening days. A late bike change in the stage 4 time trial also cost her a significant amount of additional time, pushing the podium further out of reach. Then, on stage 5, she was unable to stay with the strongest riders and lost 1 minute and 43 seconds.

Since then, Longo Borghini appears to have adopted a different mindset. She made the breakaway on stage 6, rode to an impressive third place on Mont Ventoux on stage 7 and once again played a major role in the finale of stage 8. Longo Borghini finished second herself, but what particularly stood out was her role in the chase behind the attacking Demi Vollering of FDJ United-SUEZ.

Longo Borghini had already spent much of the previous two days working on the front of a chasing group, and in the finale of stage 8 she once again decided to keep the pace high. On stage 6, she had ridden in a similar way to neutralize attacks from Kim Le Court and Riejanne Markus, while on stage 7 she took turns with teammate Paula Blasi as they chased the riders further up the road.

On stage 8, Longo Borghini did well to stay with Vollering and Niewiadoma when the pair rode clear. Shortly before the Polish rider cracked, Longo Borghini herself had already been forced to give up a few meters. At the top of the steep kicker, however, the Italian moved to the front. She continued to set the pace on the descent and then did much of the work during the kilometers along the seafront in Nice.

By doing so, Longo Borghini limited her own losses to Vollering, finishing 17 seconds behind the stage winner. But Niewiadoma in particular — completely spent by that point — will have been grateful for the help, knowing Longo Borghini is now more than three minutes behind the yellow jersey and is no longer a realistic threat for the overall victory. Even the podium remains some distance away after stage 8. Longo Borghini trails third-placed Marlen Reusser by almost two minutes.

If all the work Longo Borghini has done over the past three stages eventually earns her third place overall after Sunday's final stage in Nice, everyone will understand why she rode the way she did. For now, however, it may have looked slightly unusual. "We'll see on Sunday where we stand; we're really almost there now," the Italian said briefly to Eurosport after the finish, speaking in Italian.

There was no real answer to the question posed in the headline of this article. "Vollering rode away in the final 50 meters of that little climb; she was definitely the strongest today. I tried for kilometers to keep driving the pace, but Niewiadoma was on the limit as well. Demi was exceptional today."

Speaking to Wielerflits and others, she went on to describe those final kilometers. On the descent, Longo Borghini still had hope that they could close the gap. ‘We really closed in on the descent, but on the straight stretch, Demi pulled away. She was definitely the strongest—congratulations.’

On the Promenade des Anglais, the Italian champion had to go it alone. Niewiadoma didn’t take over, but Longo Borghini didn’t hold it against her. ‘When Kasia doesn’t work the race, she’s giving it her all. Otherwise, she always pitches in. I know that, too. If I could gain extra time on Marlen, I had to do it. Kasia didn’t work with me, but she couldn’t even sprint anymore, so fair enough.’

The highlight of the day was Vollering’s breakaway, but especially the incident between Niewiadoma and Célia Gery, who had blocked her during her team leader’s acceleration. Longo Borghini was right behind them, but couldn’t comment on the incident. ‘I was too exhausted, I’m sorry,’ she says, shaking her head. ‘I was blind—I was going full throttle.’