ŠENČUR — Elisa Longo Borghini finished just off the podium in fourth at the European Championships elite women's road race in Slovenia on Saturday, admitting a final-corner error cost her a shot at a medal after Demi Vollering took victory with a solo breakaway.
The Italian delivered a typically aggressive ride around the two finishing circuits in Šenčur. After her squad helped close a two-woman early break controlled by the Dutch, she survived the first ascent of the steep climb to Možjanca as one of seven riders over the top. Vollering made the race-winning move on the second ascent, distancing Longo Borghini, who then fought back to the chase group with Marlen Reusser of Switzerland and Kasia Niewiadoma-Phinney of Poland. "It felt like I did a rookie mistake on the last corner," she told Eurosport afterwards. "I wanted to take it in the second place, but Kasia slipped, and she kind of took me off my trajectory, but it's nobody's fault, I mean, this is something that happens in cycling. I had to be smarter, and today I wasn't. Yeah, disappointed with myself with positioning, but for the rest, all good."
Her sprint was compromised when Niewiadoma-Phinney crashed in the final corner, edging Longo Borghini off her line. She crossed the line fourth, on the same time as third-placed Reusser. "The first lap was pretty easy. The second lap I had to take my own speed, and I knew I didn't have to go over my limits because otherwise I would have blown up. Just junior mistake took away the medal, but it's okay," she said.
The result follows a resilient season for Longo Borghini. After winning the UAE Tour Women in February, illness disrupted her early campaign and forced a shift in priorities to later in the year. She has still taken six victories, returning to win the closing stage of the Giro d'Italia Women and finishing third overall at the Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift.
At the World Championships last month she guided Italy to victory in the Mixed Team Relay before taking third in the road race, again behind Vollering. She will have another opportunity in the azure skinsuit when she lines up for the European Time Trial on Wednesday.