Elisa Longo Borghini (Trek Segafredo), a 20-year-old Italian cyclist, ended this Saturday with a single victory the attack he launched 34 kilometers from the finish line in the classic Paris-Roubaix, “the Hell of the North”who was in the female category was only two years old.
Winner of the Tour of Flanders in 2015 and of the Strade Bianche in 2017, Longo added to his brilliant record the great pavés classic after covering 124.7 km in a time of 3:10:54. Next to him they climbed the Belgian podium Lotte Kopecky (SD Worx) and the Dutch Lucinda brand (Trek Segafredo), who took 23 seconds to lead the chasing group.
Sandra Alonso (Ceratizit), tenth at 2:22, the best classified Spanish.
Six months after Britain’s Lizzie Deignan conquered – not here due to pregnancy – the first women’s cobble after the 117 men’s edition of the legendary race, the women’s Paris -Roubaix returned with a 9 km longer course (124.7, with another lap on the first Denain.street circuit) and the same 17 cobbled stages, including the toughest, Mons-en-Pévèle and Carrefour de l’Arbre, before reaching the André Petrieux velodrome.
October 2, 2021, the date on which the first women’s edition was held with rain and lots of mud, was a historic moment in women’s cycling. Today, runners are like Italians Longo and Elisa Balsamo, Kopecky or the Danish Emma Norsgaardthe favorites (this time without Marianne Voss, positive in the covid time before starting), they sought to continue the development with new achievements, this time on dry land and with 29 kilometers of cobblestone, the fourth part of travel.
After the criticism received by the organizers last year for the difference in prizes between men and women (91,000 euros for men, 7,005 for women), the women’s purse rose to 50,000, of which 20,000 was for the winners, compared to 1,535 earned. of Deignan, the first champion.
The race registered several attacks. One of the most consistent occurred 54 km from the finish line, when they jumped Bastianelli -world champion in 2007- and Kopecky -winner of the Tour of Flanders and the Strade Bianche, this year-, ahead of double world champion Lucinda Brand.
Their adventure lasted 20 km, but the attacks continued. At the age of 34 it was Longo who tried his luck and in his condition they left Emma Norsgaard (head of Spanish Movistar) and another Italian, Elena Cecchini (worx). These last two gave up, but long insisted. With 15 km left, he had a 19 -second lead over the first chasing group, unable to close the gap.
Overcome the last long stretch of cobblestone (Willems à Hem, 1.4 km), long He could no longer find opposition from his rivals, who were watching each other in search of two more podium spots.
This Sunday will be held the 119th edition of the men’s Paris-Roubaix.
Source: La Verdad
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