"Saturday she gave me a beating at the Europeans, today I returned the favor with rage..."

The morning of Tre Valli Varesine opened with the 137 kilometers of the women's race, featuring a top-class start list and a winner of equal caliber: launching the sprint at the right moment 150 meters from the finish line, Elisa Longo Borghini beats Demi Vollering!

It could have been a total celebration for UAE, but the excellent Eleonora Gasparrini was narrowly beaten in a photofinish by Noemi Ruegg in the chase group sprint for the podium. Monica Trinca Colonel also finished in the top ten, in sixth place.

RACE REPORT

123 riders start from a sunny Busto Arsizio, with any rain risk averted. In the initial section, five riders break away: Ema Comte (Cofidis), Lara Crestanello (Born to Win BTC Ljubljana), Irma Siri (Top Girls Fassa Bortolo), Eleonora La Bella and Argyro Milaki (Aromitalia 3T Vaiano) but their advance lasts only forty kilometers because the UAE squad controls the group hard. The quintet is reabsorbed on the second of six Montello climbs, with Ava Holmgren (Lidl Trek) trying a counterattack, but Longo Borghini's teammates keep good watch. Elisa herself tries a first acceleration on the third Montello, but is closed down by Marthe Goossens (AG Soudal) and Amber Kraak (FDJ Suez).

Downhill however, at km 80, an acceleration by Silvia Persico, a luxury domestique for the national champion, triggers the race's explosion: a group of 10 forms at the front which then becomes 15 on the fourth Montello. The group includes Niamh Fisher-Black (Lidl Trek), Ashleigh Moolman (AG Soudal), Cecilie Uttrup Ludwig (Canyon Sram), Yara Kastelijn (Fenix Deceuninck), Monica Trinca Colonel (Liv AlUla Jayco), Cat Ferguson (Movistar), Katrine Aalerud (Uno X), Noemi Ruegg and Magdeleine Vallieres (Education First), Eleonora Gasparrini, Karlijn Swinkels and Elisa Longo Borghini (UAE), Elise Chabbey, Juliette Labous and Demi Vollering (FDJ Suez). On the fifth Montello, unleashed Longo Borghini tries again and with her break Vollering and Fisher-Black; downhill 25 km from the finish they are caught by the other 11 (meanwhile a generous Chabbey has dropped off) and at -20, just as the road flattens, Vallieres in the world champion jersey attacks and Swinkels sticks to her to try and stop her.

At the top of the last Montello, Swinkels finishes her work and gives space to the counterattack of the "magic trio" Longo-Demi-Fisher: 12 kilometers to go and a quartet forms, which however is caught at the end of the descent on a wide left roundabout, where Ashleigh Moolman crashes and leaves 13 riders to contest the victory. The final showdown on the legendary Ronchi launch pad: Yara Kastelijn breaks the stalemate, but with 2500 meters to go, the reaction of the European and Italian champions emerges above everyone else and sets Varese ablaze with a duel won by Longo Borghini, her second victory here after 2022. Notable is Vallieres, who in the finale spends her remaining energy in favor of Ruegg.

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TOP TEN

1 Longo Borghini Elisa UAE Team ADQ 03:34:55

2 Vollering Demi FDJ-SUEZ + 00

3 Rüegg Noemi EF Education-Oatly + 19

4 Gasparrini Eleonora UAE Team ADQ + 19

5 Labous Juliette FDJ-SUEZ + 19

6 Trinca Colonel Monica Liv AlUla Jayco + 19

7 Ludwig Cecilie Uttrup CANYON//SRAM zondacrypto + 19

8 Kastelijn Yara Fenix-Deceuninck + 19

9 Fisher-Black Niamh Lidl-Trek + 19

10 Vallieres Magdeleine EF Education-Oatly + 24