‘Perfectly imperfect’: Elisa Longo Borghini reflects on her 2025 Giro victory

An introduction to pink

I have this image in my mind of the 2005 Giro. There was a stage going through the Simplon Pass and ending in Domodossola, which is 20 km from my home. I went, and I saw Nicole Brändli in pink. For me, it was stunning. I was like, ‘OK, in my life, I would like to be like her’. I'd love to be in this environment, racing up the mountain passes and trying to fight for pink. 

To be honest, I think my love for the Giro comes from my childhood. It's true that women's cycling didn't have the big echo that it has now, but it's also true that when I was a child, I always followed cycling, women's and men's, and I always asked my parents to bring me to stages of the Giro, even if maybe I was the only one there, watching the ladies who were riding. 

I had this drive in my soul all the time. In the past years, I've been chasing this pink jersey for so long. I've been so close and yet so far. Either super far from the pink or just some seconds behind the pink jersey, for many years. My first Giro d’Italia was in 2011, and from that year on, I onl…