Sometimes, things just feel right. And when I say that in the context of the Giro d'Italia Women, I don't mean stars aligning, the cosmos conspiring, or akin Goldilocks tripe. Such is not cycling, such is not grande ciclismo. The denouement of the Giro felt right because of all that went wrong before it. 

An Italian champion winning on the final stage of the Italian Grand Tour would be a feel-good resolution in any context, but the platitude of a happy ending holds sustenance in the case of Elisa Longo Borghini. For the UAE Team-ADQ rider, misfortune began in the spring, when the lead-up to her Giro title-defence was derailed by an illness acquired during the Classics. 

Being fit to compete is entirely different from being fit to defend a title for the third year in a row, and it soon became apparent that the latter would be a big ask from Longo Borghini after she lost 1:50 to Anna Van der Breggen in the Nevegal time trial, and a further 15 seconds on the mountain stage to Sante Stefano di Cadore. 

But this Grand Tour is her patch, and the fight was never going to be over that easily. Longo Borghini clawed back time at every opportunity. Entering the final day three minutes and forty four seconds behind Van der Breggen in the general classification, a stage win before the tifosi was her calling: 

“Today in the bus I felt this anger inside me. I was like I have nothing to lose,” said Longo Borghini after the stage. “I don’t care about the GC. I just want to do it for my teammates that are simply amazing, and I just wanted to win. It was the only thing I was thinking today, to win.”

 It was an anger unleashed right from the get-go as she separated herself from the rest with more than 90 kilometres to go alongside Antonia Niedermeier and Niamh Fisher-Black –  and that would push her to dominate in the final four-man sprint in Saluzzo. 

Elisa Longo Borghini won stage 9 of the Giro d'Italia Women (Image credit: Thomas Maheux/ SWpix.com)

“This means much more than a win,” the 34-year-old continued. “This is a comeback. I’ve been vulnerable these months, both in my body and my mind. There were days where I thought that everything would never come back, and that I was maybe done. I’ve been very sick the last three months, and I worked very hard to come back. I’m still not 100 percent, but I did not want to leave this Giro without leaving a mark.” 

As Longo Borghini roared before the crowds, Demi Vollering put her hands to her head in disbelief. The job was done. A Vollering victory is something we’ve all become accustomed to these days, but this one really is different. Because however much Vollering knows what it means to win a Grand Tour, she also knows what it means to fall short. 

Speaking to the media after stage eight, Vollering’s despondency bore traces of her emotional interview following her narrow four second defeat to Kasia Nweiadoma at the Tour de France Femmes Avec Zwift in 2024. This time around, due to an unstable sheet of ice that could have fallen onto the road, organisers decided to end the stage around one kilometre short of the Colle delle Finestre summit, reducing the stage to just 76.5 kilometres.

While Vollering climbed to her second stage victory on the gruelling gravel slopes of the iconic pass, the finish that never was had left the Dutch rider unable to make up sufficient time on Van der Breggen, leaving the task of overcoming a 49 second deficit to the final day. Her win on stage 8 had felt like an anticlimax – a makeshift rope on the ground hardly a fair tradeoff for the splendour of a summit finish. The fight for the maglia rosa looked like it was over: 

“At one point I saw this weird line on the ground, so I was like ‘I guess this is the finish?’ I don’t have any words. I’m happy to win the stage, but at the same time I’m a little bit disappointed because it really changed the plans we had in mind. But it is how it is. It seems like it’s pretty hard to do something tomorrow, but actually I did not have tomorrow’s stage in mind to still try something. Now we have to go back to the table.” 

But if there’s one thing to take away from this race, it’s that FDJ-United Suez know how to use their numbers when it matters most. It would have helped, too, that it was Van der Breggen, Vollering’s former sports director back when she was at SD Worx, whom she found herself up against. There’s knowing your opposition, then there’s actually knowing your opposition.  

Demi Vollering won the general classification, with Antonia Niedermaier (CANYON//SRAM) in second, and Anna van der Breggen in third (Image credit: Thomas Maheux)

So when master and apprentice found themselves locked in a stalemate while the leading trio were up the road in the middle phase of stage 9, it intensified the drama of the finale fivefold. In the end, it was Vollering who took the risk: with one brutal acceleration, she buckled Van der Breggen on the last climb of the Colletta di Brondello and bridged over to the leaders.

“Today was all about daring to lose. I had to dare to lose it all,” she said, her maglia azzurra swapped for pink. “We did it, and I just don't believe it. With 20 kilometres to go, I was like, ‘I hope I make it to the finish line’, but the group I was in was working really well together. Then I was flying –  it really gave me wings today to have the thought that it was maybe possible.” 

Unfortunately, there was always going to be a loser. Van der Breggen has spent the last few months proving herself against her younger rivals – including when she blew apart the general classification during the stage four uphill time trial – but this was the ultimate test. And while the media pointed to her heavy crash on stage seven as a possible reason behind her loss, Vollering’s compatriot dismissed any excuses: 

“I tried to follow, but she was simply stronger today. I did everything I could, but I had also taken such a scenario into account. It is a shame that I still lose the jersey, but I gave everything. Then this is the outcome.”

Van der Breggen’s loss felt especially bitter given the length she'd gone to defend the maglia rosa all week. But there is something about a four-time Giro winner handing the torch to a rider she’s coached and nurtured that feels, in some ways, like the natural order of things.

Team classification winners Lidl-Trek, too, have somewhat earned resolution. Yes, luck might have been on their side initially: the disqualification of top sprinter Lorena Weibes worked heavily in their favour for Elisa Balsamo to take the maglia rosa after the opening stage. But Balsamo proved she truly was the best sprinter in the field by winning four times over and securing the red jersey. The endeavours of Isabella Holmgren on the Colle delle Finestre climb to bolster her maglia bianca lead, and the feats of Niamh Fisher Black to land a podium spot on the final stage made for a sweet ending for a team who only had two wins to their name coming into this race. To put that into context, they had 13 at the same point in 2025. While it’s not a scratch on last year, that tally is now at least on the up. 

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For Vollering, whose name is now written across the pink pages of La Gazzetta dello Sport, the dream lives on. She is now the second-ever woman to complete the Grand Tour trilogy behind Annemiek van Vleuten. Again, it feels right, especially given her domination at the Classics earlier this year which made her a sure bet for victory at the Giro. But while her wins at Tour of Flanders and Liège-Bastogne-Liège proved her to be head and shoulders above the rest, in Italy she was forced to fight until the end. 

“I dream of the Tour de France, but first I should enjoy this one, because I also know it is easy to lose a Grand Tour. Sometimes I think it's really normal to win, but I also know it's not normal,” said Vollering. 

With August inbound, it’s going to be a fiercer battle than anyone could have imagined.