Elisa Longo Borghini wins Paris-Roubaix Femmes

Elisa Longo Borghini has won the second edition of Paris-Roubaix Femmes, with the Italian champion’s Trek-Segafredo team also clinching third place through Lucinda Brand, who finished behind runner-up Lotte Kopecky of Team SD Worx in a chasing group that finished 23 seconds behind the winner.

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Six months ago, in the first ever running of the race, Longo Borghini finished third behind her team-mate Lizzie Deignan in the first-ever edition of the race.

Deignan, who is expecting her second child, has taken a break from racing while last year’s runner-up, Marianne Vos of Jumbo Visma, was forced to sit out today’s race after testing positive for COVID-19.

Longo Borghini’s race-winning move came with just under 32km remaining of the 124.7km, which included 17 sectors of pavé, equivalent to nearly a quarter of today’s parcours.

While her pursuers managed to reduce the deficit to 11 seconds at one point, the 30-year-old rode away to a convincing victory and had plenty of time to celebrate her victory during the closing lap and a half of the velodrome in Roubaix.