Italian champion Elisa Longo Borghini has had to pull out of Milan-San Remo Women one day before the race due to illness, her UAE ADQ team announced on their Instagram on Friday morning.
Longo Borghini was due to start as one of the favourites, having come within metres of victory at the race's inaugural edition last season after a late attack. But developing a virus overnight has forced her to miss the iconic Italian race.
"Due to virus disease with upper respiratory tract infection developed overnight, Elisa Longo Borghini will not start Milano-Sanremo Women," read a post from UAE ADQ.
She is replaced for Saturday's race by Alena Amialiusik, with Mavi García, Dominika Włodarczyk, Eleonora Gasparrini, Silvia Persico, and Chapman also starting for the Emirati squad.
Longo Borghini had started her 2026 season in fine form, claiming both the queen stage and overall at the UAE Tour Women. She then headed to Europe and finishing fourth at Strade Bianche prior to taking the victory in Trofeo Oro in Euro. She was then part of UAE's winning line-up at Trofeo Alfredo Binda, captured by Karlijn Swinkels.
Without the Italian, this brings the 150-kilometre race from Genoa to San Remo further in favour of the sprinters and defending champion Lorena Wiebes (SD Worx-ProTime), as Longo Borghini would have almost certainly been one of the riders to try to break things up on the Cipressa or Poggio.
In her absence, UAE can rely on the versatility of Persico and the climbing legs of Włodarczyk and García to try and get a result, but they have moved from potential favourites to underdogs.
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