Italian National Championships: Elisa Longo Borghini continues to rule supreme with seventh road race title of career

Elisa Longo Borghini wins elite women's road race at 2026 Italian Road Championships.

For the seventh time in her career and fourth year in a row, Elisa Longo Borghini secured the Italian National Championships road race, breaking away solo to make a more than convincing defence of her title.

Second, 20 seconds back was Monica Trinca Colonel (Liv AlUla Jayco), with Lidl-Trek's Elisa Balsamo in third. But once again the battle for gold in the Italian Nationals was really only about one person.

Longo Borghini (UAE Team ADQ) seemingly had no difficulty on the hilly 120-kilometre course around Pordenone, comfortably handing the three ascents of the Castello de Caneve (1.2 km at 6.6%, 3.1 km at 4.5%) mid -race before powering away to the finish.

Given sterling support by her teammates, Longo Borghini used the third ascent to the Caneva castle to the finish line in the Bottechia Velodrome.

“It was a very demanding day; the heat certainly had an impact on the race. The final 25 kilometres, in particular, were really tough—I had to push hard, but I managed my effort well. We knew we had to make it a hard race to drop the fast finishers, since the Castello di Caneva climb isn't very selective," Longo Borghini said.

"I want to thank my teammates; they were fantastic, as always—I couldn't have won without them. I dedicate this victory to them: they believed in me and did a great job for me.”

The U23 title went to Eleonora Ciabocco (Picnic PostNL), present in the group of chasers led home by Balsamo, 1:50 back, and making her return to racing after a bad crash and injuries in La Vuelta Femenina when she was leading the BYR competition.

How it unfolded

After an hour's racing and a very fast start, no attacks managed to go clear on the rolling course, even if Noemi Lucrezia Eremita (Born to Win BTC City Ljubljana) and Marta Pavesi (Top Girls-Fassa Bortolo) did their best to put some distance between themselves and the rest of the field. UAE Team ADQ ensured that the move never really gained much of an advantage, as Longo Borghini's position as standout favourite meant her team needed to do all of the spadework, keeping the early breaks under control.

Things began to swing more decisively in the defending champion's favour when a group of some 50 riders, spearheaded by UAE, managed to prise themselves out of the peloton. This was whittled down on the second ascent of the Castello de Caneve, with Longo Borghini in person and her teammate Silvia Persico doing much of the hard work to reduce the group to just 20 units.

27 kilometres from the line, Longo Borghini launched what would prove to be the definitive attack of the race. Led out by Persico, the first attack by Longo Borghini drew a response from Trinca Colonel, then from Letizia Paternoster (Liv AlUla Jayco). But a second attack left Paternoster reeling, and by the summit of the climb, Trinca Colonel was already seven seconds behind.

The next 26 kilometres essentially boiled down to a lengthy time trial effort by Longo Borghini, with Trinca Colonel oscillating between 20 and 40 seconds behind and the group even further distant. As the race returned to Pordenone again for the closing kilometres, Longo Borghini sat up a little to ensure she did not put herself under too much pressure for the finale, but by then, it was clear she was going to be wearing red, white and green yet again for another year.

Results

Pos	Rider	Time
1	Elisa Longo Borghini (Ita) UAE Team ADQ	2:49:08
2	Monica Trinca Colonel (Ita) Liv AlUla Jayco	00:00:18
3	Elisa Balsamo (Ita) Lidl-Trek	00:01:50
4	Vittoria Guazzini (Ita) FDJ United-SUEZ	00:01:50
5	Eleonora Camilla Gasparrini (Ita) UAE Team ADQ	00:01:50
6	Letizia Paternoster (Ita) Liv AlUla Jayco	00:01:50
7	Arianna Fidanza (Ita) Laboral Kutxa-Fundacion Euskadi	00:01:50
8	Nadia Quagliotto (Ita) Cofidis Women Team	00:01:50
9	Soraya Paladin (Ita) Canyon//Sram	00:01:50
10	Francesca Barale (Ita) Movistar Team	00:01:50
11	Debora Silvestri (Ita) Laboral Kutxa-Fundacion Euskadi	00:01:50
12	Matilde Vitillo (Ita) Liv AlUla Jayco	00:01:50
13	Eleonora Ciabocco (Ita) Picnic PostNL	00:01:50
14	Gaia Realini (Ita) Lidl-Trek	00:02:10
15	Giada Silo (Ita) Uae Development Team	00:03:38
16	Gaia Segato (Ita) Vini Fantini - Bepink	00:03:38
17	Carlotta Cipressi (Ita) Human Powered Health	00:03:38
18	Giulia Giuliani (Ita) Team Mendelspeck E-Work	00:03:38
19	Alessia Vigilia (Ita) Uno-X Mobility	00:03:38
20	Carmen Moser (Ita)	00:03:38
21	Sofia Arici (Ita) Vini Fantini - Bepink	00:03:38
22	Sharon Spimi (Ita) Top Girls Fassa Bortolo	00:03:38
23	Erica Magnaldi (Ita) UAE Team ADQ	00:03:38
24	Rachele Barbieri (Ita) Picnic PostNL	00:03:38
25	Chiara Consonni (Ita) Canyon//Sram	00:03:38
26	Silvia Persico (Ita) UAE Team ADQ	00:03:38
27	Federica Venturelli (Ita) UAE Team ADQ	00:06:15
28	Elisa de Vallier (Ita) Top Girls Fassa Bortolo	00:06:15
29	Andrea Casagranda (Ita) Vini Fantini - Bepink	00:06:15
30	Alessia Zambelli (Ita) Top Girls Fassa Bortolo	00:06:15
31	Irene Laudi (Ita)	00:06:15
32	Elisa Valtulini (Ita) Vini Fantini - Bepink	00:06:15
33	Alessia Missiaggia (Ita)	00:06:15
34	Rebekka Pigolotti (Ita)	00:06:15
35	Concetta Giulia Bonelli (Ita)	00:06:15
36	Virginia Bortoli (Ita) Top Girls Fassa Bortolo	00:06:15
37	Elena de Laurentiis (Ita) Vini Fantini - Bepink	00:06:15
38	Irene Affolati (Ita) Aromitalia Vaiano	00:06:15
39	Chiara Reghini (Ita) Top Girls Fassa Bortolo	00:06:15
40	Greta Marturano (Ita) UAE Team ADQ	00:06:20
41	Sofia Bertizzolo (Ita) FDJ United-SUEZ	00:06:22
42	Elena Cecchini (Ita) SD Worx-Protime	00:06:22
43	Carlotta Borello (Ita)	00:06:22
44	Erja Giulia Bianchi (Ita) Canyon//Sram Generation	00:07:03
45	Valentina Basilico (Ita)	00:07:03
46	Katia Ragusa (Ita) Human Powered Health	00:07:03
47	Michela de Grandis (Ita)	00:07:03
48	Martina Alzini (Ita) Cofidis Women Team	00:07:03
49	Martina Fidanza (Ita) Visma-Lease a Bike	00:07:03
50	Sonia Rossetti (Ita) Vini Fantini - Bepink	00:07:03
51	Giulia Bisso (Ita) Isolmant - Premac - Vittoria	00:07:03
52	Marta Pavesi (Ita) Top Girls Fassa Bortolo	00:07:03
53	Giulia Zambelli (Ita)	00:07:03
54	Emma Gottoli (Ita)	00:07:03
55	Valeria Curnis (Ita) Isolmant - Premac - Vittoria	00:07:03
56	Laura Tomasi (Ita) Uno-X Mobility	00:07:03
57	Giorgia Vettorello (Ita)	00:07:03
58	Francesca Pellegrini (Ita) Uno-X Mobility	00:07:03
59	Giulia Luciani (Ita)	00:07:03
DNF	Beatrice Cesca (Ita)
DNF	Angelica Coluccini (Ita)
DNF	Elisa Lugli (Ita)
DNF	Lucia Brillante Romeo (Ita) Aromitalia Vaiano
DNF	Romina Costantini (Ita) Aromitalia Vaiano
DNF	Silvia Bordignon (Ita)
DNF	Giorgia Giangrande (Ita)
DNF	Giorgia Manzini (Ita)
DNF	Marta Zanga (Ita)
DNF	Tanya Donati (Ita)
DNF	Noemi Lucrezia Eremita (Ita)
DNF	Asia Rabbia (Ita)
DNF	Elisa Ferri (Ita)
DNF	Beatrice Rossi (Ita)
DNF	Ginevra Tinchella (Ita)
DNF	Aurora Casadei (Ita)
DNF	Anita Baima (Ita) Isolmant - Premac - Vittoria
DNF	Chantal Pegolo (Ita) Isolmant - Premac - Vittoria
DNF	Linda Sanarini (Ita) Tirol Women Cycling
DNF	Elena Pirrone (Ita) Team Mendelspeck E-Work
DNF	Piera Barattin (Ita)
DNF	Livielle Ongarato (Ita)
DNF	Gaia Santin (Ita)
DNF	Giulia Vallotto (Ita)
DNF	Claudia Comacchio (Ita) Isolmant - Premac - Vittoria
DNF	Lara Crestanello (Ita) Isolmant - Premac - Vittoria
DNF	Elvira Radaelli (Ita)
DNF	Emanuela Zanetti (Ita) Isolmant - Premac - Vittoria
DNF	Valentina Zanzi (Ita) Isolmant - Premac - Vittoria
DNF	Sara Fiorin (Ita) Laboral Kutxa-Fundacion Euskadi
DNF	Vittoria Ruffilli (Ita) Laboral Kutxa-Fundacion Euskadi
DNF	Anna Amistadi (Ita)
DNF	Desiree Bani (Ita)
DNF	Camilla Bezzone (Ita) Team Mendelspeck E-Work
DNF	Eleonora Deotto (Ita) Team Mendelspeck E-Work
DNF	Ilaria Marinetto (Ita) Team Mendelspeck E-Work
DNF	Sara Segala (Ita) Team Mendelspeck E-Work
DNF	Giorgia Serena (Ita) Team Mendelspeck E-Work
DNF	Sara Luccon (Ita) Top Girls Fassa Bortolo
DNF	Irma Siri (Ita) Top Girls Fassa Bortolo
DNF	Vittoria Grassi (Ita) Vini Fantini - Bepink
DNF	Isotta Barbieri (Ita)
DNF	Maria Pia Chiatto (Ita)
DNF	Anna Colombo (Ita)
DNF	Sofia Farina (Ita)
DNF	Monia Garavaglia (Ita)
DNF	Ilaria Tambosco (Ita)
DNF	Sara Tola (Ita)
DNF	Isabella Vianello (Ita)