'A bit stupid, a bit silly' - Elisa Longo Borghini bemoans favourites' overconfidence in World Championships Road Race
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Published 27/09/2025 at 23:20 GMT+1
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Elisa Longo Borghini accepted responsibility for "stupid" and "silly" behaviour in the Women's Road Race at the 2025 UCI Road World Championships as the favourites allowed unheralded Magdeleine Vallieres to win Canada's first senior title. Vallieres attacked from the breakaway alongside New Zealand's Niamh Fisher-Black and Spain's Mavi Garcia and the trio locked out the medals.
'A ride of a lifetime' from Vallieres to become road race world champion
Video credit: TNT Sports
Elisa Longo Borghini admitted she and the other Women’s Road Race favourites "underestimated" the breakaway as Magdeleine Vallieres became world champion in Rwanda.
Longo Borghini finished 15th just behind the main group of favourites including Demi Vollering, Kim Le Court and Kasia Niewiadoma-Phinney who were all over 90 seconds behind Vallieres.
New Zealand's Niamh Fisher-Black and Spain's Mavi Garcia went clear alongside Vallieres who dropped them on the final climb and won by 23 seconds, becoming the first senior Canadian to win at the UCI Road World Championships.
The favourites' group refused to meaningfully work together to chase down the escapees, with that trio going clear with 20km to go and showing supreme cohesion almost all the way to the line in stark contrast to the chasing pack.
Longo Borghini was unable to add to her three World Championship medals as aged 33, another opportunity to claim the rainbow bands slipped away.
But she still paid tribute to the medallists, as she approached the end of a successful overall season that included a second consecutive victory on home roads at the Giro d’Italia.
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'An incredible ride' - The Breakaway team discuss Vallieres' stunning victory
Video credit: TNT Sports
"It is pretty clear what happened. Everyone was looking at each other, and we lost the race," Longo Borghini told the media, including Cycling News.
"Besides this, we should give credit to the ones who were in the front and who were the bravest because they made a move, and they believed, and they succeeded.
"Instead, we were a bit stupid, a bit silly, controlling each other and thinking that we would come back in the blink of an eye.
"In the end, they were strong riders up front. I think we underestimated their strength and the fact that they are top-level riders. Chapeau to them.
"For me, I will have to go to my room and reflect on my behaviour in the race because I was very silly. I used my team-mates, they were really strong, and then I did not deliver."
Vallieres: I wanted to race with no regrets
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'I don't believe it yet!' - Vallieres reflects on stunning road race victory
Video credit: TNT Sports
Vallieres was congratulated at the finish line by Canadian great Alison Jackson, 12 years the champion’s senior who has started 11 World Championships sporting the red maple leaf and told TNT Sports: "Canadians never win these big races".
Vallieres has only won one other elite race in her career - the 1.1-category Trofeo Palma Femina in January 2024, which she also won solo for EF-Education Cannondale.
And she can also look forward to defending her title in her home province of Quebec in 2026, as the UCI Road World Championships head to Montreal after the Elite Men’s Road Race rounds out the 2025 action in Kigali on Sunday.
"The girls believed in me so I believed in myself," Vallieres said. "I really committed to going for it. I prepared well, so I knew I was on good form. I just tried and told myself I did not want to have any regrets. I do not.
"I knew I probably would not win in a sprint against Niamh, and we were both really committed to this break, both working really hard. I saw that she was fading a little bit so I told myself I had to go all in. It worked out in the end.
"With the Worlds in Montreal next year, it is perfect. I have been dreaming it for a while now. It was a big goal, I worked well for it, did altitude. I focussed on it with my coach. It is a dream come true."
Watch the UCI World Championships live on TNT Sports and discovery+.
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