Elisa Longo Borghini claimed her seventh win of the season with a trademark late attack at Kreiz Breizh Elites Féminin, dropping her rivals to secure another impressive addition to her 2025 campaign. The UAE Team ADQ rider bridged across to the breakaway in the final laps before pressing on alone, finishing ahead of Margaux Vigie and Susanne Andersen.
“It was definitely a hard race to read,” Longo Borghini admitted after the finish. “We lost a little bit of patience and tried to be aggressive because the peloton was really going slow. Brodie jumped across to the break and we tried to ride offensively with Gasparrini and Persico. I got the orders to jump across – it was really hard.”
The 138.5-kilometre course between Pontrieux and Callac set the stage for a lively day of racing. Lucy Lee of DAS-Hutchinson launched the first move, though her effort was eventually reeled back by the bunch. A more dangerous second break then formed with Michaela Drummond, Constance Valentin, and Lauren Dickson, who worked well until the local laps.
Photo Credit: KBEDrummond was the first to lose contact before Brodie Chapman joined the leaders, followed later by UAE teammate Eleonora Gasparrini and Margaux Vigie of Visma-Lease a Bike. Valentin slipped back, while Dickson eventually cracked under the pressure. That left Vigie in a strong position, and with four laps to go the French rider attacked, riding clear of the two UAE riders.
Chapman dug deep to hold the gap at 45 seconds before Longo Borghini surged across with two laps remaining. Chapman couldn’t maintain her leader’s wheel, leaving Longo Borghini free to chase Vigie. The pair came together but the Italian champion had no interest in waiting around. She accelerated once more, breaking clear and sealing the race with a dominant solo display. Vigie held on for second, 1:10 down, with Susanne Andersen sprinting from a reduced peloton to take third.
For Longo Borghini, this latest success is another reminder of her range. She began the season with overall victory at the UAE Tour in February, including a stage win, and then added major one-day triumphs at Dwars door Vlaanderen and Brabantse Pijl in the spring.
June brought another Italian national title, her sixth, and in July she raised her arms at the Giro d’Italia Women, taking a stage on home roads. Now, in late August, Kreiz Breizh Elites Féminin marks her seventh win of the year, across stage races, one-day classics, and national championships.
In many ways, her victory in Brittany was a microcosm of her season: calm when she needed to be, ruthless once the decisive moment came, and strong enough to simply ride away when others faltered.
Longo Borghini succeeds Anouska Koster as winner of Kreiz Breizh Elites Féminin, and with Classic Lorient Agglomération next on the calendar, she heads into the late season as one of the peloton’s standout performers.
2025 Kreiz Breizh Elites Féminin result
Results powered by FirstCycling.com
Main photo credit: gussevphoto
