Contrasting fortunes at Trek-Segafredo as Elisa Longo Borghini wins while Elisa Balsamo is disqualified

After last year’s brutal first Paris-Roubaix for the women, anticipation had been high for the second edition. But in a tale of two Elisa’s, Italian national champion Longo Broghini grabbed a brilliant victory for Trek-Segafredo while her team mate Balsamo, the current world champion, was disqualified. So how did it go so right for one and so wrong for the other? Balsamo was one of the pre-race favourites.

Both riders had been mentioned in dispatches, but Balsamo had the better form going into this famous race, having won Gent–Wevelgem and Classic Brugge–De Panne already this season. She was the de facto team leader for Paris-Roubaix, and what a strong team she had at her disposal. Along with Longo Borghini, Trek-Segafredo could boast Lucinda Brand, Ellen van Dijk, Chloe Hosking and Audrey Cordon.

Ad/> Safely in the bunch in the early stages, there were no indications that this one was going to unravel in incredible fashion for the young Italian. But she suffered a rear wheel puncture over the five-star Mons-en-Pévèle, the seventh segment of cobbles. Limping to the end of that sector onto the flat tarmac, Balsamo had lost significant time to the peloton.

Usually the team would be expected to send a rider back to help her regain that lost time, but things weren’t straightforward for Trek-Segafredo at that exact point in time. /> Paris — Roubaix‘It has been a really tough spring’ — Longo Borghini elated after ‘hard time’AN HOUR AGO Van Dijk had suffered an earlier puncture herself, and had expanded a huge amount of energy to recover back to the peloton. Hosking had crashed with a puncture, and to further complicate matters, the team had Brand in a breakaway that looked to be gaining traction at the front of the race.