Giro d'Italia Women Stage 8 as it happened - Elisa Longo Borghini retains maglia rosa as Liane Lippert picks up her second stage win

Giro d'Italia Women

Stage 8 | Semi mountain | Women | 13.07.2025

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ForlìImola

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15:36

STAGE 8 HIGHLIGHTS

Highlights: Longo Borghini secures Giro d'Italia Women title as Lippert lands second stage triumph

Video credit: TNT Sports

14:47

ELISA LONGO BORGHINI RETAINS HER GIRO D'ITALIA CROWN AS LIPPERT PICKS UP SECOND STAGE WIN ON FINAL TEST

Movistar’s Liane Lippert won her second stage of the 36th edition of Giro d’Italia Women as Elisa Longo Borghini successfully defended her title on the final stage in Imola.

With the riders completing four laps of the circuit from Forli to Imola, replicating the route which saw SD Worx-Protime’s Anna van der Breggen win her second UCI Road World Championship title in 2020, the final stage proved to be a challenging profile after a demanding penultimate Queen stage on Saturday.

Longo Borghini (UAE ADQ) came into the final stage with just a 22 second advantage over her general classification rival Marlen Reusser (Movistar) but it was largely an uneventful day in terms of the race for the title, with the two riders glued to each other’s wheel for the 134km route.

An early breakaway saw the trio of Lorena Wiebes (SD Worx-Protime), Lea Curinier (FDJ-SUEZ) and Sara Casasola (Fenix-Deceuninck) break free with 106km to go, with Amanda Spratt (Lidl-Trek) and Mikayla Harvey (SD Worx-Protime) eventually making it a group of five with 50km to go.

As the maglia rosa group closed in on the breakaway during the remaining 25km of the final stage, there would be attacks by Curinier, with Harvey able to follow, before additional attacks by Lieke Nooijen (Visma-Lease a Bike) and Silke Smulders (Liv AlUla Jayco) as the riders approaching the final classified climb.

Smulders would eventually be the final rider of the breakaway to be caught with 8km to go, before four-time Giro champion Anna van der Breggen looked to repeat her 2020 triumphs as she attacked with 2km to go, with only Liane Lippert able to follow.

A two-woman sprint in the final meters at Autodromo Enzo e Dino Ferrari would see Liane Lippert pip the SD Worx-Protime rider to the line and pick up her second win of the Giro d’Italia Women, with her teammate Marlen Reusser coming third to pick up four bonus points.

Despite this, a comfortable lead of 16" over Reusser in the end saw Elisa Longo Borghini retain her maglia rosa and win the overall general classification of the 2025 Giro d’Italia Women, with Reusser and Sarah Gigante (AG Insurance-Soudal) completing the podium for the second Grand Tour of the year.

Image credit: Getty Images

14:35

LET'S HEAR FROM OUR THIRD PLACED RIDER AND WINNER OF THE CLIMBER CLASSIFICATION SARAH GIGANTE:

I’m just so thrilled. I can’t believe how well this week has went. My team rode so strongly again and so cohesively so I’m so grateful to the staff, all the riders, they were all incredible and all the support from back home.

I was just hoping to be back racing my bike [after my surgery] and riding again without pain, that was my main concern with the surgery, and I can say it 100% worked and racing with two legs is very fun. I’ll have to send an email to my surgeon when I get home tomorrow and say ‘hey, thank you, it worked’.

I’m still in shock, I think it will take a while to sink in but I’m mainly so appreciative to my team and everyone who has supported me over the really hard seven months.

14:30

TIME TO HEAR FROM MARLEN REUSSER, WHO FINISHED SECOND OVERALL IN GC:

I’m just super tired. I was sick the last three days and I was not sure if I could start today, I was super bad yesterday so I’m super happy I could somehow save this second spot. I’m very, very sad that this happened and I became sick.

I’m super proud of the team, they kept motivating me, we kept trying it and I think we can be very proud of the fight I gave. I gave it all. I’m also happy for Liane but I’m just so tired.

I’m still confident I could have won it if I hadn’t become so sick. I think I could have won it and I’m really sad for this because you work for so long. I know from life when it’s not always going well, the last months, almost a year now, it’s going well and I am in such a good shape. There’s not a lot of times in life these opportunities come so I feel really pity of it that this happened.

But I’m grateful still to be second. That’s very, very nice.

I think Elisa’s a really strong bike racer and I also don’t want to say she didn’t deserve it, she really fought hard yesterday, she really was brave. She attacked so early so I think she deserves it but I want to face her next time in full health again.

14:18

AG INSURANCE-SOUDAL WINS THE TEAM CLASSIFICATION

With two riders in the top 10 and strong riding across the whole team, AG Insurance-Soudal have had a Giro to remember.

14:15

ANTONIA NIEDERMAIER WINS BEST YOUNG RIDER CLASSIFICATION

It's the only jersey to have not changed hands over the course of the eight stages as the 22-year-old Canyon-SRAM zondacrypto rider wins the best young rider classification by 47" over Isabella Holmgren (Lidl-Trek).

14:12

SARAH GIGANTE WINS THE OVERALL CLIMBER CLASSIFICATION

It's been a Grand Tour to remember for the AG Insurance-Soudal rider as she not only finishes third overall, she also picks up the maglia azzura.

Coming into the final stage just one point behind Usoa Ostolaza (Laboral Kutxa-Fundacion Euskadi), she played it to perfection to finish the Giro in blue.

14:10

LORENA WIEBES TAKES THE OVERALL POINTS CLASSIFICATION

Two stage wins and an aggressively rode race, Lorena Wiebes (SD Worx-Protime) is our maglia rossa as she picks up her first points jersey in a Grand Tour.

Wiebes finished well clear on 108, over 27 points ahead of Elisa Longo Borghini in the rankings.

14:00

TIME TO HEAR FROM OUR 2025 GIRO D'ITALIA WOMEN MAGLIA ROSA ELISA LONGO BORGHINI:

It’s been an incredible journey with UAE ADQ. It’s been eight days completely full gas, we created actions, we believed every single day, and we stayed humble. We went very bold yesterday, and we go home with this victory, which is a result of days of training together and building up a team towards this goal.

And I can’t be much more thankful to my teammates than now, because if I wear this jersey now, it’s because of them. They were super committed, they were never surrendering, and I’m just speechless.

Today I was very focused on Marlen. I knew she would attack on the last climb but when I saw she was not moving, I thought she might give the chance to Liane Lippert, so she did. For me, that wasn’t a threat and when I saw Anna van der Breggen moving with Liane, I was like ‘alright, fine’. I was chilling, because it was really stressful day, we were super ready to go and react but in the end, it wasn’t happening.

Longo Borghini 'speechless' after 'incredible journey' leads to second Giro crown

Video credit: TNT Sports

13:55

13:55

OVERALL GENERAL CLASSIFICATION:

1. Elisa Longo Borghini (UAE ADQ) 24:37:03

2. Marlen Reusser (Movistar) +18"

3. Sarah Gigante (AG Insurance-Soudal) +1'11"

4. Pauliena Rooijakkers (Fenix-Deceuninck) +2'55"

5. Antonia Niedermaier (Canyon-SRAM zondacrypto) +3'07"

6. Anna van der Breggen (SD Worx-Protime) +3'32"

7. Isabella Holmgren (Lidl-Trek) 3'54"

8. Barbara Malcotti (Human Powered Health) +4'44"

9. Urska Zigart (AG Insurance-Soudal) +4'56"

10. Katrine Aalerud (Uno-X Mobility) +5'19"

'What a finale' as Lippert wins final stage of Giro d'Italia Women, Longo Borghini seals pink

Video credit: TNT Sports

13:50

TIME TO HEAR FROM OUR STAGE WINNER LIANE LIPPERT:

[I'm] super happy, it’s a bit unreal to win two stages. Unfortunately, we lost the maglia rosa, Marlen was not feeling great and was struggling with something, but we kept on fighting.

Yesterday, we accepted it, but today we went full gas for the stage, and it’s also great to see the whole team was on fire. Marlen was riding for me and I had the confidence that I had to finish it off today, also for Marlen to make her happy again.

Marlen and I knew without talking that if Anna [van der Breggen] goes, we have to be there so she followed, I followed and in the end, I was with Anna and it was the perfect situation for me, so it’s super nice.

It’s incredible how I started, thinking I would not be good here or in the tour, but now going home with so much confidence and looking forward to the Tour. It’s like a rollercoaster and everyone has to keep this in mind and always look for better times because they will come.

'What a finale' as Lippert wins final stage of Giro d'Italia Women, Longo Borghini seals pink

Video credit: TNT Sports

13:45

STAGE 8 RESULTS:

1. Liane Lippert (Movistar) 3:40:07

2. Anna van der Breggen (SD Worx-Protime) +ST

3. Marlen Reusser (Movistar) +08"

4. Elisa Longo Borghini (UAE ADQ) +ST

5. Evit Muzic (FDJ-SUEZ) +ST

6. Isabella Holmgren (Lidl-Trek) +ST

7. Pauliena Rooijakkers (Fenix-Deceuninck) +ST

8. Silke Smulders (Liv AlUla Jayco) +ST

9. Antonia Niedermaier (Canyon-SRAM zondacrypto)

10. Sarah Gigante (AG Insurance-Soudal) +ST

13:34

ELISA LONGO BORGHINI WINS THE GENERAL CLASSIFICATION!

Elisa Longo Borghini (UAE ADQ) defends her title to win her second Giro d'Italia Women.

Marlen Reusser earns four bonus seconds on the line by coming third, but it will not be enough to take the crown.

13:31

LIANE LIPPERT (MOVISTAR) WINS STAGE 8 OF GIRO D'ITALIA WOMEN!

It ends in a sprint for the duo and it's Lippert, who's the stronger of the two and beats Anna van der Breggen to the stage win.

Her teammate Marlen Reusser finishes third, with Elisa Longo Borghini stuck to her wheel.

13:29

1KM TO GO: FLAMME ROGUE, WILL IT END UP IN A TWO-RIDER SPRINT?

They dip under the 1km marking and they have a decent gap on this Imola circuit.

Lippert looks behind her shoulder as it looks like it'll come down to a two-woman sprint.