Italian a popular winner in Madrid in fairytale career ending
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Elisa Longo Borghini (Wiggle High5) in the black Mountain Jersey and Giorgia Bronzini (Cylance Pro Cycling) in the pink Breast Cancer Care Points Jersey(Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com)
Giorgia Bronzini (Cylance) (Image credit: Tim de Waele/Getty Images Sport)
Giorgia Bronzini jumps for joy after claiming the points classification(Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com)
Has there ever been such a universally popular winner of a bike race? You only had to look at the scenes beyond the finish line on the Castellana in Madrid, as riders queued up to offer their congratulations, to get a measure of the esteem in which Cylance's Giorgia Bronzini is held by the women's peloton.
The 35-year-old Italian, making her final racing appearance before hanging up her wheels, won the road stage of the Madrid Challenge on Sunday to make it a fairytale ending to a career that has spanned more than 15 years and featured more than 80 victories – among them three world titles.
There were losers, of course, and, at the top level of the sport, it matters, but defeat seemed a little easier for everyone to swallow at the weekend.
"It was a bit of a disappointment for me, but overall I'm really happy for Giorgia – I couldn't have wished for more today, actually," Mitchelton-Scott's Jolien D'hoore, winner of the two previous editions of the race, told Cyclingnews.
"I was hoping that she would win the race, even though I had two teammates with her there in the break. She deserves it so much. She's a true champion."
Perhaps the rider most culpable for the queue building in front of Bronzini on the Castellana was Wiggle High5's Elisa Longo Borghini.
"I couldn't stop hugging her," said the Italian, who rode with Bronzini on the Wiggle team between 2015 and 2017, and for the national team since long before.
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"For me, Giorgia is not only a teammate, she's a friend. I first met her in 2010 when I was still a junior and there we were racing a national race. Of course, I looked up to her. Then we met again in Copenhagen in 2011 at the World Championships, and for me it was very emotional when she won.
"Then I was with her at Wiggle for many years," said Longo Borghini. "Giorgia is one of those characters who are always there at the right moment. She always has a good word for everyone, and she makes everybody okay when there's a difficult situation.
"Today, it was very emotional for me to see her winning. It's also a bittersweet feeling to know that it's her last race."
Inspiration
Longo Borghini is one of many who would not be the rider they are today without the influence of Bronzini. It seems as though everyone – even those who've never raced in the same colours – has learned something from her.
"Giorgia is the rider behind many of my victories – behind Flanders, behind Strade Bianche, behind the Olympics," continued Longo Borghini.
"Maybe she won some races not because she was the strongest, but because she was the smartest. From her I learned to be cold, and to be opportunistic."
The same goes for D'hoore, who raced alongside Bronzini from 2015 to 2017.
"I only have positive memories," said the Belgian. "I started racing with her as a teammate in 2015 with Wiggle-Honda, and she taught me everything. I was like a nobody at that point – I knew nothing, actually – and she taught me everything.
"She taught me how I had to position myself for a sprint, and things like that. A lot of the important stuff, she taught me, and she still is teaching me now in the bunch, even though she's not on the same team. She's a true champion. I have so much respect for her."
A patronne and a clown
Respect is a word that crops up regularly when talking about Bronzini. The notion of a 'patron' – or 'patronne' in the feminine – of the peloton, a respected figure who calls the shots, has become somewhat outdated in professional cycling, but if there's someone who fitted the mould in the women's peloton, it was surely Bronzini.
"You know, in the peloton there's really a lot of respect for a rider like Giorgia," Sunweb's Lucinda Brand told Cyclingnews.
"It doesn't only have to do with results, but also her behaviour. Of course, she can be really furious as a sprinter, but you also saw her working for teammates and behaving kind of like a boss in the peloton. If there was something that needed someone to speak out about it, she was the one who would stand up. She could do that and maybe change something."
D'hoore added, in a similar vein: "If everybody respects her it's because she has so much respect for everybody as well. It's mutual.
"If there was something going on in the bunch, she spoke up and everyone would listen to her. She was the real captain of the bunch. We will miss her, for sure."
Yet her sense of humour was never far away.
"She is always joking. She's more like a clown. She's a good storyteller as well. She animates the team and ensures there's a good atmosphere," said D'hoore. "I was always joking with her within the bunch, together with her teammate Marta Tagliaferro. The three of us were like the clowns in the bunch."
It seemed that no one has a bad word to say about Giorgia Bronzini.
Along with the tributes and congratulations, there was one sentiment that hung unanimously in the Madrid air on Sunday evening: "We'll miss her."
Patrick is a freelance sports writer and editor. He’s an NCTJ-accredited journalist with a bachelor’s degree in modern languages (French and Spanish). Patrick worked full-time at Cyclingnews for eight years between 2015 and 2023, latterly as Deputy Editor.
