Elisa Longo Borghini and Elisa Balsamo abandon Tour de France Femmes ahead of stage 7

CLERMONTFERRAND FRANCE JULY 23 Elisa Longo Borghini of Italy and Team Lidl Trek prior to the 2nd Tour de France Femmes 2023 Stage 1a 1234km stage from ClermontFerrand to ClermontFerrand UCIWWT on July 23 2023 in ClermontFerrand France Photo by Tim de WaeleGetty Images
Elisa Longo Borghini (Lidl Trek) (Image credit: Getty Images)

Reigning Italian Champion Elisa Longo Borghini and former world Champion Elisa Balsamo have both departed the Tour de France Femmes ahead of stage 7 of the race, leaving Lidl-Trek without two of the team’s strongest riders.

In an announcement on Saturday morning, Lidl-Trek said, “Elisa Balsamo won’t start Stage 7 due to fatigue. She was making her return to racing at TDFF after her crash at RideLondon Classique and so it’s been decided to miss the last two stages with an eye on preparing for the World Championships in Glasgow.”

Peter Stuart
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Peter Stuart has been the editor of Cyclingnews since March 2022, overseeing editorial output across all of Cyclingnews' digital touchpoints.

Before joining Cyclingnews, Peter was the digital editor of Rouleur magazine. Starting life as a freelance feature writer, with bylines in The Times and The Telegraph, he first entered cycling journalism in 2012, joining Cyclist magazine as staff writer. Peter has a background as an international rower, representing Great Britain at Under-23 level and at the Junior Rowing World Championships.