Elisa Longo Borghini was fastest from a four-rider leading group and took the final stage of the 2026 Giro d’Italia Women, but it was Demi Vollering who will claim the headlines as she overcame a 49 second deficit to rip the maglia rosa from the grasp of Anna van der Breggen.
FDJ United-Suez’s Vollering attacked Van der Breggen of SD Worx-ProTime on the final climb of the race and powered away from the four-time winner to claim her career Grand Tour triple.
The pair were locked in a stalemate as Longo Borghini (UAE Team ADQ), Antonia Niedermeier (Canyon-SRAM) and Niamh Fisher-Black (Lidl-Trek) attacked on the first category Montoso climb. Both Dutch riders refused to work together to reel in the leaders as Niedermeier moved into the virtual lead of the race.
Then with one sustained and brutal acceleration, Vollering buckled Van der Breggen on the last climb of the Colletta di Brondello and bridged over to the leaders.
Longo Borghini won the sprint ahead of Fisher-Black and Niedermeier as Van der Breggen finished the stage 2:23 behind and down to third on GC. Niedermeier ended the race in the runner-up spot.
It’s been a below par season for Italian champion Longo Borghini who has struggled with illness in recent weeks. The winner of the 2024 and 2025 editions of the Giro d’Italia Women was delighted to overcome her problems and celebrate her first win since early March.
“This means much more than a win. This is a comeback,” Longo Borghini said afterwards.
“I don’t hide that I’ve been vulnerable these months, both in my body and also in my mind. There were days where I thought that everything probably would never come back and I was maybe done. I’ve been very sick the past three months and I worked very hard to come back.”
“I’m not still 100% but I didn’t want to leave this Giro without leaving a mark. Today on the bus I felt this anger coming inside me and I was like, I have nothing to lose, I don’t care about the GC and I just want to go and I want to do it for my teammates that are simply amazing and I just wanted to win.”
“It was the only thing I was thinking today: to win,” Longo Borghini added.
(Image credit: Getty Images)
How it Happened
With a healthy advantage over her rivals, 145km separated four-time winner Van der Breggen from a fifth title at the Giro d’Italia Women on stage nine, which featured three categorised climbs before a long flat section to the line in Saluzzo.
No breakaway managed to get away from the bunch before the category one climb of Montoso, which averaged almost 10% over 8.6km.
FDJ United-SUEZ lifted the pace on the climb in an attempt to set up Vollering, but it was Longo Borghini, Niedermeier and Fisher Black who separated themselves away from the rest with more than 90km to go.
The race behind splintered into pieces. Vollering and Van der Breggen found themselves locked together and refused to work with one another for several minutes, allowing the gap to the leaders to grow and letting Niedermeier into the virtual overall lead of the race.
Eventually, the former team-mates began to collaborate and the gap stabilised. Then, on the last climb of the day, the second category Colletta di Brondello, Vollering attacked, breaking the resistance of the race leader.
Van der Breggen looked exhausted and the lead expanded, with Vollering needing to put more than 49 seconds into her compatriot to win the race.
Vollering made it up to the front three with 30km left. Her lead over Van der Breggen grew over a minute and more as the others in the group collaborated with the European champion and the race leader toiled alongside Femke de Vries (Visma-Lease a Bike).
On the line Vollering had put 2:23 into Van der Breggen and sealed her first Giro title. Fisher-Black led out the sprint for the stage win, but Longo Borghini used all her speed and experience to come round the New Zealander to take her fourth Giro stage win.
Results
Giro d’Italia Women stage nine: Saluzzo > Saluzzo, 145km
1. Elisa Longo Borghini (Ita) UAE ADQ in 3:45:09
2. Niamh Fisher-Black (NZl) Lidl-Trek, same time
3. Antonia Niedermaier (Ger) Canyon-SRAM, +2s
4. Demi Vollering (Ned) FDJ United–Suez, +3s
5. Femke de Vries (Ned) Visma-Lease a Bike, 2:23
6. Anna van der Breggen (Ned) SD Worx–Protime, same time
7. Sigrid Haugset (Nor) Uno-X Mobility, +5:59
8. Lauren Dickson (FDJ United-Suez), +1.10, same time
9. Isabella Holmgren (Can) Lidl-Trek, +6:01
10. Magdeleine Vallieres (Can) EF Education-Oatly, same time
General Classification after stage nine
1. Demi Vollering (Ned) FDJ United–Suez in 29:54:19
2. Antonia Niedermaier (Ger) Canyon-SRAM, +30s
3. Anna van der Breggen (Ned) SD Worx–Protime, 1:37
4. Elisa Longo Borghini (Ita) UAE ADQ, +2:44
5. Niamh Fisher-Black (NZl) Lidl-Trek, +3:26
6. Femke de Vries (Ned) Visma-Lease a Bike, +5:07
7. Isabella Holmgren (Can) Lidl-Trek, +7:10
8. Urška Žigart (Slo) AG Insurance-Soudal, +12:19
9. Valentina Cavallar (Aut) SD Worx-Protime, +13:12
10. Lore de Schepper (Bel) AG Insurance-Soudal, +13:29
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