Wheel Talk Newsletter: The Giro hangover is real

It took a few days to recover from this year's Giro d'Italia (for me, that is, and I'm sure for the riders it will be a little bit longer), and honestly, I am still not over it. The race was fantastic. I was sure that the 2025 Giro could never be topped, but here we are.

The GC battle went all the way to the final finish line. The "comeback" of Vollering after losing time in the stage 4 time trial. Elisa Balsamo and the resurrection of Lidl-Trek. The newer names we now get to cheer on for the rest of the season. And, of course, Elisa Longo Borghini.

With the Vuelta Femenina moving to the Fall, will we get three proper week-long stage races in 2027? It's a nice thought.

First things first: Lasting takeaways from the Giro

There were so many little stories to come out of the Giro that I wish I could have written about, so I am going to pack a few into here, albeit in shortened form.

Does your child need a role model? Look no further than Elisa Longo Borghini.

In some ways, I think Elisa Longo Borghini is extremely underrated. I'm not talking about results alone, because she is properly rated as one of the top riders in the world, who has proved time and time again that she is tough as nails.

On top of that, though, she is also a role model for the next generation. The way she attacks a race, as if she is willing to lose to win. The credit she constantly gives to her teammates, but even more importantly, how honest and grounded she is in defeat. And what has always really stood out to me about Longo Borghini is how she speaks. There's a reason I keep hyping up my podcast with her from the Friday before the Giro, and if you haven't heard it, please listen, not for me, but for Elisa. I guarantee that if you are only a casual fan of her or, God forbid, don't know anything about her, you will be obsessed after you listen to her describe her Giro victory last year.

After winning the final stage of the Giro, she once again delivered a post-race interview so good I made my daughters listen to it twice.

Elisa Longo Borghini after winning Giro stage 9

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We need to see Balsamo and Lorena Wiebes go up against each other

With Lorena Wiebes out of the Giro after the stage 1 bike weight drama, Balsamo took over the title of best sprinter in the peloton. She was head and shoulders above the rest, even though Lara Gillespie's UAE Team ADQ team had a stronger lead-out (although Balsamo's Lidl-Trek teammate Lucinda Brand was next level working as a solo train, more on that to come).

Going into the Giro, Balsamo hadn't won a race yet this year. That's not normal for her, as she usually wins a Classic or some lower-level race before she gets this deep in the season. With four stage wins in six days, she's coming out of the Giro with her confidence fully topped up.

Now that we've got the best version of Balsamo back, the next step is for her to take on Wiebes.

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