Racing
Letizia Borghesi sprints to sixth at De Ronde
Colby Simmons impresses in WorldTour debut at the Tour of Flanders
April 7, 2025
Letizia Borghesi will never forget her ride at the 2025 Ronde van Vlaanderen.
With her performance Sunday on the Flemish cobbles, Letizia showed that she can compete with the best at her favorite bike race. She still dreams of finishing higher than the sixth beside her name on the 2025 results sheet, but is proud of the way she attacked De Ronde.
Together with her teammate Noemi Rüegg, who fought her way back to the front after a crash, Letizia hit the foot of the Oude Kwaremont in the lead group of 17 and accelerated up the rocky climb on the wheels of the best bike racers in the world. She pushed out of the roar of screaming fans and waving flags just a few seconds behind the first four at the top. Letizia gritted her teeth and tried to force her way back to the head of the race. As her eight-woman group began to lose momentum, she decided to focus on the sprint. At the finish line, she kicked hard and came across the line sixth. Letizia takes great confidence from today’s race and will use it next weekend at the final cobbled classic of the season: Paris-Roubaix.
“It was just a fight from the start,” Letizia said. “I got caught behind a crash and had to chase for 20 kilometers. We had to go so deep, but in the finale, I really found some good legs.”
Neilson Powless was also buzzing at the finish of De Ronde. After his huge mid-week win at Dwars door Vlaanderen, Neilson went for it again at De Ronde. Deep in the finale of the 259-kilometer race, his lights went out, but he is still proud of the commitment that he and his teammates showed on the roads of Flanders.
“When the big attacks went the second time up the Kwaremont, I went across right after the Paterberg and used everything to get across to them,” Neilson said. “I made it there, but got dropped on the Koppenberg right after bridging across. My one golden bullet was getting across to that group. Unfortunately, the Koppenberg came too soon after and I couldn't hang on anymore. The group I was in ended up catching almost everyone, almost going for the top five. But the sprint was just so hectic. In the end, I think we're proud that we rode hard and tried to follow the best guys. We just came up short in the end.”
Neilson was especially proud of his new American teammate Colby Simmons. De Ronde was Colby’s rookie WorldTour race and the 21-year-old from Durango, Colorado did a huge job for his teammates, unfazed by the cobbles or the monumental distance.
“Colby went above and beyond in his role in his first professional race,” Neilson said. “That was really impressive. The whole team was riding super well. We were really organized as a unit and hit all of the key corners we needed to hit. There were just five that had more in their legs than we did.”
Colby was stoked about his first Tour of Flanders experience. In his WorldTour debut, he proved that he is a great addition to our EF Education-EasyPost roster.
“ It was super special,” Colby said. “I tried to do what I could to help the team. I was there where I needed to be, when I needed to be there, and brought Neilson into position before some of the key climbs. Once I was actually there, I was like, dang, I might be on a day, but it turns out the big guys just hadn’t started going hard yet. It was super, super special. A lot of people dream about doing this race and just to be able to do it was an honor. I was suffering so much in the finale that I could hardly hear the fans; I was just focused on getting up and over the climbs, but I think I can be happy.”
Colby, Letizia and their teammates will carry those positive vibes to Paris-Roubaix next weekend, where they want to fly across the cobbles in France.