Elisa Longo Borghini will focus on the Ardennes Classics in April before taking on the Giro d'Italia Donnay and Tour de France Femme in July.

On Tuesday, Longo Borghini spoke with the press about the strength of her team, Trek-Segafredo, as a unit and the possibility of one rider winning the Giro and Tour double in 2022.

"Some men have done it. It depends on who starts the Giro and what she wants out of the race," Longo Borghini said.

"Some athletes come to the Giro to have a good training block instead of being in high altitude [camps]. It needs to be a hard Giro where they can actually train hard, instead of choosing to stay home for high altitude training."

"I think a double win is possible. You need to be a big champion to do that, but it is possible.

The men's Giro d'Italia and Tour de France have been won by the same rider 10 times in the same season, the last time being Marco Pantani in 1998. The Giro d'Italia is held in May and the Tour de France in July.

The 2022 Women's World Tour calendar will feature the Giro d'Italia Donne for 10 days from July 1-10 before the return of the women's Tour de France, which will be held over eight days from July 24-31.

The Giro d'Italia Donne was first held in 1988 and will be held for the 33rd time next summer; the last women's Tour de France run by ASO was in 1984-89. Italian Maria Canins won the Tour in 1985 and 1986 and the Giro in 1988. Frenchman Jeannie Longo won the 1987-89 Tour.

The cancellation of the women's race from the official Tour de France left a hole in the women's calendar for three years until Pierre Bouet created his own event, the Tour Cycliste Feminine in 1992. Italy's Fabiana Lupellini won the Giro d'Italia and the Tour Cycliste Femminine three times in the same year between 1995 and 1997, and also won the Giro in 1998 and 2008. Spanish rider Joan Somarriba also won both events in the same year, in 2000, after the French race was renamed the Grand Boucle Feminine International.

Longo Borghini wants the Giro d'Italia Donne to follow the men's event in May, even though the two events will be held consecutively next July.

"It would be great to have the Giro in May right after the men's Giro. It will also be much better logistically," she said.

"This is the way the season is going and we have to accept that and do our best to be in the best condition for both races. For me, it is an honor to be on the starting line for both races and I will not choose just one or the other, at least not this year."

The 30-year-old has been one of the biggest contenders in the women's one-day and stage races over the past decade, finishing on the podium twice at the Giro d'Italia Donne: second in 2017 and third in 2020. He has also won the Tour of Flanders, Strade Bianche, and GP de Ploué, and twice won the Trofeo Alfredo Binda. This year, he finished third in Paris-Roubaix, Flèche Wallonne, and Liège-Bastogne-Liège.

She confirmed that she will focus on the Ardennes Classic before turning her attention to the equally important stage races at the 2022 Giro d'Italia Donnay and Tour de France Femme.

For the Tour de France Femme, Longo Borghini said she wants to compete in a more open and aggressive role within the team.

"We decided on our schedule in November. First the Ardennes Classic is my first goal, then the Giro and the Tour, and the other races are opportunities to grab wins, show that I am there, be aggressive, and race the way I always like to race," Longo Borghini said.

"The Tour de France Femme is a big goal and I want to go there with an open mind and an open heart. If I focus only on the overall result, I might put too much pressure on myself. It's better to go there, dive into the race, see what happens in each stage, and go for the stage win. It's going to be a very exciting race

"All the girls at the presentation said this race is really big and the expectations are very high. I want to stand with my feet on the pavement, as they say in Italian, and not fly too fast, but always be there fighting."

Asked how her team, Trek Segafredo, would determine the leadership role of the event with so many accomplished athletes such as Lizzie Deignan, Lucinda Brand, and Ellen van Dijk, Longo Borghini said that it is not the individual athletes not their strength, but their unity, he replied.

"Our strength is unity and we can easily switch roles during the race. The environment is very nice and we like to race for each other and for each other, so it is natural who will be the leader and we decide during the race."