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Canada’s Magdeleine Vallieres took a surprise gold in the women’s road race at the Road World Championships after a decisive attack on the final climb on Saturday in Kigali. The 24-year-old was in a lead group with New Zealand’s Niamh Fisher-Black and Spain’s Mavi García near the end of the 164km slog on a hilly circuit in the Rwandan capital when she burst clear.
Powering up the ascent towards the finish line, Vallieres stayed clear of Fisher-Black, who came home second with García third. Vallieres won by 23sec to become Canada’s first road champion. Fisher-Black was second with Garcia, trying to become the oldest road world champion at 41, third, 26sec back. Switzerland’s Elise Chabbey was fourth at 41sec. The favourites trailed home in the chasing group after being caught out and leaving their response too late.
It was only the second professional victory for Vallieres who was not among the pre-race tips for gold. “The girls believed in me and I believed in myself,” she said. “I was committed and knew I was in good form and just didn’t want to have regrets … and now I don’t.
“That last climb I knew I wouldn’t win in the sprint with Niamh so I realised I had to go all in.”
The brutal race featured 11 laps of the circuit with 3,350m of climbing. The pace and stinging climbs took their toll and several attempts to break away at the front were reeled in by a reduced peloton. But Vallieres, Fisher-Black and García made their attack stick and ended up fighting for the medals.
The Dutch rider Demi Vollering, one of the favourites for the gold, finished seventh while Italy’s Elisa Longo Borghini was 15th. “This year there were multiple countries with a strong group,” Vollering said. “I came for more. The dream is a little bit crushed for me but I’ll keep trying.”
Switzerland’s Marlen Reusser, who won the time trial gold and took a bronze in the team time trial, was ninth.
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The championships, the first to be held in Africa, conclude on Sunday with the elite men’s road race. Vollering said: “I hope we inspired a few children [in Africa] to take up cycling and find a purpose in cycling.”
