UCI Road World Championships LIVE - The favourites show their hands inside the closing 80km

On the cobbles of the Côte de Kimihurura and Van de Velde has caught Schrempf, the Austrian tucking into the Belgian's slipstream looking for any help she can get on the steep gradients.

It's really kicking off now!

Vas has been brought back but now Belgium attack with Julie Van de Velde, though the peloton don't see her as much of a threat as Vas.
The Belgian woman is 18 seconds behind Schrempf and the bunch a further 15 seconds back.

But the Dutch want a piece of this too, and Yara Kastelijn is trying to get away. No one would let one of the Dutch women get away and she has been closely marked.
Now it's Van Anrooij's turn and once again the Italians react, but the race is well and truly on!

Ooops! No, cancel that, the Italian team decided to take the chase on, but they now seem happy with Vas heading up the road.
To be fair, we do have more than 80km to go and Vas might an outstandig rider, but she's not known for ultra-long range winning moves.

The other nations know how strong and versatile Vas is, though, and the Dutch, Italians and French are trying to chase her down.
We're heading onto yet another ascent of the Côte de Kigali Golf.

86km to go and we've had huge attack from Usoa Ostolaza (Spain). She was followed by a handful of others but Hungary's only representative, Blanka Vas attacked over the top of the Spanish rider and is in pursuit of Schrempf.

With six laps and just over 90km to go, the peloton are closing in on our solo breakaway rider, Carina Schrempf whose lead is just 1:40.

Still the big teams lead the peloton though the Dutch seem to have shrunk back into the pack.

The Canadian team have started to make their presence known at the front of the peloton, but the Italians are the ever present nation on the cobbled Côte de Kimihurura as Schrempf's advantage drops below tow minutes.

Schrempf is still leading after the fifth ascent of the Côte de Kigali Golf, but once again her advantage is shrinking. It was back out to 2:50, but as she approaches the cobbled climb again she only has 2:25.

Less than 100km left to race

That was Gigante's second win of this year’s Giro, and where she finally made her big breakout. Sadly, though, the Australian was unable to be in Kigali to after breaking her leg in a training crash last month.

Nor does today’s race have the most metres of vertical ascent the women’s peloton has covered this year, that honour goes to stage 7 of the Giro d’Italia women, when Sarah Gigante won after climbing 3,700m, over 150km.

It might be the World Championships but it’s not the longest race the women's peloton have ridden this year. At 168.9km both Gent-Wevelgem and Tour of Flanders were longer, though neither had anywhere near the same amount of climbing.

One rider who would have gone well on the Kigali circuit is Cecilie Uttrup Ludwig, but the Danish rider was forced to withdraw only this week, leaving the Danish team with only Solbjørk Minke Anderson.

Uttrup Ludwig has been suffering from a parasitic stomach infection for some time and though it’s on the mend she withdrew form the race earlier this week.

Carina Schrempf has just completed the fourth lap at the top of the Côte de Kimihurura, and though her lead had been eroded slightly by the attacks in the bunch, it's grown to 3:36 again, the peloton riding the climb a little easier.

With 110km to go we're done with another ascent of the Côte de Kigali Golf and the pace in the peloton had eased for a while.

However, the Dutch team are back at it now, Femke de Vries on the move once again as the cobbled climb looms for the fourth time.

We have action on the front of the peloton!
Some attacks in the bunch has seen the pace lift significantly with Shirin van Anrooij leading for the Dutch team.

Carina Schrempf (Austria) leads onto the fourth lap by 2:50. The bunch remains a big one, with fewer riders being dropped out of the back of the race than we saw on the opening laps.

120km to go

On the Côte de Kimihurura for the third time and Schrempf is leading by almost three minutes.

The last time an Austrian woman was off the front alone with a good lead in a major championship was the Tokyo Olympics, and we all remember Anna Kiesenhofer winning the gold medal there!
Just saying...

They’re Dutch team is completed by Shirin van Anrooij, Pauliena Rooijakkers, Yara Kastelijn and De Vries, with each of them offering the team differing strengths.

However, the perennial problem for the Dutch team has been their strength being a weakness, with some riders historically unwilling to follow team plans.

Today we’ll find out if those issues still linger.

Vos has been replaced by Femke de Vries who will add to an immensely strong team which can challenge with a number of riders.

Despite only managing third place in the time trial, Demi Vollering starts as one of the outstanding favourites, and is joined by two time champion Anna van der Breggen, who is clearly on form after taking the silver medal in the time trial last Sunday.

While the start list for today's ride is packed with big names, one of the biggest is not in Kigali.

Marianne Vos, who has three road world titles to go with a vast palmarès, had initially been selected to ride but withdrew for personal reasons. You can read the story here.

Schrempf is on a mission, she's extended her lead to 1:15 as she hits the cobbles of the Côte de Kimihurura for the second time.
The Austrian rides for the Fenix-Deceuninck team when not representing her country and is an accomplished climber, as well as a former national champion.

Austria's only representative, Carina Schrempf has attacked the bunch and takes a lead of 40 seconds onto the ascent of the Côte de Kigali Golf.
Short and sharp the climb has seen many a breakaway brought back during the earlier road races this week.
Today, though, the peloton seem happy to let her go.

The first attack!

The opening lap has taken its casualties with plenty of riders pulled from the race having been dropped from the bunch. Among those are the Mauritain pair of Lucie De Marigny-Lagesse and Aurelie Halbwachs, whose withdrawal leaves pre-race favourite Kim Le Court-Pienaar totally isolated.

The pace up the Côte de Kimihurura and across the line at the end of the first lap was high, but any selection is being made from behind as the race is all together at the front. Italy were very much in control, but Australia take to the front.

The circuit is incredibly demanding, not only are there the two main climbs, but there are also a number of smaller inclines. The cagey start suggests riders are feeling their way into the race, testing their own legs before testing their opponents.

Over the top of the first ascent of the Côte de Kigali Golf and we're still waiting for the first concerted attack. The biggest teams are still tightly packed at the front of the race, while some of those representing the smaller nations have slipped off the back of the peloton.

The only elite British woman at the Worlds this year is Anna Henderson, last year’s Olympic silver medalist finishing eighth in the Individual Time Trial, some 1:37 behind eventual winner, Switzerland’s Marlen Reusser.

If you’re wondering where the British riders are, GB didn’t send any women to the Elite Women’s race despite being allocated the maximum six places. They’ve sent a team to the women’s Elite race every year since 1995, winning it twice, first with Nicole Cooke in 2008, then in 2015 it was Lizzie Deignan, or Armitstead, as she was then.

It's a high pace on the descent of the opening kilometres, but there are no attacks. Instead we see the Dutch, Australians, French and Norwegians among the nations on the front of the bunch.

The race is one and it's a cagey start. There are 104 riders from 44 nations all hoping to win the rainbow jersey in this, the 2025 Elite Women's road race.

The race is on

The Belgian team have also been hit by the withdrawal of Justine Ghekiere. The national road champion crashed at high speed during the recent GP Stuttgart and her injuries have not healed well enough to allow her to race.

One woman not on that list is defending champion Lotte Kopecky who opted out of defending her title after winning the rainbow jersey in both 2023 and 2024. She’s had a difficult year, starting the season under-par after injury affected her preparation over the winter.

Who's going to win? Well, we'll need to wait a few hours to find that one out, but we've analysed some of the pre-race favourites which can read here.

You can read our analysis here.

Each of the laps contains two main climbs. With an average gradient of 8.1% over its 800m, the Côte de Kigali Golf comes first, with the cobbled Côte de Kimihurura coming inside the closing 3km of the lap. Over the top of that climb the riders are faced with the final kilometre and its brutal short ramp to the line.

The weather’s not too smart either, with 26º expected to feel more like 29º and the chance of rain on the circuit. With cobbles and a decent amount of descending all day any moisture the roads could add yet another aspect to what is already a fascinating race.

Not only is it a long old day out, there’s also a lot of climbing, the race taking on 3,350m of vertical ascent over 11 laps of the 15.2km circuit. Kigali sits at 1,800m above sea level, the altitude combining with the route to add an extra challenge.

As you’d expect for the Elite Women's World Championships, the route is a tough one, the riders tackling a 164.6km parcours, comprising 11 laps of the Kigali circuit we’ve seen already in the Junior and U23 races.

Before the Elite women get underway, you can read how Ostiz won her rainbow jersey here.

The Elite women are set to start their race in less than an hour, but we've already had one race this morning. Spain's Paula Ositz won the Junior Women's race, winning a sprint from a small group.

Good morning from Cyclingnews' live coverage of the first Elite road race from this year's Road World Championships.