Road World Championships: Célia Gery nails uphill sprint and makes history with women's U23 road race victory for France

Célia Gery (France) scored victory in the first-ever standalone under-23 women's road race at the UCI Road World Championships, sprinting away from a select lead group to take the rainbow jersey.

19-year-old Gery beat Viktória Chladaňová (Slovakia) in the closing sprint at the head of the race after the pair left behind fellow late attacker, Gery's teammate Marion Bunel (France) in the final kilometre.

Gery took home the gold for France, while Chladaňová would have to make do with silver. In third place, Paula Blasi (Spain) led home a select group behind the two leaders to round out the podium with a bronze medal 12 seconds down.

"It's unbelievable. It was a long time waiting but it's amazing. It was a masterpiece for the team. There was only three of us but we managed to race perfectly. We had three very strong girls and Marion was amazing at the finish," Gery said after the finish.

"I was with Viktória twice. She attacked twice and I was with her. The other girls were stronger than me in the sprint so I wanted to stay away with her to try and win the race.

"The weather conditions are different compared to France. It was very difficult. It was a strong race but not a very strong race. The last two laps were a little bit difficult. I wasn't confident, but I was confident in my team."

Gery and Chladaňová had hit the front of the race in the final 3km as part of a lead group of 11 coming together at the front up the final cobbled climb in Kigali. With France placing two riders in the lead group in Gery and Bunel, they played their numerical advantage perfectly, with Bunel hitting the front and forcing the pace.

Chladaňová came along for the ride with the French pair, while Bunel sat on the front, pulling the three-woman group towards the finish so Gery could stay away to contest a two-woman sprint finish.

That was exactly how it played out in the final kilometre after Bunel peeled off the front, her job done. The closing sprint wasn't the closest contest, with Gery holding Chladaňová's wheel into the final 200 metres before sprinting around the outside and comfortably taking the victory.

How it unfolded

The under-23 women's peloton would compete in a standalone World Championships race for the first time in Kigali, tackling a 119.3km course featuring eight laps of a challenging hilly circuit in the city, including that nasty cobbled climb as seen in the time trials.

The 82-woman peloton didn't stay all together for long as the hills began early in the day, with riders from the smaller nations dropping back from the main group as the gradients bit. The pace didn't let off, either, with an attack from Julie Bego (France) before Canada settled in to work on the front for Isabella Holmgren.

Holmgren would give it a go herself before long, jumping clear on the third lap of the race, though she wasn't able to gain any real lasting advantage from the move. Attacks from Julia Kopecký (Czechia) and Bego again also came and went without having a big impact on proceedings.

At the head of the race, a group of just under half the peloton – around 36 riders – led the way towards the halfway mark. Great Britain were the best represented team with Cat Ferguson, Imogen Wolff, Millie Couzens, and Flora Perkins in the squad, but the peloton would only slim down as the laps and hills went by.

At the start of the final two laps with 29km to go, only around 20 riders remained up front. Bego went yet again there and making a break with Justyna Czapla (Germany), Paula Blasi (Spain), and Anina Hutter (Switzerland).

The quartet didn't stay out front for long, however, with Canada and Holmgren swiftly bringing things back together. Malwina Mul (Poland) was next to react, venturing out on her own as the pace slowed behind. Gery and Chladaňová would launch the first of their attacks in response, making it three out front until the 17km to go marker.

By that point, a selection of contenders had come across, with Gery, Bunel, Chladaňová, Holmgren, and Blasi joined by Linda Riedmann (Germany), Eleonora Ciabocco (Italy), Talia Appleton (Australia), and Alena Ivanchenko.

Stina Kagevi (Sweden) made it up there, too, not that she wanted to stick around. At the 11km mark, she headed off on her own, attacking away from the select group and to a 50-second lead. She looked strong out front but there was still a long way to go and the riders behind weren't going to stop attacking.

At 6km to go, Gery, Chladaňová, Holmgren, and Blasi put in an attack, quickly closing Kagevi's advantage down to 10 seconds. Soon enough, that 10 turned to zero, and the lone rider out front was joined by 10 more in a regrouping just before the final 3km of the day.

The riders in the lead group still had that final ascent of the cobbled climb in Kigali to contend with before the finish, but it was the French who had the numbers and the legs to make a difference. Bunel got to work putting on a hard pace that ejected all but her teammate and Chladaňová before the trio raced on towards the line.

In the end, it proved to be the winning move, with Gery pushing on in the final sprint to cross the line first and secure the rainbow jersey.

Results

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