Canada's Magdeleine Vallieres claims shock win in attritional Worlds road race

Magdeleine Vallieres (Canada) claimed a surprise victory in the elite women’s road race at the World Championships in Kigali after dropping the last of her breakaway companions on the steep cobbled climb with 2.5km to go.

Niamh Fisher-Black (New Zealand) took silver and Mavi García (Spain) claimed bronze at the end of a dramatic, attritional race, where the pre-event favourites failed to make the expected impact.

The winning move took shape when a group of ten riders forced clear with 35km remaining, and Vallieres, Fisher-Black and García were consistently the strongest as that group repeatedly fractured and reformed.

Vallieres seized her opportunity on the cobbled Côte de Kimihurura, pressing clear of Fisher-Black and García. She proceeded to dose her effort perfectly on the rise to the line, coming home 23 seconds clear of Fisher-Black and 27 up on García.

First Marlen Reusser (Switzerland) and then her compatriot Elise Chabbey made spirited attempts to bridge up to the leaders on the final lap, but they fell short in their efforts. Chabbey succeeded in picking off escapee Riejanne Markus (Netherlands) in the final 10km, and she briefly looked poised to close in on the leaders, but she was unable to close the gap and she had to settle for fifth at 41 seconds, while Markus came home a further 16 seconds back in fifth.

The race had been billed beforehand as a joust between Tour de France Femmes champion Pauline Ferrand-Prévot (France) and a strong Dutch squad led by Demi Vollering, but they failed to make the expected impact after the decisive break of ten forged clear with a little over two laps to go.

The demanding course meant that there was able opportunity for a strong attacker on the final lap to bridge up to the leaders, but Ferrand-Prévot never got any purchase on her efforts, and a stalemate would eventually emerge among the favourites. Vollering, who had looked well short of her best, produced a decent sprint to take seventh, albeit some 1:34 down on Vallieres.

With so much climbing on the agenda, there was an understandable lack of early attackers in what was always going to be a race of attrition, though lone escapee Carina Schrempf (Austria) took off on lap two, opening a maximum lead of three minutes.

Shirin van Anrooij (Netherlands) and Julie van de Velde (Belgium) bridged up to her with 70km to go, with the Dutchwoman later pressing on alone, but her move would also be snuffed out.

Noemi Rüegg (Switzerland) and Mireia Benito (Spain) were the next to escape, and they would prove a carrot for what proved to be the defining move of the race. When Évita Muzic (France) accelerated with 35km to go, she brought Riejanne Markus (Netherlands), Mavi García (Spain), Barbara Malcotti (Italy), Magdeleine Vallieres (Canada), Ginia Caluori (Switzerland), Niamh Fisher-Black (New Zealand), and Antonia Niedermaier (Germany) with her, and they quickly bridged up to the leaders.

Behind, Anna van der Breggen (Netherlands) surprisingly slipped out of contention, and with so many nations represented in front, there was no team willing to take up the reins of pursuit. That in turn allowed the break’s lead to drift out to 1:40 approaching the end of the penultimate lap.

On the penultimate time up the Côte de Kigali Golf, Vallieres, García, and Fisher-Black proved themselves the strongwomen of the break by pressing clear, and they would later be joined by Markus and Niediermaier.

As the race took the bell, Reusser sprang into the action from the group of favourites, which was now just a minute down, and it briefly looked as though she would manage to bridge across. Her momentum faltered on the Côte de Kigali Golf, where her compatriot Chabbey attacked with intent from the peloton, changing the dynamic all over again.

Out in front, meanwhile, Vallieres, García and Fisher-Black again forged clear of their breakaway companions on the climb, this time definitively. Among the favourites, meanwhile, Ferrand-Prévot, Elisa Longo Borghini (Italy) and Kasia Niewiadoma (Poland) were active, but the stop-start rhythm of their efforts meant they never looked like getting back on terms.

In the end, it came down to a three-way battle between Vallieres, Fisher-Black and García on the final haul up the Côte de Kimihurura. Fisher-Black had appeared the strongest on the previous ascents, but it soon became clear that Vallieres had been biding her time. 

The 24-year-old’s attack carried her clear with 2.5km to go, and she held her nerve to claim only the second victory of her professional career.