Célia Gery times effort perfectly to win Worlds U23 women’s road race

Célia Gery (France) took the rainbow jersey in the under-23 women’s category in the first road race of the 2025 UCI Road World Championships in Kigali, Rwanda.

In an attritional race, Géry used both her strength and race craft perfectly, marking the key moves of the combative Viktória Chladoňová (Slovakia) throughout, including bridging across to her teammate Marion Bunel (France) on the final ascent of the Côte de Kimihurura.

Bunel delivered the leadout inside the final uphill kilometre before Géry responded to  Chladoňová’s acceleration and launched her sprint past the Slovakian to add another individual rainbow jersey to the collection after winning the junior cyclocross worlds in 2024.

It was another very impressive ride from the 18-year-old Slovakian, the youngest rider in the race, who had to settle for the silver medal, while Paula Blasi (Spain) pipped Eleonora Ciabocco (Italy) to bronze after the duo caught Bunel.

The Canadian team were the pace setter on the early laps with pre-race favourite Isabella Holmgren in their ranks, and despite no major attacks, plenty of riders were distanced on the key climbs.

With 62.5km to go, the favourites moved to the front, which naturally increased the pace of the peloton, and this saw Cat Ferguson (Great Britain) distanced. Ferguson was able to return before being distanced on the following lap. 

Julia Kopecký (Czech Republic) increased the pace significantly on the fifth lap, and then, with 46.3km to go, Chladoňová suffered an innocuous crash, but the Slovakian rider was able to return shortly after.

Malwina Mul (Poland) was able to open an advantage quickly, having caught the group from being distanced, and went straight over the top. Mul’s lead grew to 30 seconds

Chladoňová’s attack with 22km to go on the Côte de Kigali was a major one, with Gery locked on the wheel. This split the main group into pieces, with the duo bridging across to Mul. A group of around 10 riders formed the second group on the road, including Holmgren and Blasi, with the gap at 15 seconds inside 20km remaining.

Mal was distanced on the next and penultimate ascent of the Côte de Kimihurura, but the chase group returned, with Mal, to the front duo, leaving 13 riders at the front of the race heading onto the final lap.

Ciobocco attacked over the finish line, but Blasi was alert to the Italian’s attack, and a stalemate followed, which allowed another 11 rider group to bridge to the front of the race, bringing some more teammates into the mix.

Stina Kagevi (Sweden), one of those who were in the chase group, attacked clear, and the Swede was able to build a solid gap of over 40 seconds with a strong move, with the rest of the riders looking at one another.

Panic was setting in behind with a flurry of desperate attacks, but each attack led to a stalemate afterwards, and the gap continued to grow to near 50 seconds.

Chladoňová rocketed off the front of the chase group on the final ascent of the Côte de Kigali, and once more was joined by Gery, but also this time by Blasi, whilst Holmgren eventually bridged her way across.

This led Kagevi’s gap to diminish, with the Swede being caught by the select quartet of favourites before the summit. But as was the case with many previous attacks, a group of six from behind were able to get within touching distance over the summit and return. 

The group that returned contained Linda Riedmann (Germany), Ciabocco, Bunel, Lore De Schepper (Belgium), Talia Appleton (Australia), and Alena Ivanchenko (Individual Neutral Athletes).

Blasi led from the front on the cobbled ascent as Kagevi, Riedmann, and Appleton were the first to be distanced.

Bunel attacked with a seated acceleration with 2km to go, with Chladoňová chasing, whilst Bunel’s teammate Gery was once more locked on the wheel of the Slovakian. The front trio went clear with a group close behind, but it was clear that one of the three would win the rainbow jersey.

Bunel led out the duo inside the final uphill kilometre, with Chladoňová acclerating, but was unable to respond when Gery came past to take the rainbow jersey. Bunel was caught behind with Blasi sprinting to third ahead of Ciabocco, while Bunel had to settle for fifth and Holmgren took sixth.