France’s Célia Gery struck gold in women's under-23 road race of the UCI Road World Championships, clocking 3 hours 24 minutes and 26 seconds over the 119.3km course. The 19-year-old beat Slovakian Viktória Chladonová to the finish line by two seconds while Spain's Paula Blasi emerged third, coming 12 seconds behind. Of the 85 riders from 40 countries who started the race, only 35 finished while 50 withdrew. None of Rwanda’s Charlotte Iragena, Martha Ntakirutimana, Claudette Nyirarukundo and Jazilla Mwamikazi managed to finish. The riders set off from the Kigali Convention Centre and took the road to Nyarutarama via Gishushu (RDB), then turned towards Kigali Golf Club and headed to Kimicanga where they climbed Cote de Kimihurura [Kwa Mignonne] cobbled road before sprinting to KCC. The race wasn’t decided until the last kilometer when Chladonová was leading the charge, taking on the climb to KCC. But it wasn’t until France’s Marion Bunel launched a bold attack to allow Gery comfortably sprint past Chladonová to claim the U23 women road race in Kigali. Gery’s latest victory follows her gold medal win in Zurich in the women’s juniors road race in 2024.
