'It's been a long time coming': Celia Géry sprints to a French victory after attritional first-ever women's under-23 road race at the World Championships

In the first ever edition of the women's under-23 road race at the UCI Road World Championships, Celia Géry of France took the spoils, powering home in an uphill sprint ahead of second place Slovakia's Viktória Chladoňová in Kigali.

Third place went to Spain's Paula Blasi, who caught and outsprinted Géry's loyal team-mate Marion Bunel, who had turned herself inside-out in support of Géry on the final climb of the Côte de Kimihurura.

Canadian favourite Isabella Holmgren looked among the strongest riders all day, but was unable to match the French assault on the final climb. She finished sixth, with Imogen Wolff first Brit home in 12th place. Katherine Sarkisov of the USA finished in 14th, the best-placed American.

"It's unbelievable," said Géry afterwards. "It's been a long time coming, but it's great."

She praised her French team-mates, saying Bunel was amazing at the finish, and with Julie Bego also putting in a strong shift.

"There were only three of us on the team, but we managed to race perfectly, we had three very strong girls," she said.

"I knew there were still a few other girls behind who were dangerous in the sprint, so I wanted to stay with Chladoňová," she added. "I wasn't too, too confident coming here, but I did have confidence in my team."

How it happened

The hillly 15km lap around the centre of Kigali was always going to make this historic race an attritional one.

Riders dropped off the back of the bunch on the two climbs of the Côte de Kigali Golf and the Côte de Kimihurura all day, with a large number not finishing the race.

The final three laps of the 119km race had seen the peloton whittled down to an elite front group of 14 riders – including favourite Isabella Holmgren and Britain's Imogen Wolff – which waxed and waned as it looped over the two ascents.

A flurry of attacks as the bunch crossed the finish line for the penultimate time came to nothing and were immediately followed by a phoney war, as the pace eased and riders sought to conserve energy.

With 12km to go a 10-rider chasing group behind caught the front-runners and straight away Sweden's Stina Kagevi attacked, gaining 40 seconds within a few kilometres.

But the riders behind were saving themselves for the ascents and on the Kigali Golf climb Kagevi was caught by a very useful looking quartet including Géry and Holmgren.

In turn though, they were caught too by the chasers behind, just in time for an all-out assault on the final Kimihurura climb, led by Bunel.

Chladoňová followed hot on her heels along with Géry, and Bunel led the way right to the final few hundred metres, where Chladoňová's initial burst was no match for Géry, who looked her straight in the eye as she came round to take the victory.

Results

1. Celia Géry (Fra) in 3:24:26
2. Viktória Chladoňová (Slo), +2s
3. Paula Blasi (Spa), +12s
4. Eleonora Ciabocco (Ita)
5. Marion Bunel (Fra), all a same time
6. Isabella Holmgren (Can), +17
7. Ilena Ivanchenko (INA), +20s
8. Lore De Schepper (Bel), +25s
9. Talia Appleton (Aus), +31s
10. Linda Riedmann (Ger), +54s