Eugenia Bujak (BTC City Ljubljana) outsprinted Elena Cecchini (Canyon SRAM Racing) and Joëlle Numainville (Cervélo-Bigla) to victory in the GP de Plouay-Bretagne (France) on Sunday to win the penultimate round of the UCI Women’s WorldTour. The podium emerged from a group of 14 riders that took shape in the final 20 kilometres.
Initially the race looked as if it would be the Boels-Dolmans Cycling Team show. The Dutch-registered team has dominated the series this year, winning more than half of the one-day road races on the UCI Women’s WorldTour calendar. An attack from Alena Aialiusik (Canyon SRAM Racing) was the first to do damage but it was pace-making by UCI World Champion Lizzie Armitstead (Boes-Dolmans Cycling Team) that caused the first true selection.
Armitstead’s efforts saw a front group of 22 take shape, including four riders from Boels-Dolmans Cycling Team and four riders from Rabo-Liv Women Cycling. Yet by the final lap of the five-lap circuit race, UCI Women’s WorldTour leader Megan Guarnier (Boels-Dolmans Cycling Team) was isolated and under pressure from constant attacks. An underrated rider, Bujak was never forced to do any of the chase work and instead kept her powder dry for the final sprint.
Guariner continues to lead the UCI Women’s WorldTour by a margin that was already large enough to ensure her win in the series prior to Saturday’s race in Plouay. Kasia Niewiadoma (Rabo Liv Women Cycling Team) has also already secured her jersey: best young rider.
After 16 rounds and 34 days of racing, the UCI Women’s WorldTour has covered 3408.7 kilometres.
[YOUTUBE ID="fHcQOfFUJTA"]
Madrid Challenge by La Vuelta (ESP) > 11.09.2016
Last year’s results
1. Shelley Olds (USA) 2. Giorgia Bronzini (ITA) 3. Kirsten Wild (NED)
Now in its second year, La Madrid Challenge by La Vuelta borrows from the popular format used by La Course by Le Tour. Race organisers host a women’s race on same day and on the same circuit used by the men’s peloton for the final day of their Grand Tour. In this case, the 15-lap, 87-kilometre circuit race is hosted in the Spanish capital of Madrid.
The inaugural Madrid Challenge ended in a large bunch sprint won by American Shelley Olds (Alé Cipollini) ahead of Giorgia Bronzini (Wiggle High 5) and Kirsten Wild (Hitec Products).
Twenty seven-year-old Eugenia Bujak hails from Poland and turned professional with BTC City Ljubljana in 2014. Slowly but steadily showing her strengths over the last three seasons, Bujak is a versatile rider who packs a fast sprint but also can ride alongside the climbers when the road rises. She called her win in Plouay on Sunday “the most beautiful result” of her career.
Key Highlights
1st – GP de Plouay-Bretagne (2016) 1st – La Route de France – stages 1, 6 (2016) 1st – Internationale Thüringen Rundfahrt der Frauen – stage 2 (2015) 1st – National Championships Poland – individual time trial (2014, 2013) 1st – National Championships Poland – road race (2013) 2nd – Gracia Orlova – stage 2 (2015) 3rd – Winston-Salem Cycling Classic (2014) 3rd – Gracia Orlova – overall (2014, 2015) 3rd – La Route de France – overall (2016)
[INSTAGRAM ID="https://www.instagram.com/p/BJmfW86jz-W/?tagged=uciwwt"]