Four days of time trial action gave way to the road races of the 2025 UCI Road World Championships, starting with a groundbreaking event in an already historic edition. On Thursday 25 September, the first UCI Road Worlds held in Africa saw France’s Célia Gery win the Women Under 23 title, contested for the first time as a standalone event.
Already two-time cyclo-cross UCI World Champion (Junior and team relay), the 19-year-old powered to a fresh rainbow jersey after eight laps on a 15.1km local circuit set around the Kigali Convention Centre, featuring the Côte de Kigali Golf (0.8km at 8.1%) and Côte de Kimihurura (1.3km at 6.3%), whose cobbled gradients already delivered thrilling action in the time trials. These challenges added up to 119.3km of racing with 2,435 metres of elevation gain - a demanding course bound to crown a special talent.
“It's really incredible. This morning, it was a very long wait until 1pm. But now, it's awesome,” celebrated the winner, capping off a stellar season that also saw her win three stages and the green jersey of the recent Tour de l’Avenir Femmes (France). “It’s proper teamwork, with Julie [Bego] at first, and then Marion [Bunel], who told me she wasn’t feeling so good on the cobbles. She did an amazing finale. We were only three, but we handled things perfectly.”
Gery got the better of Slovakia’s Viktória Chladoňová, who, at 18 years old, took her second medal of this event after finishing 2nd in the Women Under 23 individual time trial. Spain’s Paula Blasi rounded out the podium.
Race of attrition from the gun
Although Ava Holmgren had to withdraw due to illness, Canada soon took the reins of the 81-woman peloton (with 40 nations represented) to force a race of attrition in the ‘land of a thousand hills’. Great Britain’s Cat Ferguson and Flora Perkins were among the early victims, struggling on the cobbled gradients of Côte de Kimihurura halfway through the race.
Luxembourg’s Marie Schreiber, along with a number of German riders, also participated in driving a reduced bunch into the last 50 kilometres. Czechia’s Julia Kopecky upped the ante on the fifth ascent of Kimihurura. Bego counter-attacked towards the line… Attacks kept going, but 24 riders regrouped to face the final two laps together.
Poland’s Malwina Mul was the first to open a significant gap, flying past the group with 25 kilometres remaining. Viktória Chladoňová then put the hammer down on the penultimate ascent up Côte de Kigali Golf. Gery joined her on the move and the duo got back to Mul at the summit, 21km away from victory.
French take over
Blasi drove a strong chase, and 14 riders made the front group into the final lap. As the pace dropped, more stragglers returned to make it 25 riders battling for a historic title.
Stina Kagevi attacked with 12 kilometres to go: already proven an expert of solo effort, the Swede opened a gap of 30’’ as the race entered the final 10km, and 45’’ at the bottom of the Côte de Kigali Golf, where Chladoňová attacked again, with Gery on her wheel, again. This time, Blasi followed them – and Isabella Holmgren dug deep to join them. After the quartet caught Kagevi at the summit, six more chasers reeled them in with just four kilometres to go.
The final ascent of Kimihurura proved to be decisive as Bunel attacked with 2km remaining. Chladoňová bridged the gap with another French woman on her wheel – Gery. Bunel pulled, Chladoňová opened up the sprint with 300 metres to go, and Gery took off to victory ahead of the 18-year-old Slovak. In their wake, Blasi took bronze.