18-year-old Spaniard Ostiz comes good on status as favorite with commanding sprint win; steps up to Movistar WorldTour team in 2026.
Updated September 27, 2025 05:21AM
Spain’s Paula Ostiz dominated the five-rider sprint and collapsed in tears at the line for emotional victory in the junior women’s world championship road race.
Chantal Pegolo (Italy) and Anja Grossman (Switzerland) rounded out the podium in Kigali on Saturday morning.
Canada’s Sidney Swierenga finished fourth in the group after Ostiz sprinted from the front and was never challenged.
USA Cycling saw three riders finish in the top-20, with Alyssa Sarkisov best-placed in 10th.
Spanish star of the future Ostiz started Saturday’s championships as mega-favorite and rode a tactically savvy race.
The 18-year-old played the waiting game while both her Spanish teammates and their rivals made multiple attacks and accelerations throughout the 74km race.
Ostiz only moved up in the final circuit and followed the wheels when five riders got the winning gap 2km from the line on the cobbled Côte de Kimihurura.
Next up? The Women’s WorldTour
Ostiz takes her junior stripes to the Movistar Women’s WorldTour team. (Photo: Dario Belingheri/Getty Images)
The victory Saturday closes a chapter for Ostiz.
She finished second in the sprint finish last year in the Zürich junior world championship race, and was again left with silver this week in the Rwanda time trial.
“It was the race I’ve been dreaming about for a year, after winning silver,” she said at the line.
Be sure to remember the name “Ostiz.”
She’s has been riding as a trainee with Team Movistar this summer and enters into a full three-year WorldTour contract with “the blues” in 2026. The Spanish squad also has 2024 junior champion Cat Ferguson on its books.
Results: Junior women’s world championship road race: