UCI Road World Championships: Demi Vollering outsprints Kasia Niewiadoma-Phinney to first world title in women’s elite road race after gripping final lap duel

Not long after the riders rolled out of Brossard with the tension building for the elite women’s road race, the first attacks were launched out of the peloton by Rotem Gafinovitz (Israel) and Argiro Milaki (Greece), but it wasn’t until 20km of the 180-kilometre route had been completed that the early breakaway formed.

With the two initial attackers brought back and the Dutch team showing they were going to control things, Gergana Stoyanova (Bulgaria), Beatriz Roxo (Portugal), Marte Berg Edseth (Norway), and Natalie Quinn (USA) got up the road and were allowed to build a lead.

Racing settled down with the Netherlands pacing behind and the break kicking on towards Montreal and the eight laps of the Mount Royal circuit and Voie Camilien-Houde climb, where the rainbow jersey winner would be decided.

Quinn and Edseth emerged as the strongest from the break, with their two other companions getting dropped, and they entered the first circuit with a three-minute lead over the chasing peloton. It was calm in the bunch, but some of the corners had caused crashes, with Paula Blasi (Spain) and Anna Henderson (Great Britain) coming down, but quickly remounting their bikes.

Racing began to heat up into the final 100km and the second of eight laps around the main circuit, but as the pace was upped, a major crash rippled through the bunch with 95km to go, forcing Blasi to abandon and the likes of defending champion Magdeleine Vallieres (Canada) and Kim Le Court-Pienaar (Mauritius) into a long chase.

Vallieres after the mass crash (Image credit: Getty Images)

The horror incident saw the peloton almost halved, with several riders requiring medical attention and abandoning, including Caroline Andersson (Sweden) and Lauretta Hanson (Australia).

With the race continuing on, the Dutch team resumed their control on the front through the indefatigable Lieke Nooijen, whose efforts in the bunch saw the two remaining breakaways both caught with 76km to go.

Without one of their leaders, Spain looked for a new path to success with Mireia Benito attacking with 61.3km to go, upsetting the rhythm being set by the Dutch team for most of the day. While this move was brought back, it encouraged the likes of Nina Berton (Luxembourg), Pfeiffer Georgi (Great Britain, and Cédrine Kerbaol (France) to make brief accelerations of their own.

The next attacker was the one who went away, though, with Kerbaol’s teammate and two-time Tour de France Femmes stage winner Maeva Squiban attacking with 52km to go. Entering the final 50km, there were just 38 riders remaining in the peloton, with the French riders 22 seconds up the road.

Pieterse’s efforts were so explosive that Lotte Kopecky (Belgium) was dropped, Kasia Niewiadoma (Poland) was dropped, as were all of the other top contenders. When Vollering finally went, with a violent surge 38.5km from the finish, Elisa Longo Borghini (Italy) was the closest to being able to follow, but she too started to fade under the pressure.

Vollering reached Squiban in no time, who tried valiantly to hang onto the Dutch rider’s wheel, but also quickly got burned as the favourite reaccelerated and went solo into the final 38km.

With a long way to go, Vollering didn’t completely scorch away, with her lead stabilising around the 23-second mark, and an eight-rider chasing group forming behind her: Longo Borghini, Niewiadoma, Squiban, Célia Gery, Juliette Berthet (France), Dominika Włodarczyk (Poland), Marlen Reusser (Switzerland) and Pieterse. The race was far from done yet.

Niewiadoma and Longo Borghini worked away with full effort, and after the gap fluctuated between 30 seconds and 20 seconds, the Dutch rider began to be reeled back in with 17km to go. Suddenly, the Polish and Italian riders had the lone leader in their sights.

Niewiadoma-Phinney and Longo Borghini during their pursuit of Vollering (Image credit: Getty Images)

Contact was made with 15.3km to go, turning it into a leading trio, but Berthet was also close to coming back to make it a group of four heading into a thrilling final lap.

As they took the bell, rung by the winner of Worlds the last time it was in Montreal in 1974, Geneviève Gambillon, the pace started to come out of the lead quartet, prompting Longo Borghini to attack over the line with 13km to go.

Niewiadoma looked to Vollering to do the work, and the gap quickly went out to 10 seconds. The Dutch rider found another gear, though, as they went up the main climb for the final time, dropping Berthet and grinding away to catch Longo Borghini 200 metres from the top.

Paying for her efforts on the attack, Longo Borghini soon started to struggle under the pressure, leaving the top two from the Tour de France Femmes to battle it out for the victory in the final 11km.

With Vollering doing most of the work, an attack from Niewiadoma was inevitable, and she chose a kicker 4km from the line as her moment, grimacing as she accelerated in a final bid for glory.

Vollering weathered the storm, and it became clear that a two-up sprint was going to be needed to decide the new rainbow jersey. Arriving at the final corner with 750 metres to go, the Dutch rider led out from the front, with Niewiadoma sprinting 200 metres from the line.

Even after 180km of racing and 23 kilometres out in front on her own, Vollering still had enough in the tank to overhaul her great rival, with the emotions flowing out as soon as she crossed the line victorious.

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Position

Rider (Country) Team

Time Gap

1

Demi Vollering (Netherlands)

4:45:09

2

Kasia Niewiadoma-Phinney (Poland)

Row 1 – Cell 2

3

Elisa Longo Borghini (Italy)

0:00:04

4

Marlen Reusser (Switzerland)

0:00:08

5

Juliette Berthet (France)

0:00:39

6

Puck Pieterse (Netherlands)

0:01:36

7

Celia Gery (France)

0:02:55

8

Dominika Wlodarczyk (Poland)

0:04:16

9

Maeva Squiban (France)

0:05:48

10

Franziska Koch (Germany)

0:05:51

11

Pfeiffer Georgi (Great Britain)

0:08:34

12

Eleonora Camilla Gasparrini (Italy)

Row 11 – Cell 2

13

Steffi Haberlin (Switzerland)

Row 12 – Cell 2

14

Liane Lippert (Germany)

Row 13 – Cell 2

15

Noemi Ruegg (Switzerland)

Row 14 – Cell 2

16

Henrietta Christie (New Zealand)

Row 15 – Cell 2

17

Sarah van Dam (Canada)

Row 16 – Cell 2

18

Lauren Dickson (Great Britain)

Row 17 – Cell 2

19

Ashleigh Moolman Pasio (South Africa)

Row 18 – Cell 2

20

Lotte Kopecky (Belgium)

Row 19 – Cell 2

21

Kristen Faulkner (United States)

Row 20 – Cell 2

22

Sara Casasola (Italy)

Row 21 – Cell 2

23

Paula Patino (Colombia)

Row 22 – Cell 2

24

Shari Bossuyt (Belgium)

Row 23 – Cell 2

25

Monica Trinca Colonel (Italy)

Row 24 – Cell 2

26

Margarita Garcia (Spain)

0:08:40

27

Margot Vanpachtenbeke (Belgium)

Row 26 – Cell 2

28

Antonia Niedermaier (Germany)

Row 27 – Cell 2

29

Karlijn Swinkels (Netherlands)

Row 28 – Cell 2

30

Silvia Persico (Italy)

0:08:48

31

Mireia Benito (Spain)

Row 30 – Cell 2

32

Cedrine Kerbaol (France)

Row 31 – Cell 2

33

Ginia Caluori (Switzerland)

0:08:51

34

Zoe Backstedt (Great Britain)

0:09:03

35

Francesca Barale (Italy)

0:12:38

36

Nina Berton (Luxembourg)

0:14:21

37

Ana Vitoria Magalhaes (Brazil)

Row 36 – Cell 2

38

Riejanne Markus (Netherlands)

Row 37 – Cell 2

39

Amanda Spratt (Australia)

Row 38 – Cell 2

40

Lauren Stephens (United States)

0:15:31

41

Nadia Gontova (Canada)

0:15:33

42

Sarah Gigante (Australia)

Row 41 – Cell 2

43

Marte Berg Edseth (Norway)

Row 42 – Cell 2

44

Lieke Nooijen (Netherlands)

Row 43 – Cell 2

45

Kim le Court (Mauritius)

Row 44 – Cell 2

46

Anna Henderson (Great Britain)

Row 45 – Cell 2

47

Katharina Sadnik (Austria)

Row 46 – Cell 2

48

Femke de Vries (Netherlands)

Row 47 – Cell 2

49

Evita Muzic (France)

Row 48 – Cell 2

DNF

Solbjork Anderson (Denmark)

Row 49 – Cell 2

DNF

Olha Kulynych (Ukraine)

Row 50 – Cell 2

DNF

Linda Riedmann (Germany)

Row 51 – Cell 2

DNF

Marta Lach (Poland)

Row 52 – Cell 2

DNF

Nika Bobnar (Slovenia)

Row 53 – Cell 2

DNF

Tiril Jorgensen (Norway)

Row 54 – Cell 2

DNF

Sandrine Tas (Belgium)

Row 55 – Cell 2

DNF

Lea Curinier (France)

Row 56 – Cell 2

DNF

Marie le Net (France)

Row 57 – Cell 2

DNF

Josie Nelson (Great Britain)

Row 58 – Cell 2

DNF

Usoa Ostolaza (Spain)

Row 59 – Cell 2

DNF

Natalie Quinn (United States)

Row 60 – Cell 2

DNF

Erica Magnaldi (Italy)

Row 61 – Cell 2

DNF

Kate Courtney (United States)

Row 62 – Cell 2

DNF

Grace Arlandson (United States)

Row 63 – Cell 2

DNF

Lotte Claes (Belgium)

Row 64 – Cell 2

DNF

Janika Loiv (Estonia)

Row 65 – Cell 2

DNF

Alison Jackson (Canada)

Row 66 – Cell 2

DNF

Ricarda Bauernfeind (Germany)

Row 67 – Cell 2

DNF

Petra Zsanko (Hungary)

Row 68 – Cell 2

DNF

Olivia Baril (Canada)

Row 69 – Cell 2

DNF

Teniel Campbell (Trinidad and Tobago)

Row 70 – Cell 2

DNF

Hayley Preen (South Africa)

Row 71 – Cell 2

DNF

Raquel Queiros (Portugal)

Row 72 – Cell 2

DNF

Julie van de Velde (Belgium)

Row 73 – Cell 2

DNF

Linda Zanetti (Switzerland)

Row 74 – Cell 2

DNF

Jasmin Liechti (Switzerland)

Row 75 – Cell 2

DNF

Andrea Ramirez (Mexico)

Row 76 – Cell 2

DNF

Amber Kraak (Netherlands)

Row 77 – Cell 2

DNF

Laura Rojas (Colombia)

Row 78 – Cell 2

DNF

Catalina Soto (Chile)

Row 79 – Cell 2

DNF

Jasmin Soto (Guatemala)

Row 80 – Cell 2

DNF

Carina Schrempf (Austria)

Row 81 – Cell 2

DNF

Niamh Fisher-Black (New Zealand)

Row 82 – Cell 2

DNF

Cecilie Ludwig (Denmark)

Row 83 – Cell 2

DNF

Romina Hinojosa (Mexico)

Row 84 – Cell 2

DNF

Claudette Nyirarukundo (Rwanda)

Row 85 – Cell 2

DNF

Magdeleine Vallieres Mill (Canada)

Row 86 – Cell 2

DNF

Adele Normand (Canada)

Row 87 – Cell 2

DNF

Argyro Milaki (Greece)

Row 88 – Cell 2

DNF

Lisa Bone (South Africa)

Row 89 – Cell 2

DNF

Agua Espinola (Paraguay)

Row 90 – Cell 2

DNF

Daniela Campos (Portugal)

Row 91 – Cell 2

DNF

Ann-Christine Allik (Estonia)

Row 92 – Cell 2

DNF

Sigrid Ytterhus Haugset (Norway)

Row 93 – Cell 2

DNF

Alexis Magner (United States)

Row 94 – Cell 2

DNF

Sara Martin (Spain)

Row 95 – Cell 2

DNF

Maggie Coles-Lyster (Canada)

Row 96 – Cell 2

DNF

Diana Penuela (Colombia)

Row 97 – Cell 2

DNF

Xaveline Nirere (Rwanda)

Row 98 – Cell 2

DNF

Shimeng Zhu (China)

Row 99 – Cell 2

DNF

Antri Christoforou (Cyprus)

Row 100 – Cell 2

DNF

Beatriz Roxo (Portugal)

Row 101 – Cell 2

DNF

Vera Looser (Namibia)

Row 102 – Cell 2

DNF

Monaliza Chneslasie (Eritrea)

Row 103 – Cell 2

DNF

Ursula Linden (Finland)

Row 104 – Cell 2

DNF

Karin Abe (Japan)

Row 105 – Cell 2

DNF

Faina Potapova (Kazakhstan)

Row 106 – Cell 2

DNF

Valeriia Kononenko (Ukraine)

Row 107 – Cell 2

DNF

Mary Joyce Monton (Philippines)

Row 108 – Cell 2

DNF

Skye Davidson (Zimbabwe)

Row 109 – Cell 2

DNF

Julia Borgstrom (Sweden)

Row 110 – Cell 2

DNF

Paula Blasi (Spain)

Row 111 – Cell 2

DNF

Aidi Gerde Tuisk (Estonia)

Row 112 – Cell 2

DNF

Gergana Stoyanova (Bulgaria)

Row 113 – Cell 2

DNF

Kristina Novikova (Individual Neutral Athletes)

Row 114 – Cell 2

DNF

Diane Ingabire (Rwanda)

Row 115 – Cell 2

DNF

Zhaoqi Feng (China)

Row 116 – Cell 2

DNF

Magh Firotika Marenda (Indonesia)

Row 117 – Cell 2

DNF

Rotem Gafinovitz (Israel)

Row 118 – Cell 2

DNF

Madina Kakhkhorova (Uzbekistan)

Row 119 – Cell 2

DNF

Wendy Ducreux (Panama)

Row 120 – Cell 2

DNF

Christina Schweinberger (Austria)

Row 121 – Cell 2

DNF

Chanpeng Nontasin (Thailand)

Row 122 – Cell 2

DNF

Mishael Alhazmi (Saudi Arabia)

Row 123 – Cell 2

DNF

Kaja Rysz (Poland)

Row 124 – Cell 2

DNF

Flora Perkins (Great Britain)

Row 125 – Cell 2

DNF

Marta Jaskulska (Poland)

Row 126 – Cell 2

DNF

Lauretta Hanson (Australia)

Row 127 – Cell 2

DNF

Caroline Andersson (Sweden)

Row 128 – Cell 2

DNF

Xin Tang (China)

Row 129 – Cell 2

DNF

Georgia Baker (Australia)

Row 130 – Cell 2

DNF

Nesrine Houili (Algeria)

Row 131 – Cell 2

DNF

Kendra Tabu (Kenya)

Row 132 – Cell 2

DNF

Tereza Kurnicka (Slovakia)

Row 133 – Cell 2

DNF

Sajedeh Siyahian (Iran)

Row 134 – Cell 2

DNF

Monica Kiplagat (Kenya)

Row 135 – Cell 2

DNF

Rongina Ngandu (Zimbabwe)

Row 136 – Cell 2

DNF

Anta Ndiaye (Senegal)

Row 137 – Cell 2

DNS

Sandra Alonso (Spain)

Row 138 – Cell 2

DNS

Lucie de Marignylagesse (Mauritius)

Row 139 – Cell 2

DNS

Ramadhan Najma (Comoros)

Row 140 – Cell 2