In a sprint mode, Paula Ostiz Taco broke away from the team of five lead riders to become the first Spanish rider to win gold in the Women Junior Road Race.
Taco becomes the first Spanish rider to claim this title since 1987 when this race category started, and in which Team Spain has a silver medal from 2024.
Taco has been looking for this win throughout the ongoing UCI Road World Championships in Kigali but her hunt was frustrated despite the good pressure performance of Team Spain in all races.
At the finish line, Taco was in tears and screaming with joy after hitting the finish line, clocking 2:09:19, beating Anja Grossmann (2nd place) – the rider of the day, and Italian rider Chantal Pegolo came in 3rd place.
A No One’s Race:
Spanish female cyclist Leyre Almena Requena made her first attempt leading the group of Women Junior Road Race. For over an hour, she took the lead alone, separating herself from the first peloton.
Ethiopian rider Tsige Kiros dropped seconds off the race when she encountered a mechanical issue before hitting the cobblestone road and was forced to double her energy to catch the peloton on the climb and retained competitiveness despite the hiccup.
In the meantime, many riders from France, the USA, and Ukraine dropped out of the race.
Swiss female rider Anja Grossmann constantly led the peloton, which was packed with British, Spanish, American, Australian, and Italian riders.
At the back of the peloton, Dutch rider M. Arens struggled to keep up with the pace even when the climbs were not her specialty, but Milana Ushakova, a talented young female cyclist from Ukraine who is good at climbs, kept herself in the back of the peloton, waiting for the right moment to strike.
With one lap remaining and as more riders dropped out, Kiros, who had suffered a mechanical issue earlier, managed to come in the 1st peloton lead group as the Australian team also decided to make their move.
At this moment, the 1st peloton was at a stalemate, but Grossmann retained her lead and dictated how the race went, while constantly taking lots of water to keep up.
An attack from Russ Muller (NED) as she made a move to pass Grossmann, but the latter managed to upset her counterattack.
A. Blackburn of Britain, who had been lost in the race, returned to the race, making it very hard to determine who would win as the riders kept switching positions in and out of the 1st peloton, making it anybody’s race.
Stampori of Greece was not willing to wait for the resting time and took the first risk to shoot out with an acceleration on the right side of the group. The Spanish team hunted her down for their teammate Paula Austice to make her win.
At the Kimuhurura cobblestone, Grossman made her strike to go full flight in which Kiros (the fighter) was dropped, and so was Tuffy S (AUS) and Erin Boothman (GBR) who had mechanical issues on the climb.
With 200 meters to the finish, Kiros brought back another strike to try to take a medal for Africans, but Taco’s sprint was unbeatable. Kiros came in 7th place and was the only African in the top 10.
All Photos: Moses Niyonzima
