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Cycling Weekly
Cycling Weekly
Sport
James Shrubsall

Magdeleine Vallieres's shock World Championships victory – and six other surprise winners

Magdeleine Vallieres stands on the World Championships 2025 podium wearing her rainbow jersey and showing off her winner's medal.

As surprise World Championships winners go, there can be few more eyebrow-raising than Canada's new elite champion, Magdeleine Vallieres. The 24-year-old won in Kigali on Saturday after attacking on the final climb and holding off Niamh Fisher-Black and Mavi García to win by 23 seconds.

The longest pre-race odds on Vallieres stretched to 400-1, giving some indication of the strength of her outsider status. Not since part-time racer Anna Kiesenhofer won the road race at the Tokyo Olympics in 2021 has a rider so unknown won such a famous event.

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