Magdeleine Vallieres: Shock Worlds Victory & Reflection

If Magdeleine Vallieres manages to get any sleep on Saturday night, she will wake up Sunday, gaze across at the brand new rainbow jersey in her room and almost certainly wonder if she is still dreaming.

The Canadian lined out in the elite women’s road race in Kigali, Rwanda as a clear outsider. The course was likely the hardest-ever in the history of the event and the general presumption was that one of the sport’s top champions would be the one who would take gold at the end of the day.

Instead riders such as Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift winners Pauline Ferrand-Prévot (France), Demi Vollering (Netherlands) and Kasia Niewiadoma (Poland) were completely outmaneuvered, becoming bogged down in a tactical battle with others big names such as time trial world champion Marlen Reusser (Switzerland), Kim Le Court (Mauritius) plus Elisa Longo-Borghini (Italy).

They each finished over a minute and a half back, and were left trying to understand and to explain what had gone wrong.

Meanwhile Vallieres, Niamh Fisher Black (New Zealand) and Mavi García (Spain) played a tactical blinder and fought it out for the medals, finishing in that order.

“The girls believed in me, so I believed in myself,” a stunned Vallieres said after the race.

“I really committed to going for it. I prepared well, I knew I was on good form. I told myself I didn’t want to have any regrets, and I don’t.”

Just 24 years of age, Vallieres is a climbing specialist who most often has ended up riding for others on her EF Education-Oatly pro team. She has been with either that setup or the related EF Education-Tibco-SVB squad since turning pro prior to the 2022 season, and is a valued team member.

Vallieres had just one victory to her credit prior to Saturday, namely last year’s Trofeo Palma Femina, but had faith in her ability to ride well after what had been a very good buildup.

“I have been dreaming about it for a while now,” she said. “It was a big goal of mine this year. I prepared really well for it, I did altitude with my coach.

“We knew this would be a big goal and then with the team, we focused on it. It was my dream to win it, and I guess it is true now.

“It is crazy.”

‘In their eyes something changed’

When Vallieres crossed the finish line, her national team and trade team teammate Alison Jackson was even louder in her celebrations. The former Paris-Roubaix winner had ridden for Vallieres during the race and then withdrew, with this DNF enabling her to be already at the finish and to see history being set.

No woman or man from Canada had ever taken the elite road race title, a statistic underlining the enormity of what Vallieres achieved.

She may have been surprised how well things worked out, but Jackson insisted that she personally was not.

“I am so proud of her. I could not be more proud. Megs is a gem of a person,” the extraverted rider said. “I have always been teammate, teammate, teammate, but when she came she said I am going all in for this words, with preparation, altitude, the training just so focused.

“It was a little bit intense but before [the race]she just said ‘my power is so good, I feel so good.’

“I said, ‘great, you need to believe in yourself first,’ but I absolutely believe in her.”

That perfect buildup enabled the team to have big belief in her. The riders fully committed to the cause on Saturday, with Jackson and others riding hard to help her achieve the best possible result.

What was interesting is that Vallieres’ surprise victory echoes the equally-unexpected success of Jackson in the 2023 Paris-Roubaix.

The latter accepted that victory may in turn have helped other riders to trust in Vallieres’ chances.

“I think you have to see it to believe it,” Jackson said. “I know when I won Roubaix, I remember seeing the Canadian riders afterwards.

“Canadians never win these big races. I was seeing that in their eyes something changed, like ‘I can do it too.’

“With Mags, I have known her since she was young and she always looked up to me. I feel like I mentor her and hopefully just help her grow in her confidence and bike racing knowledge and skill.

“So then to be able to be part of her big win…honestly, she is just like my little sister.”

‘Both really committed to this break’

The timing of Vallieres’ win is incredible. Next year’s UCI world championships will be held in Montréal and for that country to now have the first-ever Canadian world champion will go a long way in building up interest for those races.

“It is great to do it here,” said Vallieres. “With the worlds next year in Montreal, it is perfect.”

Feeling very good in the finale, she made her move inside the final three laps. She was one of a group of riders who shook off the peloton and chased down the race leaders Noemi Rüegg (Switzerland) and Mireia Benito (Spain).

A ten-woman break formed as a result, with García then launching on the penultimate ascent of the Côte de Kigali Golf with 22km to go and dragging Vallieres and Fisher-Black away.

Vallieres made her winning move on the final climb, surging at the bottom of the Côte de Kimihurura, dropping the other two and pushing on to a huge result.

“I knew I probably wouldn’t win in a sprint against Niamh as she is so strong,” Vallieres said. “We were both really committed to this break, working really hard. Then I saw she was fading a little bit, so I told myself I just had to go all in now and try something.

“It worked out in the end.”

It certainly did, and it her life has now changed forever.

She insisted Saturday that she didn’t really believe what had happened, but the weeks ahead will help her adjust to the fact that she made history, and that she will have an iconic jersey to wear for the next 12 months.

Jackson will help drum it home, just as she did after the end of the race on Saturday.

She looked ecstatic with the result, and underlined just how rewarding it felt to her to be part of it all.

“I hopped the barriers and to be the first person to greet her…when you have a big win, you just want your closest people [to be there] … your family or the people who have seen you in the highs and lows, the disappointments and the successes.

“We have been teammates for a while now and to be able to share this with her… It is so important for me but I hope it is also a beautiful moment for her too.”

It certainly is, and when Vallieres wakes up on Sunday and gazes across to her new rainbow jersey, the surreal, spine-tingling emotions will start all over again.