Italy has a new under-23 world champion. Lorenzo Finn broke clear on the streets of Kigali on Friday, riding to a brilliant win at the 2025 UCI road world championships. Just like the junior race earlier in the day, Finn did it in style: solo.
The 19-year-old, who also took the junior rainbow jersey a year ago, showed patience on the hilly 165-km course before unleashing his strength in the decisive phase.
The race was contested over 11 laps of the super-tough Côte de Kimihurura circuit. The race began with early break attempts from Danylo Kozoriz, Ramazan Yilmaz and Michal Pomorski. But Belgian Tim Rex rode tirelessly at the front to keep things together in support of team leader Jarno Widar, who came into the race as the favourite despite recent injury troubles.
The first real move didn’t land until Spain’s Hector Alvarez struck with 62 kilometres to go. That attack sparked the formation of a strong lead group including Finn, Norway’s Halvor Dolven, Poland’s Mateusz Gajdulewicz, Austria’s Marco Schrettl and Germany’s Jan Huber. Widar, already on the limit, could not respond and slipped backwards.
With 30 km left, Finn and Huber broke free, building what looked like the winning move. Huber clung on, but the Italian’s tempo on the Kimihurura climb eventually proved too much. Six kilometres from the line, Finn struck out alone and never looked back.
He crossed the finish in triumph, completing a rare back-to-back progression from junior to under-23 world champion. Huber secured silver, while the rest of the break splintered behind. Jonas Walton, fresh off a sixth place in the time trial, finished 37th. Jérôme Gauthier finished 47th.
Racing continues Saturday with the elite women’s road race. Canada has a strong team so be sure to check back here on Canadian Cycling Magazine for results and analysis. You can watch the action on FloBikes.com.
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