Spain’s Paula Blasi completed a head-turning season, graduating to UAE Team ADQ’s WorldTour team mid-season and then winning the opening stage of the Tour de Romandie, where she also spent time in the leader’s jersey. Now she has capped off a whirlwind under-23 campaign with the bronze medal in the under-23 women’s standalone road race at the UCI Road World Championships in Kigali, Rwanda – and has enjoyed every step of the way.
“It’s been a crazy journey this year. I came from the development team, so every step was going faster and faster, so I was just trying to absorb everything and trying to enjoy every moment, because this maybe could only happen once in my life. I tried to take nothing for granted and take every race as something unique and try to enjoy it,” said Blasi.
She also finished 2024 with double ninth places in the Team Time Trial Mixed Relay and the under-23 women’s road race at the Worlds in Zürich.
Off to a strong start, she won La Périgord Ladies and then the opening stage of the Tour de Romandie, where she wore the leader’s jersey but then slipped to second place in the overall classification behind overall winner Blanka Vas (SD Worx-Protime).
In a race of attrition across the 119.3km held on challenging city circuits that included a steep, cobbled climb over the Côte de Kimihurura, she ended up in a selection that went from 20 to 11 riders over the cobbles.
Marion Bunel (France) set a tough pace that ejected all but her teammate Célia Gery and Slovakia’s Viktória Chladoňová, before the trio raced on towards the line. Bunel pulled…
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