The elite women’s peloton will line up to contest what is anticipated to be one of the most brutally challenging races in the history of the UCI Road World Championships on Saturday in Kigali, Rwanda.
The race will feature 11 laps of a 15.1km city circuit, totalling 164.4km and 3,350 metres of elevation gain, with its highest point at 1,493 meters. There are two climbs on the circuit: the Côte de Kigali Golf climb, 800m at 8.1% halfway around the local circuit, and the decisive Côte de Kimihurura climb, 1.3km at 6.3% on the circuit close to the finish, which is cobbled, and which some of the women will have already experienced in the individual time trial last Sunday.
Kim Le Court-Pienaar (Mauritius)
Kim Le Court-Pienaar has had a stunning season, highlighted by winning Liège-Bastogne-Liège and standing on the podium in four stages, winning stage 5 into Guéret and wearing the yellow jersey at the Tour de France. She has been on a steep trajectory over the last two seasons, turning heads last year with a stage win at the Giro d’Italia.
She raced for two years, from 2015 to 2016, for Continental teams Matrix Fitness and Bizkaia-Durango, but restarted her career on the WorldTour with AG Insurance-Soudal, signing a contract from 2024 through to the end of 2028.
Le Court-Pienaar is one of Africa’s best chances of winning a rainbow jersey at the historic Rwanda Worlds. Given the difficulty of the course and her strengths as a rider, she has every chance of winning this race on the streets of Kigali.
She expects a race of attrition, and while she won’t have as many teammates as nations like Italy and France, she will have the support of Mauritius and the Continent in her aim to win the world title.
Elisa Longo Borghini…
Click Here to Read the Full Original Article at CyclingNews RSS Feed…