Magdeleine Vallieres of Sherbrooke, Quebec won the gold medal in the women’s road race at the 2025 International Cycling Union World Road Cycling Championships in Kigali, Rwanda on Saturday. This was an historic gold medal for Team Canada as Vallieres is the first Canadian ever to win a gold medal in the elite category at the World Road Cycling Championships.
Vallieres, who is 24 years of age, posted a winning time of four hours, 34 minutes and 48 seconds. Niamh Fisher-Black won the silver medal with a time of four hours, 35 minutes, 11 seconds. Mavi Garcia of Spain won the bronze medal with a time of four minutes, 35 minutes and 15 seconds. Vallieres reached the podium by 41 seconds. Elise Chabbey of Switzerland finished in fourth place with a time of four hours, 35 minutes, and 29 seconds.
Prior to Vallieres winning gold, Canada had won seven medals in an elite event at the World Road Cycling Championships (three silver medals and four bronze medals). The silver medalists were Anne Samplonius of Brampton, Ontario (women’s time trial, 1994 in Agrigento, Italy), Canadian Olympic gold medalist Clara Hughes of Winnipeg, Manitoba (women’s time trial, 1995 in Duitama, Colombia), and Svein Tuft of Langley, British Columbia (men’s time trial, 2008 in Varese, Italy). The bronze medalists were Canadian Olympic silver medalist Steve Bauer of St. Catharines, Ontario (men’s individual road race, 1984 in Barcelona, Spain), Canadian Olympic silver medalist Alison Sydor of Edmonton, Alberta (women’s road race, 1991 in Stuttgart, Germany), Linda Jackson of Nepean, Ontario (women’s road race, 1996 in Lugano, Switzerland), and Michael Woods of East York, Ontario (men’s road race, 2018 in Innsbruck, Austria).
Hughes won the gold medal in women’s 5000 metre speed skating at the 2006 Olympic Winter Games in Turin. Bauer won the silver medal in the men’s road race at the 1984 Olympic Games in Los Angeles. Sydor won silver in women’s mountain biking at the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta. The gold medal for Vallieres will give her confidence as she prepares for the 2028 Olympic Games in Los Angeles.
