Rally Cycling’s Sara Poidevin won the Best Young Rider classification at the team’s final race of the season, the Tour de l’Ardèche. Poidevin wore the white jersey following the second stage and never looked back, eventually building a five-minute advantage over Paula Patino (Columbia) in France’s biggest stage race. Poidevin finished sixth overall thanks to her podium finish atop the infamous Mont Ventoux on stage four.
“I’m really excited to have been able to take the white jersey,” said Poidevin. “I think it’s a perfect representation of just how strong our young team is! Everyone on the team rode so well this week. My teammates supported me, kept me in position and made sure I was taken care of leading into key parts of each stage. I couldn’t have done this without them.”
The riders faced seven stages over six days with two mountaintop finishes and also saw Heidi Franz take the early lead in the Queen of the Mountains competition. With a massive field of 180 riders taking the start, it made for some of the toughest race conditions the team has faced all season.
“The racing was incredibly challenging every day and really pushed each of us to our limits,” said Poidevin. “We showed that we can be competitive at high-level European races this week which is super exciting leading into next season.”
Teammates Sara Bergen, Canadian Road Champion Katherine Maine, and Rob Britton will join Poidevin at the end of the month to represent Team Canada at the UCI World Road Cycling Championships from September 23 – 30 to close out the season. Former World Junior Time Trial champion and U23 silver medalist Brandon McNulty will compete in the time trial for Team USA.
Final general classification
1 NIEWIADOMA KATARZYNA CSR 20h27m33s
2 GARCIA CANELLAS MARGARITA ESP at 1m28s
3 MERINO CORTAZAR EIDER ESP at 1m47s
4 WINDER RUTH USA at 2m07s
5 HALL KATHARINE USA at 2m39s
6 POIDEVIN SARA RLW at 2m49s
7 MAGNALDI ERICA BPK at 2m56s
8 DE VUYST SOFIE BEL at 5m17s
9 AALERUD KATRINE NOR at 5m22s
10 NILSSON HANNA BTC at 6m13s
Final Best Young Rider standings
1 POIDEVIN SARA RLW 20h30m22s
2 PATINO BEDOYA PAULA ANDREA CMC at 5m16s
3 VOLLERING HALF SWA at 10m05s
