How the race finished
Daria Pikulik (Human Powered Health) won the WWT season closer at the Tour of Guangxi, taking the bunch sprint ahead of Chiara Consonni (UAE Team ADQ) and Mia Griffin (Israel-Premier Tech Roland).
Full results are available below.
How it happened
The final race of the 2023 Women’s World Tour calendar took place over a 144.6km route finishing in Giulin. A predominantly flat parcours, two climbs in the middle of the race were opportunities for teams to look to break things up and put some of the stronger sprinters under pressure.
In the first half of the race, the peloton let a duo go clear. Lu Siying (Chinese national team) and Gulnaz Khatuntseva (Li Ning Star Ladies) grew their lead out to 4:30 minutes, but the peloton reeled them back in before they hit the major climb up Yashan Hill. With the bunch breaking up a little bit not significantly on the climb, the mountain sprint points were hotly contested. Victoria Guilman (FDJ-Suez) took maximum points and with them, the overall Queen of the Mountains classification, ahead of Anouska Koster (Uno-X Pro Cycling) and Tamara Dronova (Israel Premier-Tech Roland).
Following the descent off the climb, the Chinese National Team tried once again to animate the race, with Feng Lin establishing a solo lead of one minute. The peloton once again controlled things and caught Lin with 25km to go, setting up for a bunch sprint.
In a tight drag race to the line, Daria Pikulia (Human Powered Health) just edged out Chiara Consonni (UAE Team ADQ) for the win. With that, Pikulia managed the unlikely outcome of winning on both the first and last days of the World Tour calender this year. Israel Premier Tech Roland had a strong finish, with Mia Griffin claiming her first World Tour podium position in third, and Maggie Coles-Lyster crossing the line just behind her in fourth.
Full Results
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