Highlights from the women’s WorldTour GP Plouay
Numainville sprints to third as Kirchmann attacks finishes sixth
Joëlle Numainville sprinted to a podium in the UCI women’s WorldTour Grand Pric Plouay on August 27. In a thrilling finale, Leah Kirchmann of Liv-Plantur went on the attack with a little over 11-km to go building up a maximum lead of 21-seconds but on the race’s final climb the Canadian was reeled in with 4-km to go. Kirchmann currently sits second overall in the women’s WorldTour overall standings. On the Côte de Ty Marrec climb a move of six riders took off containing Numainville of Cervélo-Bigla and WorldTour overall leader Meagan Guarnier. However the group could not cooperate and just before the flamme rouge a group of 15 came together to contest the win.
In a long sprint, Numainville opened up early and looked strong but an unexpected winner took the day. Poland’s Eugenia Bujak of BTC City Ljubljana surged to the front to take the win ahead of Italian Elena Cecchini of Canyon SRAM Racing with Numainville in third.
With one more race on the WorldTour calendar, the Madrid Challenge by the Vuelta on Sept. 11, Kirchmann holds a sizable lead on world champion Lizzie Armistead for second place in the overall WorldTour standings. She has had an excellent season consistently performing at the biggest races and wore the pink jersey at the Giro Rosa for one stage after winning the opening prologue.
