July 14/25 12:28 pm - Norwegian Wins Inaugural Women's Abitibi, Canadians Take Next 4 Spots

Posted by Editoress on 07/14/25
 

The first edition of the Women's Tour de l'Abitibi concluded on Monday with yet another lead change, as Norway's Oda Aune Gissinger laid down a blistering time trial to take the overall lead, and the title, from Elodie Malois (Team Canada). Team Canada riders took second through fifth in the final standings, with Malois finishing second overall, ahead of teammate Raphaelle Houde, the Stage 3 winner.

Stage 3
The third stage was nine laps of a 10.4 kilometre circuit through and around Val d'Or. After an early breakaway by Teagan Gawne (Liftow - KW Cycling Academy) was pulled back, Malois launched a solo attack at 37 kilometres (late in Lap 3). Her teammate Houde joined her on Lap 6 (65 kilometres), and the duo gained almost two minutes on the peloton, with race leader Marte Dolven's Norway team unable to reel them in. The duo lost some of their lead in the final few laps, but still finished 51 seconds ahead of the bunch, with Houde taking the win and putting Malois into the leader's jersey, three seconds ahead of her teammate, and former leader Dolven at 44 seconds. Malois also took over the Best Young Rider jersey, while Dolven remained leader in the Points and Climber competitions.

Stage 4
The final stage was a 9.3 kilometre time trial, which proved to be decisive. Gissinger came into the stage in fourth place overall, 51 seconds down on Malois, but won her second stage of the race [she also took Stage 2] in commanding fashion, finishing 29 seconds ahead of second placed Elly Moore (Team Canada), with Eve Buczkowski (Team Canada) third at 44 seconds. Malois could only manage seventh, at 1:07, with Houde finishing ninth at 1:12.

This propelled Gissinger up to the overall win, with Malois at 16 seconds and Houde at 24 seconds. Moore and Buczkowski moved up to fourth and fifth, respectively, from 16th and 17th, after their strong time trials. There were no changes in the other jerseys, with Dolven retaining the Points and Climber, and Malois the Best Young Rider. Team Canada won the Team GC competition.

Le Tour de l'Abitibi, Femmes: Stage 3

Le Tour de l'Abitibi, Femmes: Stage 4 and Final GC

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Norwegian Rider Wins First Stage of Inaugural Women's Abitibi

Norway Finishes 1-2 on Stage 2 of Women's Tour de l'Abitibi