Few outdoors of Canadian biking circles, and maybe the EF Schooling–Oatly staff, noticed it coming. When 24-year-old Magdeleine Vallieres lined up in Kigali, Rwanda, for the elite girls’s street race on the 2025 UCI Street World Championships, she was ranked 149th on the planet and much from a family title. However by the tip of the gruelling course, she had pulled off considered one of this 12 months’s largest upsets, outriding adorned champions to grab the rainbow jersey.
Till final week, the largest wins on her palmarès had been a Canadian criterium title and a victory on the UCI 1.1 Trofeo Palma Femina in Spain. Modest outcomes on paper, however as her teammate Kristen Faulkner, herself the shock Olympic champion of 2024, defined, that rating mentioned little about her true expertise.
For Faulkner, the triumph solely confirmed what the EF squad already knew: Vallieres is “a quiet position mannequin” with a brilliant future forward. “I can’t wait to see what the long run has in retailer for her,” Faulkner mentioned.
Let’s get to know Canada’s first street racing world champion.
(Picture credit score: Getty Photos)
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Full Identify: |
Magdeleine Vallieres Mill |
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Nickname: |
Mags |
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Date of Start: |
10 August 2001 |
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Nationality: |
Canadian |
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Hometown: |
Sherbrooke, Québec |
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Resides in: |
Girona, Spain |
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Turned professional in: |
2019 |
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Present staff: |
EF Schooling-Oatly |
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UCI wins: |
2 |
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Instagram: |
@magdeleinevallieres |
1. Vallieres is Canada’s first-ever Elite Street Race World Champion
In its 98-year historical past, Canada had by no means produced an elite world champion within the street race, males’s or girls’s. It had come shut. Linda Jackson, Michael Woods and Steve Bauer all earned bronze medals at previous street world championships. There have additionally been Canadian champions in different biking disciplines, notably on the monitor, and in junior and under-23 classes. However within the sport’s most prestigious occasion, the highest step of the rostrum had all the time remained out of attain.
Now, Canada can have considered one of its riders put on the rainbow jersey for all the 12 months forward, and people iconic bands will stay on the collar and sleeves of each street racing jersey Vallieres wears to any extent further.
2. Her win was no fluke
Although Vallieres’ victory got here as a shock to many, it was no fluke. The 24-year-old had raced intelligently all through the race, staying attentive and aggressive within the decisive moments. Within the ultimate two laps, she was among the many 10 riders within the lead group, all the time close to the entrance, trying to find the precise second to make her transfer.
Onto the ultimate climb of the Côte de Kimihurura, solely Vallieres, Niamh Fisher-Black (New Zealand) and Mavi García (Spain) have been left, and Vallieres attacked proper on the base. Neither of her fellow escapees was in a position to reply, guaranteeing that the EF Schooling-Oatly rider would go on to win the rainbow jersey.
“I knew I most likely wouldn’t win in a dash towards Niamh as a result of she is robust,” Vallieres mentioned post-race. “We have been each dedicated to this break, working actually exhausting, after which I noticed that she was fading somewhat bit so I informed myself I simply must go all-in now and, yeah, all of it labored out in the long run.”
Behind the audacity was preparation. Vallieres defined that the world championships had been a season-long goal.
“I have been dreaming about it for some time now – it was a giant aim of mine for this 12 months, so I ready properly and at altitude,” she revealed. “With my coach, we knew this could be a giant aim, so with the staff, we targeted on it.
“The women believed in me, so I believed in myself, and I actually dedicated to going for it. I ready properly, knew I used to be on good kind, so I attempted. I informed myself I did not wish to have any regrets and I do not.”
(Picture credit score: Getty Photos)
3. Bikepacking together with her dad sparked a lifelong biking ardour
Vallieres was born and raised in Sherbrooke, Quebec, which lies about 150 kilometres east of Montreal.
She picked up the bike early on, tackling her first 1,000-kilometre bikepacking journey together with her dad throughout the summer time of her ninth birthday.
She credit her dad and that preliminary bikepacking journey for instilling in her a ardour for biking that has guided her life ever since.
Vallieres began racing with an area membership, competing in mountain biking, cyclocross, and street biking as a teen.
In 2019, she received junior nationwide championship titles within the street race and the time trial, and was chosen to compete on the UCI Street World Junior Championships in Yorkshire, England, the place she completed in tenth place.
4. She’s a graduate of the UCI’s World Biking Centre programme
In 2019, Vallieres earned a spot within the UCI’s World Biking Centre programme, which gives coaching and growth for about 100 athletes yearly within the three Olympic disciplines (street, monitor and BMX).
She spent two seasons racing for the WCC staff, gaining publicity to European racing, adapting to life overseas, and laying the inspiration that might carry her into her skilled profession.
She joined the WorldTour in 2022 as a part of Linda Jackson’s EF Schooling–Tibco–SVB staff.
Magdeleine Vallieres with boyfriend Cian Uijtdebroeks
(Picture credit score: Getty Photos)
5. She shines when the roads flip up
Vallieres has all the time been at her finest when the gradients get steep. A pure climber, she’s been a robust asset for EF Schooling-Oatly within the sport’s longest and most difficult stage races just like the Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift, Vuelta a España Femenina and Giro d’Italia Girls. And final weekend’s breakthrough experience, we would not be shocked if we see extra of her in these races within the coming seasons.
That love of climbing traces again to her roots in Sherbrooke, Québec. Vallieres names la Côte de Beauvoir as her favorite climb. The quick, punchy three-minute climb close to her childhood house is the place the place she “realized the best way to undergo” and fell in love with biking.
6. Her boyfriend is fellow professional bike owner Cian Uijtdebroeks
On the day after profitable her rainbow jersey, Vallieres might be discovered cheering on the boys’s peloton, not among the many Canadians, however the Belgians. That’s as a result of her boyfriend is none apart from younger Belgian expertise Cian Uijtdebroeks.
The couple first crossed paths throughout a coaching camp in Spain and shortly linked by way of their shared love of racing. They went public with their relationship on the World Championships in Rwanda, the place Uijtdebroeks confirmed the connection to reporters, after giving Vallieres a hug and kiss earlier than his begin.
(Picture credit score: Getty Photos)
7. She’s well-loved by her teammates
When Vallieres crossed the road in Kigali, the primary embrace got here from a screaming, jubilant and teary Alison Jackson. The previous Paris–Roubaix champion leapt the boundaries to congratulate her youthful compatriot.
“I’ve identified Magdeleine since she was younger, and she or he all the time seemed as much as me. I really feel like I mentor her and hopefully simply assist her develop in her confidence and racing information and talent. So then to have the ability to be part of her large win… truthfully, she’s identical to my little sister,” Jackson informed reporters. “She’s been in that teammate position for thus lengthy. However she’s a champion. She’s the most effective on the planet… I completely consider in her.”
The sentiment was echoed by teammate Kristen Faulkner, who described her as “selfless, type, enjoyable, hard-working, humble, and the form of individual you wish to assist. She’s a quiet position mannequin. She’s a loyal buddy.”