UAE TEAM ADQ

23-year-old Polish rider Dominika Wlodarczyk won the road race of the Polish National Championships solo.

23-year-old Polish rider Dominika Wlodarczyk won the road race of the Polish National Championships solo. The UAE Team ADQ rider entered the decisive breakaway, collaborated for several kilometres and gained a good lead, and in the last two kilometres she distanced her two breakaway companions and crossed the finish line in Płock all alone.

She left behind Marta Jaskulska (Ceratizit-WNT Pro Cycling Team) and Zuzanna Chylinska (Toruński Klub Kolarski Pacific - Nestlé Fitness Cycling Team), who were second and third respectively.

This was the first victory in the UAE Team ADQ jersey for the promising young Polish rider, who also celebrated winning her first national road title among the Elite Women. It was the tenth victory of her career.

At the end of the race Dominika Wlodarczyk burst into tears of joy. She said: “The Polish Championships have always been a very important race for me. This season started amazingly for me, but after a racing accident in February I had a blackout for two months. Thanks to the support of my loved ones and the team, I managed to show up at the starting line today and gave it my all. I tried to control the race from the start and gave everything I had to win. I am incredibly excited and happy. I can't believe it”.

At the end of the day yesterday also came the bronze medal for Ireland's Lara Gillespie who was unable to keep her national champion's jersey due in part to a crash. Here is her story: “The course was great and I was exited to race to fight to retain the title. The race was aggressive, with lots of attacks which I was in, making or covering. Unfortunately the racing became quite negative and I also had a crash that left me with a very sore shoulder and hand. I changed bikes and chased back in and was in a small group chasing a solo breakaway. In the final I made a mistake where I miss timed chasing back the two girls ahead, it was close but really very disappointing”.

Thus, this week dedicated to the National Championships closes, which brought UAE Team ADQ three titles: that of Latvia with Anastasia Carbonari, that of Poland with Dominika Wlodarczyk, and that of Italy's Under-23 Women with Eleonora Gasparrini, who finished third overall in the Women's Elite race, where Chiara Consonni came second. To these must be added the two titles (road and time trial) won by Safiya Alsayegh in recent months in the United Arab Emirates.