Road cyclist Anniina Ahtosalo won her first UCI race on Sunday.
20-year-old road cyclist Anniina Ahtosalo came back strongly from a one-month break from racing at the weekend, when he finished second in the 135 km GP Eco-Struct race in Belgium on Saturday.
On Sunday, it went even better, when the Finnish pedaler won the UCI adult international race for the first time in the Trofee Maarten Wynants competition in Belgium.
Ahtosalo, representing the Norwegian Uno-X Mobility, received 125 ranking points for winning the 117-kilometer race and is now ranked 44th in the world.
The flat race ended as expected in the final stretch, where Ahtosalo, known for his sprinting qualities, has so far always had to bow out. This time everything worked out.
– Feels good. There have already been a few second places during this season, so it was nice to finally get a victory under my own name, says Ahtosalo, who has finished second three times in mass races earlier this season.
The Finn from the Chevalmeire team also arrived at the finish line on the tail of the same group of riders Antonia Grondahl, who got the same time as the winner and was 47th. In addition, among the Finns, Baloise-WB Ladies participated Ursula Lindénwhich was 83rd.
Ahtosalo’s team ran a strong race and the team tactics were successful when the Finn got from the playing spots to the decisive meters.
– The route was relatively easy. The expectation was that we would go into a sprint, and our team drove towards that. We had a good team at the line and we knew that we would be strong if the race was decided in a tight end.
Ahtosalo will next compete in the Ride London Classique stage race, part of the women’s cycling world tour, on the 24th-26th. May.
Who to Paris?
Finland has one country for women’s road cycling at the Paris Olympics. In Tokyo, Finland was not represented when the games were moved by a year due to the corona virus, and was chosen for the Olympics Lotta Henttala was pregnant in the summer of 2021.
This year, the choice is basically made between Ahtosalo, who performed cheerfully, and experienced Henttala, Olympic Committee’s director of sports and competition programs Leena Paavolainen tells.
The Olympic Committee prepares the selection together with the Cycling Federation.
Henttala, 34, won the World Championship bronze medal in road running in 2016 and represented Finland at the Rio Olympics that same year. He already ended his career once, but returned to international competitions last year.
Henttala has competed sparingly this season and is 373rd in the ranking of the International Cycling Federation.
Leena Paavolainen says that the selection takes into account the spring races, which are close to the route and duration of the road race of the Paris Olympics. The women’s race route in Paris is 158 kilometers long.
– We will make a review based on these games and the athletes’ performances. I’m not going to predict the choice. There have been several competitions here during the spring and they will be taken into account until the selection day, says Paavolainen.
Ahtosalo has not yet troubled his head with a possible prize competition representation.
– We are still waiting for the selections to be made there, then we can start thinking about them.