The 2024 ladies’s biking season was filled with stress, thrills, and an excellent measure of surprises alongside the way in which. It did not all go Demi Vollering or Lotte Kopecky’s manner, as many predicted, though they had been nonetheless influential all year long.
From the Grand Excursions to the one-day Classics by way of the Olympics, it was an enchanting season stuffed with tales to recollect.
Buckle in, then – listed below are Biking Weekly’s favorite six moments of 2024 from ladies’s racing.
Pfeiffer Georgi’s gorgeous podium end at Paris-Roubaix Femmes
(Picture credit score: Getty Photographs)
If it appears odd to be marking the rider who completed third at Paris-Roubaix Femmes fairly than the rider who gained – Lotte Kopecky – however Pfeiffer Georgi’s podium end at Roubaix was stuffed with pleasure and one of many true moments of the season.
The British dsm-firmenich PostNL rider had appeared completed when she tangled together with her teammate Franziska Koch 15km from the end, and was promptly dropped from the group of favourites. Nonetheless, she battled again right into a rarefied set of riders, together with Marianne Vos, former champion Elisa Longo Borghini and Kopecky. Many would have thought she’d be out-powered within the velodrome dash, however by some means, Georgi discovered the reserves to match Vos pedal stroke for pedal stroke, and beat her on the bike throw.
That was a second of the 12 months in itself, however add within the exact level when Georgi came upon she’d completed third – cue surprised face, unbridled pleasure and some tears – and it turns into actually memorable.
“It was a photograph end and I didn’t know if I used to be third or fourth, however to face on the rostrum means every little thing for me,” the 23-year-old mentioned. “When it got here up on the display screen I used to be so emotional. It is a dream race of mine to win, and a few of these women had been my heroes rising up so to be within the entrance and standing on the rostrum with them at Paris-Roubaix is fairly loopy for me.”
The most recent race content material, interviews, options, critiques and skilled shopping for guides, direct to your inbox!
Grace Brown recovers to win Liège-Bastogne-Liège
(Picture credit score: Getty Photographs)
Has anybody ever had a greater last 12 months than Grace Brown? The Australian gained just about every little thing she got down to, from the Australian TT title to the World Championships time trial, with the Olympics in between. In amongst all of this success, it could be simple to neglect about her win at Liège-Bastogne-Liège Femmes, however this was simply as spectacular.
The FDJ-Suez rider made a behavior of attacking from afar all through her profession, and this was the identical on a chilly day in Belgium, as she was a part of the day’s major breakaway, after which clung on as different favourites joined from behind. With Kasia Niewiadoma, Elisa Longo Borghini and Demi Vollering all there, many wouldn’t have guess on Brown successful, particularly when she nearly crashed with 6.8km to go, hitting the brakes exhausting, after which chasing again on.
Brown’s late dash and lunge proved decisive as she pipped Longo Borghini, taking the largest victory of her profession – to that time – and establishing the right last 12 months.
Elisa Longo Borghini triumphs at Giro d’Italia Ladies
(Picture credit score: Getty Photographs)
Elisa Longo Borghini has gained a lot over a storied profession, from Paris-Roubaix Femmes to the Tour of Flanders twice, together with this 12 months. One factor that has at all times eluded her, although, is victory at her house Grand Tour. Longo Borghini has completed each second and third on the Giro d’Italia Ladies, however by no means first.
This 12 months that modified, with the Italian main the race from the opening day time trial to the very finish, beating Lotte Kopecky – her once more – by 21 seconds come the end. It was regarded as tight at instances, with Kopecky only a second behind forward of the ultimate day, however the Italian triumphed in L’Aquila, refusing to cede extra floor to her Belgian rival.
“I like the joys, I just like the adrenaline. When it’s about one second I just like the head-to-head struggle and I wish to struggle till the tip,” Longo Borghini mentioned. “Once I see the end line I simply see purple like a bull and I simply need to go straight to it.”
Kasia Niewiadoma clings on to Tour de France Femmes glory
(Picture credit score: Getty Photographs)
Heading into the ultimate day of the Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift, Kasia Niewiadoma had 1:15 on Demi Vollering, with the latter’s unlucky crash on stage 5 seemingly altering the route of the race within the former’s favour.
Nonetheless, if there may be one terrain the place Vollering thrives it’s within the excessive mountains, and the ultimate day of the Tour was up Alpe d’Huez, the long-lasting climb that includes for the primary time within the ladies’s race. 1:15 was Niewiadoma’s buffer, then.
On the finish of an eight-day stage race, the race up the mountain would show decisive, one thing which could be very uncommon on the highest stage. There was no procession, no apparent winner, however a titanic battle up the Alpe. At instances, it appeared like Vollering was mounting essentially the most ridiculous comeback, whereas at others, it appeared like Niewiadoma had finished one thing outstanding.
4 seconds was the hole on the finish – 4 seconds! Niewiadoma clinched the win, simply, and Vollering was disconsolate. This was a reminder of what sport is all about.
Niewiadoma, by the way, was concerned in one other second of the season – her win at Flèche Wallonne after so a few years with out tasting victory.
Kristen Faulkner stuns the favourites on the Olympics
(Picture credit score: Getty Photographs)
With 3km to go of the ladies’s highway race on the Paris Olympics, Kristen Faulkner caught the main trio of Lotte Kopecky, Marianne Vos and Kata Blanka Vas. The previous two are two of the largest stars ever in ladies’s biking, the latter one for the longer term.
Faulkner didn’t wait within the group, nevertheless. She sailed excessive of them, shocking them with the decisiveness of the transfer. They appeared throughout at one another, and as they did, the American’s benefit stretched out. In the long run, she gained by nearly a minute.
“This was an awesome instance at present. There was a variety of reward ratio I needed to assess in the course of the race. I needed to be affected person, I needed to know when to be aggressive, be capable of be affected person in the appropriate moments and pull again, after which know when to go all in,” she mentioned post-race. “I believe that is one thing I discovered from my finance days.”
The triumph was particular due to its shock – it is at all times a shock when Kopecky does not win a race, particularly when she’s in as advantageous a place – but in addition due to how a lot effort Faulkner had put into it too. It wasn’t a fluke.
Lotte Kopecky and Demi Vollering dash it out on the Tour de Romandie
(Picture credit score: Getty Photographs)
Demi Vollering and Lotte Kopecky have had a profitable 12 months, even when it may not have lived as much as their expectations. Vollering gained the Vuelta Femenina, Itzulia, the Vuelta a Burgos and the Tour de Suisse, and got here so near successful the Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift. Kopecky gained Paris-Roubaix Femmes, Strade Bianche and the World Championships, and got here near much more.
Nonetheless, the defining theme of the SD Worx-Protime pair’s season might be the stress between them, which most visibly got here to a head on the Tour de Romandie in September, once they got here head-to-head in a dash for stage two, a dash that in additional amicable settings in all probability would not have occurred. Vollering gained the day, however Kopecky gained the race total.
They are going to be on separate groups subsequent 12 months – Kopecky at SD Worx nonetheless, and Vollering at FDJ-Suez – however it’s going to nonetheless be attention-grabbing to see how their tense relationships progresses.