Hi again all, it’s off season time in the road cycling world, which means rest and relaxation in preparation for winter training to recommence.
This year there have been so many exciting moments in both men’s and women’s races, both to watch and be a part of. All the way from Australia in January, through the Classics, Grand Tours, Olympics and Worlds – and all of the many in-betweens. And so, as difficult as it is to choose, I thought I’d give my pick of my personal top 5 favourite women’s races of the 2024 season (and a few bonus extras..) – let’s go!
UAE Tour Women
Ok so technically this was 4 stages, but I’m counting it as one race! UAE Tour offers the chance for both sprinters and GC hopes to have their first big outing, and give us all a taste of what might play out later in the year. The first two stages were bunch sprints – unfortunately not much crosswind action throughout, but still good finales and clear to see that Lorena Wiebes was in good form coming into the year. The 3rd stage was the infamous Jebel Hafeet climb. Lotte Kopecky sent a few shockwaves through the system by winning the summit finish and showing that her climbing strength continues to progress year on year, which no doubt worried the pure climbers for what was to come in the summer (in the Giro d’Italia Women for example). The final stage was pretty epic with Amber Kraak being the only rider from the breakaway managing to hold off the chase, on what was supposed to be the final sprint day, and time trialling it to perfection to win by just a few meters from the swarming bunch. A great watch and the first proper stage race of the year to get us in the mood for more.
Liège-Bastogne-Liège Femmes
I think this was one of the best races to watch beginning to end. The reason it stood out particularly to me, was because a strong early break took off and quickly gained a gap, which is not always ‘allowed’ to happen in women’s racing. The race became attritional and the three strongest of the breakaway survived, bridged to only by the three strongest from the bunch. A tactical and exciting final hour of racing ensued. I really had no idea which of the six riders would take the win coming into the final kilometres – usually I would take a pick, but a sprint on fatigued legs is not a usual sprint, so it was anyone’s game. In the end it was Grace Brown that had the most left to take the win. Liège is almost always guaranteed to be a good one.
World Championships RR
I always find the races that are in national teams rather than in trade teams very interesting to watch – team strategies and dynamics are completely different, and it often turns out to be a confusing, chaotic and slightly ridiculous affair, but always with a deserved winner… Worlds this year being no different! From the start it looked like it was hectic with awful weather all day long. An early breakaway went but in the second half of the race it all exploded completely. Groups were chopping and changing constantly – as soon as you thought the winning group had gone something unexpected would happen and the whole situation would change again. The lack of radio communication also made it more challenging for riders to know what’s going on (especially the Dutch it would seem…) but added to the spectacle. All of these factors made it one of the most entertaining races to watch this year, and Lotte Kopecky just managed to take the title for the 2nd time.
Paris Roubaix Femmes avec Zwift
Even though it wasn’t a win, it sure felt like one! As always, Paris Roubaix delivered the chaos and craziness it always does, which makes watching it almost a 100% guarantee of excitement. Despite some of this craziness, Pfeiffer Georgi made it into to the leading group for our Team dsm-firmenich PostNL, and in coming to the line, on a photo finish she got 3rd place in an absolutely stacked 5-woman front group. She didn’t realise until a while afterwards that she’d beaten Vos to 3rd, so the raw emotions were just incredible, and feeling that within the whole team was just incredible too.
Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift – Stage 1 (and Stage 2)
Again on a similar vein to the previous – these are the real moments where you feel all the emotions of being part of a team. Charlotte Kool, in her home country The Netherlands, took the first yellow jersey of the Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift in a sprint finish. This was just such a big goal and special moment for our team, especially as Romain Bardet took the first yellow jersey in Men’s Tour, just a few weeks earlier. You couldn’t make it up, it was just perfect.
Charlotte won’t mind me saying that it was a team win for everybody. Of course it wasn’t my legs that were sprinting (thankfully) but I still felt that win so powerfully and that I was a part of it like every member of the team, including soigneurs, mechanics, DSs, chefs etc. Everybody was just so overjoyed and felt it collectively. And if that wasn’t enough, she then backed it up by winning the day after as well, fuelled by great teamwork, and solidifying that she is one of the fastest in the world. For sure, even though I wasn’t there in person, this was the best moment of the season for me.
Honourable mentions:
- Well I couldn’t leave the Olympics out could I! An amazing Time trial started proceedings – Grace Brown having an incredible final year of her career, absolutely destroying the field to win Gold by 1.5 minutes, and adding the World Championships rainbow bands to her collection later in the year as well. It was so great to cheer on and see Anna Henderson getting 2nd place for GB too.
- The Road Race was also a thrilling event, similar to the World Championships in terms of racing for National teams, lack of radios and a hard finishing circuit. A crash going into the first key point split the race apart, but in a war of attrition towards the end it was Kristen Faulkner who timed her attack perfectly to take the win. Kristen and I first met when we were teammates on Tibco-SVB and we rode my first WWT races together. She is a big inspiration for me and I’m so happy to see her achieve this. I hope one day I can follow in a few of her successful footsteps!
- Omloop Het Niewsblad is also worth a mention. Like all classics it looked pretty crazy throughout, and then when the final selection was made it was great to watch Longo Borghini and Van Anrooij from Lidl Trek attempt everything they could towards the end to get away from the faster Kopecky and Vos. It was a great watch and gave us a taste of what was to come for the rest of the classics season.
Thanks for reading and here’s to an exciting 2025!
Make sure to check out what I’m up to over on my Instagram accounts: abijesmith and abijesmith.art
Abi
