While the men's cycling season continues with events like the Paris-Tour and the Tour of Lombardia, for the women the Road Cycling World Championships will be the pinnacle event of the year and the grand finale of the racing calendar. This is not a bad thing, as it gives the women even more reason to give it their all one last time. Who, what, when and where can you expect to see in and around Zurich this Saturday? This article from IDLProCycling.com will give you all the details.
Recent World Championships have reflected cycling's balance: in 2012 and 2013, Marianne Fosse-Time (yes, twice) was still competing, while ten years ago, in 2014, Pauline Ferrand-Prévot won the title. The Frenchman, who will join Visma|Lease a Bike next year, is returning to Zurich after many years of competitive mountain biking.
The next few years were dominated by the mainly Dutch, with Anna van der Breggen, Annemiek van Vleuten (both twice) and Chantal van den Broek-Blaak winning world titles. In between, Elisa Balsamo also won the cycling title in 2021, but there was some contention among the Dutch. And sometimes it was just a little.
Last year the title naturally went to Lotte Kopecky. Kopecky and Demi Forelling are the undoubted stars of the current pack, and both will start in Switzerland as heavy favourites.
2024 Road Cycling World Championships – Women's Practical Information
September 28th (Saturday) Uster – Zurich (Switzerland) Participant category: WC
In this article
Recent winnersCourse, weather, timeFavoritesTV information
2024 Road Cycling World Championships – Latest Women's Winners
2023 Lotte Kopecky
2022 Annemiek van Vleuten
2021 Elisa Balsamo
2020 Anna van der Breggen
2019 Annemiek van Vleuten
2018 Anna van der Breggen
2017 Chantal van den Broek-Blaak
2016 Amalie Dideriksen
2015 Lizzie Dignan
2014 Pauline Ferrand Prevost
2024 Road Cycling World Championships – Women's: Course, Weather, Times
The men's race will start in Winterthur on Sunday and the women's in nearby Uster on Saturday, from where they will complete a loop around Lake Greifensee before heading into the world championship capital.
After about 30 kilometers, the riders reach the local circuit in Zurich, which is 27 kilometers long and must be completed five times. Just before reaching there, the riders face the Binz hill (1.5 kilometers, gradient 9.4%).
Check out the video below for more details!
Now, about the Zurich circuit. This is where we expect the big battles. World Championships organizer Oliver Senn explained exactly where, when and what we can expect: “At the beginning of the loop there is a fairly steep but short climb,” he points to Zürichbergstrasse, about 1100 metres long. “Then there is a bit of a flat descent followed by a long climb (Vitikonerstrasse, 2.3 km, 5.7%, peaking at 9%, editor's note).”
“In itself it doesn't pose an immediate problem, but when you have to do it seven times (or five in the women's race, editor's note), over many kilometres… then the course is up and down and there are no real descents to recover properly.” He is referring to the Pfannenstiel plateau, from which the riders set off towards Küssnacht in each round.
“At some point we will face the next climb of 2km towards Zollikon, which I think will be a key point in the race. We will definitely see an attack there, unless someone has already broken away on their own. After that it's about 1.5km flat to the finish at Seckseleutenplatz near Lake Zurich.”
See below the photo for more details!
“So there's plenty of chances to make a difference and make the race tough, which means it's going to be a really fun race from start to finish,” Sen predicts. “The course is more difficult than it looks at first glance, with some pretty long climbs and lots of ups and downs. I think the best rider on this circuit will win the rainbow jersey.”
“I don't see it as a race for pure climbers, but it is very tough,” says the man behind the Zurich World Championships. “That was the plan from the beginning: to create a course that gives as many riders as possible a chance, and not just a few.”
weather
The weather in Zurich on Saturday looks good. Cool temperatures are expected in the morning, but by the afternoon temperatures will rise to above 10°C. There is little chance of rain.
Times
Start time: 12:45 PM local time (6:45 AM EST)
Ends: 5:30 PM local time (11:30 AM EST)
Athletes to watch at the 2024 Women's Road Cycling World Championships
Like almost every event, this is expected to be a great World Championship for the elite women, with the Belgian and Dutch women once again taking centre stage. First and foremost comes to mind: defending champion Lotte Kopecky, who will be desperate to extend her world title in the road race after being beaten in the time trial. Anyone who has seen Kopecky's success in the Tour de Romandie and the Giro will have no doubts about her climbing ability.
Demi Verreling is one woman who experienced this first-hand during her preparation races in Switzerland, but the Dutchman will be hoping to get the better of her in her adopted home country. National coach Loos Gunnewijk has appointed the Dutchman as team leader, which will no doubt boost Verreling's morale, as she has mostly held on to second place so far this year. A world title in Switzerland? “A fairytale,” she summed up after the time trial.
But look at the rest of the Dutch field and you'll find many more contenders, such as Puck Pieters, who will be making his world championship debut in road cycling; Marianne Voss, who has a few entries but will also be in Zurich; Ri-Janne Markus, Mischa Bredewold, Talita de Jong and Pauliena Reujackers all could (and should) play important roles.
Two riders with whom the Dutch women have often competed for the prize money are Elisa Longo Borghini (Italy) and Kasia Niewiadoma (Poland), who know the ropes and will do everything they can to derail the orange train. Longo Borghini is accompanied by climber Gaia Leani, but will the course satisfy her?
The Anglo-Saxon countries should always be kept in mind. World time trial champion and Liège-Bastogne-Liège winner Grace Brown will be competing again and could have an important crown in her career here as she will soon retire from cycling. And the US women have Olympic champion Kristen Faulkner, but we have seen very little of her (which is dangerous) since that event. Chloe Dygert is also in the running. For Great Britain, the main focus will be on Anna Henderson, while New Zealand and South Africa will have Niamh Fisher-Black and Aisley Moolman respectively chasing their best results.
The big unknown at this World Championship is Pauline Ferrand-Prévot. She returns to road cycling after many years of mountain biking, exactly 10 years after her World Championship win. Together with her partner Dylan van Baarle, she has been preparing for this World Championship in Andorra and Monaco and is secretly keen to do well. France also has a great team with Evita Muzik, Juliette Labous and Cedrine Kerbaol.
Switzerland will mainly be counting on Eliza Chavei to do well, but this Saturday they will also need to keep an eye on Christina Schweinberger (Austria), Cecilie Uttrup Ludwig (Denmark), Mavi Garcia (Spain), Liane Lippert, Antonia Niedermeyer (Germany), Blanka Was (Hungary) and, of course, Urska Zigart (Slovenia).
According to IDLProCycling.com, who is the favorite to win the 2024 Women's Road Cycling World Championships?
Top favourites: Lotte Kopetzky (Belgium) and Demi Forelling (Netherlands)
Outsiders: Elisa Longo Borghini (Italy), Kasia Niewiadoma (Poland), Grace Brown (Australia), Puck Peters, Marianne Voss (Netherlands)
Long Shots: Pauline Ferrand-Prévot, Evita Muzik (France), Kristen Faulkner, Chloe Dygert (USA), Elise Chabay (Switzerland), Liesjeanne Marx (Netherlands), Isley Moolman (South Africa), Niamh Fischer-Black (New Zealand), Liane Lippert (Germany), Blanka Was (Hungary)
TV Women's Cycling World Cup 2024
Sporza (VRT 1), Eurosport (main channels and HBO Max) and NOS (NPO 1) will broadcast most of the women's elite world championships from around 1pm local time (7am EST). The race usually finishes around 5:30pm Swiss time (11:30am EST).
