{"id":7019,"date":"2024-07-24T14:24:23","date_gmt":"2024-07-24T12:24:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/uk\/?p=7019"},"modified":"2024-08-07T14:34:23","modified_gmt":"2024-08-07T12:34:23","slug":"road-and-bmx-cycling-at-the-2024-olympics-who-are-the-favourites","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/uk\/2024\/07\/24\/road-and-bmx-cycling-at-the-2024-olympics-who-are-the-favourites\/","title":{"rendered":"Road and BMX Cycling At the 2024 Olympics \u2013 Who Are the Favourites?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><strong>From one of the oldest cycling events, the road race, to the newest addition, the BMX freestyle, there\u2019s a lot of exciting cycling ahead at the 2024 Paris Olympic Games. Let\u2019s get to know the events and the favourites to cheer for.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><!--more--><\/p>\n<h2><strong>Individual time trial<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The individual TT is the first cycling event at <a href=\"https:\/\/olympics.com\/en\/paris-2024\">this year\u2019s Olympics<\/a> and will take place on Saturday, the 27th of July, just one day after the opening ceremony. It\u2019s the purest test of cycling strength, speed, and stamina. And the cool thing is that many of the famous Tour de France riders are usually competing for top spots. Last year, it was Wout Van Aert, Primoz Roglic, Remco Evenepoel, and Geraint Thomas, among others, competing for gold. You can <a href=\"https:\/\/youtu.be\/DZfUCByNx3M?si=mk41R24LccE7U_vg\">rewatch the race here.<\/a><\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">And the women\u2019s time trial was an impressive show of strength too with Annemiek Van Vleuten, Marlen Reusser, and Anna Van Der Breggen battling it out.<\/p>\n<div class=\"embed-controller-wrapper\">\n<div class=\"embed-wrapper\"><iframe title=\"\ud83d\udeb4\u200d\u2640\ufe0f Women&#039;s Cycling Individual Time Trial | Tokyo Replays | Tokyo Replays\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" data-src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/ZnJMktStA4Q?feature=oembed&#038;si=sTZdOnfQ6099R9LM&#038;enablejsapi=1\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The TT course for 2024 is shared for both men and women and will consist of 32,4 km of mostly flat roads. It will favour pure time triallists such as Italy&#8217;s <strong>Filippo Ganna<\/strong> or Great Britain&#8217;s <strong>Josh Tarling<\/strong>. Primoz\u017e Rogli\u010d won\u2019t be there to defend his title but you\u2019ll see the world champion <strong>Remco Evenepoel<\/strong> and his fellow Belgian <strong>Wout van Aert<\/strong> putting up a fight. Among the women&#8217;s field, watch out for the following contenders: USA&#8217;s <strong>Chlo\u00e9 Dygert<\/strong> who&#8217;s the current world champion, <strong>Ellen van Dijk<\/strong> of Netherlands, and Australia&#8217;s <strong>Grace Brown<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<h2><strong>The road race<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The road race at the Olympics is a lot like the one-day classics: a long route with a lot of climbing and an exciting sprint finish. Last year\u2019s route included a lot of climbing and fast descents and Richard Carapaz created something special in a stacked field with favourites such as Tadej Poga\u010dar, Wout Van Aert and many other elite riders from the Grand Tours. You can watch him go in the breakaway <a href=\"https:\/\/youtu.be\/kVNJPSgUGIA?si=4y8Irsma19UvUqvQ&amp;t=21958\">here.<\/a><\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Riders and national teams aren\u2019t allowed to use radios like they are used to in the Grand Tours. This caused quite a lot of confusion in the women\u2019s race. The very strong Dutch team with Annemiek Van Vleuten, Marianne Vos, and Demi Vollering thought they were going for the victory. And other stars such as Lotte Kopecky or Kasia Niewiadoma were also there fighting. You can watch the drama unfold in the last 15 km of the race <a href=\"https:\/\/youtu.be\/BuyTEO2YW_Y?si=HIg8e-M4wayS7lic&amp;t=14223\">here.<\/a><\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">This year, the men\u2019s course is 273 km long with 2,800 metres of climbing and 13 named ascents. The race is planned for the 3<sup>rd<\/sup> of August and will feature many of the best from the Tour de France peloton. The fresh Tour\u2019s champion <strong>Tadej Poga\u010dar<\/strong> will be there as well as the 3<sup>rd<\/sup> in the GC <strong>Remco Evenepoel<\/strong>. The best sprinter and green jersey holder,<strong> Biniam Girmay<\/strong>, will also have a shot if he\u2019s in the final sprint. And we have to mention <strong>Wout van Aert<\/strong>, <strong>Mathieu van der Poel<\/strong>, and <strong>Tom Pidcock<\/strong> as fan favourites too.<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The women&#8217;s road race is 158 km long with 1,700 metres of climbing and 9 named ascents. The race is scheduled a day after the men\u2019s, on the 3<sup>rd<\/sup> of August. It will have a strong Dutch presence as usual with <strong>Marianne Vos<\/strong> and <strong>Demi Vollering<\/strong> but Belgium&#8217;s <strong>Lotte Kopecky<\/strong> and Poland&#8217;s <strong>Kasia Niewiadoma<\/strong> will have something to say about the final standings.<\/p>\n<h2><strong>Cross country<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Olympics cycling is not just about road bikes. Mountain bikers get their opportunity with a cross-country race held on the 28<sup>th<\/sup> of July and the 29<sup>th<\/sup> of July for men and women respectively. Get excited by rewatching the highlights from the 2020 Olympics for the <a href=\"https:\/\/youtu.be\/UL4ORIIRv2M?si=N7MHWHH1N0x8HBa0\">men\u2019s<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=RCk3IP8b8sc\">women\u2019s<\/a> races <a href=\"https:\/\/youtu.be\/UL4ORIIRv2M?si=N7MHWHH1N0x8HBa0\">here.<\/a><\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><strong>Tom Pidcock<\/strong> will be the big favourite in the 2024 Olympics as his biggest rival Mathieu van der Poel decided to focus exclusively on road racing this year. But he will still have to battle it out with Switzerland\u2019s <strong>Mathias Fl\u00fcckiger<\/strong> who is currently first in the 2024 UCI XCO World Cup rankings, and many others.<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">France\u2019s seasoned veteran <strong>Pauline Ferrand-Pr\u00e9vot<\/strong> will be one of the favourites with Jolanda Neff and Marlen Reusser both unable to compete as the result of health issues. But she will have tough competition in Switzerland\u2019s <strong>Alessandra Keller<\/strong> who is currently first in the 2024 UCI XCO World Cup rankings.<\/p>\n<h2><strong>BMX Racing<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">BMX racing is one of the newer cycling events at the Olympics and it makes for some spectacular viewing. There are 8 riders per race and it\u2019s first to the finish line via jumps, obstacles and sharp turns over a short course of only a few hundred meters. If you\u2019ve never seen this event, check out the amazing <a href=\"https:\/\/youtu.be\/2RlLmK5WM_s?si=ilt_duuL7_OhFO-4\">men\u2019s<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/youtu.be\/GvG-L0ZahsA?si=3lR2Yvcq85Hj0Mck\">women\u2019s<\/a> performances from Tokyo 2020 to get excited.<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In Paris, BMX Racing qualifications are planned for the 1<sup>st<\/sup> of August and the finals will be held a day later on the 2<sup>nd<\/sup> of August. Despite the sport\u2019s relatively short history on the Olympic stage, some athletes have already made a name for themselves. The two-time Olympic gold medallist <strong>Mariana Paj\u00f3n<\/strong> from Columbia and Tokyo 2020 champion and 2021 world champion <strong>Niek Kimmann<\/strong> from the Netherlands are the favourites to take gold.<\/p>\n<h2><strong>BMX Freestyle<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">BMX Freestyle will make its 2<sup>nd<\/sup> appearance at the Olympics after a successful debut in Tokyo \u2013 and you don\u2019t want to miss this one. BMX Freestyle runs are some of the most action-packed 60 seconds with spins, flips, tail whips, and riders flying in the air across ramps, jumps, and rails. But it\u2019s better to see it than read about it. Here are the <a href=\"https:\/\/youtu.be\/2egvqEsNlXQ?si=tzaYZuJxaolDCHKo\">men\u2019s<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/youtu.be\/PU4Oo-NnBZ0?si=-LkiFpec753_tnGS\">women\u2019s<\/a> finals from Tokyo 2020.<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">You can watch the qualification on the 30<sup>th<\/sup> of July and the finals on the 31<sup>st<\/sup> of July. Will Australia\u2019s <strong>Logan Martin<\/strong> and USA\u2019s <strong>Hannah Roberts<\/strong> defend their gold medals from Tokyo?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>From one of the oldest cycling events, the road race, to the newest addition, the BMX freestyle, there\u2019s a lot [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":190,"featured_media":7046,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[],"global-categories":[],"class_list":["post-7019","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-the-latest"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v25.3 (Yoast SEO v25.9) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Road and BMX Cycling At the 2024 Olympics Favourites<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/uk\/2024\/07\/24\/road-and-bmx-cycling-at-the-2024-olympics-who-are-the-favourites\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Road and BMX Cycling At the 2024 Olympics \u2013 Who Are the Favourites?\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"From one of the oldest cycling events, the road race, to the newest addition, the BMX freestyle, there\u2019s a lot [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/uk\/2024\/07\/24\/road-and-bmx-cycling-at-the-2024-olympics-who-are-the-favourites\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"\u0160koda We Love Cycling - 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