Preview 2024 Road Cycling World Championships - Women | Plenty of ladies want to disrupt Vollerings fairy tale

The recent editions of the World Championships reflect the balances in cycling. In 2012 and 2013, it was Marianne Vos-time (yes, twice), who is still competing. Ten years ago, in 2014, it was Pauline Ferrand-Prévot who took the title. The Frenchwoman, who will join Visma | Lease a Bike next year, returns to Zürich after years of mountain biking.

In the following years, it was mainly the Dutch who dominated, with world titles for Anna van der Breggen, Annemiek van Vleuten (both twice) and Chantal van den Broek-Blaak. In between, Elisa Balsamo also cycled to the title in 2021, but not without some squabbling among the Dutch. And that's sometimes just part of it.

Last year, the title very deservedly went to Lotte Kopecky. Kopecky and Demi Vollering are definitely the stars of the current peloton. Both ladies also start as absolute top favorites in Switzerland.

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 Deignan
2014 Pauline Ferrand-Prévot

The men begin on Sunday in Winterthur, and the women will start on Saturday in nearby Uster. From that starting point, they follow a loop around Greifensee, before heading towards the city that it's this World Championships edition is centered around.

After nearly thirty kilometers, we arrive at the local circuit in Zürich, which is 27 kilometers long and must be tackled five times. Just before we get there, the riders face the Binz hill (1.5 kilometers at 9.4%).

Now, for the circuit in Zürich itself. This is where we expect to see a big battle. World Championships organizer Oliver Senn explained to us precisely what we can expect, where and when. "At the start of the loop, there is a quite steep but short climb," he refers to the Zürichbergstrasse, which is about 1100 meters long. "Then we have a bit of a false flat going down, followed by a longer hill (the Witikonerstrasse, 2.3 kilometers at 5.7%, peaking at nine percent, ed.)."

"That in itself won't immediately cause problems, but if you have to do it seven times (or five times for the women's race, ed.), spread over so many kilometers… After that, the course continues to go up and down, without a real descent where you can properly recover." The Pfannenstiel plateau is what he is talking about, following which the riders set course towards Küssnacht during each round.

"At some point, we head to the next climb of two kilometers towards Zollikon, which I believe will be the crucial point in the race. There, we are definitely going to see attacks, unless someone has already broken away solo. After that, it's just about one and a half kilometers flat to the finish at Sechseläutenplatz, near Lake Zürich."

"So there are many possible moments to make the difference and make the race tough, meaning it will be a very enjoyable race from start to finish," Senn predicts. "The course is harder than you think at first glance, due to the succession of fairly long climbs and the constant 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 the pure climbers, but it is very tough," says the man behind the World Championships in Zürich. "That was also the plan from the beginning: to create a course on which as many riders as possible could have a chance, not just a small group."

It seems that the conditions in Zürich will be fine on Saturday. Cool temperatures are expected in the morning, but the weather will warm up to above 10 degrees Celsius in the afternoon. There is also almost no chance of precipitation.

Times
Start: 12:45 PM locally (6:45 AM EST)
Finish: 5:30 PM locally (11:30 AM EST)

Like virtually every edition, this one promises to be another spectacular World Championships for elite women, likely again featuring Belgian and Dutch ladies in the leading roles. First and foremost, we think of defending champion Lotte Kopecky, who, after her lesser time trial, will be eager to extend her world title on the road. Anyone who saw Kopecky in action in the Tour of Romandie and the Giro will not doubt her climbing abilities.

Demi Vollering was the lady who experienced this firsthand in the Swiss preparation race, although the Dutchwoman will hope that she can now tip the scales in her favor in her second home country. National coach Loes Gunnewijk designated the Dutchwoman as the team leader, and that will surely boost Vollering's morale, as she has so far mostly strung together second places this year. Winning a world title in Switzerland? "A fairy tale," so she summarized it after the time trial.

But if you look at the rest of the Dutch selection, you will find more contenders. Take Puck Pieterse, for example, who is starting her first World Championships in road cycling. Marianne Vos has a few more on her tally, but she will also be in Zürich. As will Riejanne Markus, Mischa Bredewold, Thalita de Jong and Pauliena Rooijakkers, who can (or must) each play a significant role.

If there are two ladies with whom the Dutch ladies have often competed for prizes, they are Elisa Longo Borghini (Italy) and Kasia Niewiadoma (Poland). These women know the ropes all too well, and will do everything they can to derail the orange train. Longo Borghini also has climber Gaia Realini by her side, but will she be happy with this course?

The Anglo-Saxon countries should also always be kept in mind. Global time trial champion and Liège-Bastogne-Liège winner Grace Brown is competing again and might put a significant crown on her career here, as she'll soon be hanging up her bicycle. And the American ladies have the Olympic champion Kristen Faulkner in their ranks, who we – and this is dangerous – saw remarkably little of since that event. Chloé Dygert is also competing. For Great Britain, we mainly keep an eye on Anna Henderson, while for New Zealand and South Africa, respectively, Niamh Fisher-Black and Aisleigh Moolman will be chasing the highest possible results.

The big unknown factor at this World Championships is Pauline Ferrand-Prévot, who, exactly ten years after her World Championship victory, returns to road cycling after years of mountain biking. Together with her partner Dylan van Baarle, she prepared in Andorra and Monaco for this World Championships edition, so she is secretly really keen on a good performance. The French, who are bringing Evita Muzic, Juliette Labous and Cedrine Kerbaol, also have a fine team.

Switzerland will primarily hope for a good performance from Elisa Chabbey, while we should also keep an eye on Christina Schweinberger (Austria), Cecilie Uttrup Ludwig (Denmark), Mavi Garcia (Spain), Liane Lippert, Antonia Niedermaier (Germany), Blanka Vas (Hungary) and of course Urska Zigart (Slovenia) this Saturday.

Top favorites: Lotte Kopecky (Belgium) and Demi Vollering (Netherlands)
Outsiders: Elisa Longo Borghini (Italy), Kasia Niewiadoma (Poland), Grace Brown (Australia), Puck Pieterse and Marianne Vos (Netherlands)
Long shots: Pauline Férrand-Prévot, Evita Muzic (France), Kristen Faulkner, Chloé Dygert (United States), Elise Chabbey (Switzerland), Riejanne Markus (Netherlands), Aisleigh Moolman (South Africa), Niamh Fisher-Black (New Zealand), Liane Lippert (Germany) and Blanka Vas (Hungary) 

Sporza (VRT 1), Eurosport (main channel as well as HBO Max) and NOS (NPO 1) will broadcast the majority of the World Championships for elite women starting around 1:00 PM local time (7 AM EST). The race normally finishes around 5:30 PM in the afternoon, Swiss time (11:30 AM EST).