Who will be riding the Paris Olympic Games women’s road race?
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This weekend sees both the men’s and women’s road races at the 2024 Paris Olympic Games. Starting and finishing in the shadow of the Eiffel Tower at the Trocadero, both men’s and women’s courses head south-west out of the city to take on a demanding series of hills, before heading back for the bright lights of the city of love.
The men’s and women’s races, held on Saturday and Sunday respectively, will see much smaller fields than many competitors will be used to in the WorldTour, with just 95 women lining up on Sunday.
The teams are small too, with a maximum four riders as opposed to seven in Grand Tours such as the Tour de France Femmes. This means the race is going to that much harder to control, even for ultra-strong nations such as the Netherlands and Belgium, who will be fielding multiple current and former world champions between them.
The fact that there are no race radios will only add to the lack of predictability, and played a huge part in the result at Tokyo, won solo by Austria’s Anna Kiesenhofer – she was followed in by Annemiek van Vleuten (Netherlands), who celebrated as she crossed the line, not knowing Kiesenhofer had already won.
Van Vleuten is now retired, but Kiesenhofer is back to defend her title at Paris. She is likely to meet a strong challenge from Belgium’s Lotte Kopecky and Demi Vollering of the Netherlands.
A strong Great Britain team features Anna Henderson, who has already won time trial silver, plus 2012 road race silver medallist Lizzie Deignan and fast-finishing all-rounder Pfeiffer Georgi.
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Medal favourite Lotte Kopecky of Belgium
(Image credit: Getty Images / Luc Claessen)
Paris Olympic Games 2024 women’s road race start list
Belgium VANPACHTENBEKE Margot VAN DE VELDE Julie GHEKIERE Justine KOPECKY Lotte
Netherlands WIEBES Lorena VAN DIJK Ellen VOLLERING Demi VOS Marianne
Italy PERSICO Silvia BALSAMO Elisa CECCHINI Elena LONGO BORGHINI Elisa
Switzerland ZANETTI Linda RÜEGG Noemi CHABBEY Elise
GreatBritain MORRIS Anna HENDERSON Anna GEORGI Pfeiffer DEIGNAN Elizabeth
Poland LACH Marta NIEWIADOMA Katarzyna SKALNIAK-SÓJKA Agnieszka
Australia BROWN Grace ROSEMAN-GANNON Ruby HANSON Lauretta
France LABOUS Juliette CORDON-RAGOT Audrey BERTEAU Victoire
