Cyclist
10 breakthrough riders of the 2024 pro cycling season
Away from the big names and their expected victories – some more than others – quite a few rider had a breakout year in 2024, putting their names on the radar as contenders of the future, and some contenders of today.
From impressive performances at the Tour Down Under to playing a key role in the World Championships, it wasn’t just the same names lighting up the races this year.
Now the season’s done, we’ve collated a list of ten of the biggest breakthroughs of 2024.
Laurence Pithie (Groupama-FDJ)
Cast your mind back to earlier this season. I mean really early. A then-21-year-old Laurence Pithie won the Cadel Evans Great Ocean Road Race and enjoyed a brief time in the yellow jersey at Paris-Nice. It was in the Classics that he really shone though.
After two 15th places at Milan-San Remo and Brugge-De Panne, at Gent-Wevelgem he was the only man not from Lidl-Trek that was able to stick to Mathieu van der Poel’s wheel on the first ascent of the Kemmelberg. He managed to remain in a quartet alongside Van der Poel, Mads Pedersen and Jonathan Milan for quite some time but was dropped on the final time up the Kemmelberg and eventually finished as part of the large second group just a few seconds back.
It set the stage for arguably his best performance of the year in an exceptional debut at Paris-Roubaix. The Kiwi managed to get himself in the five-man chasing group behind Van der Poel’s breakaway and looked strong. However he slid out into a corner and crashed with 30km to go. Still, a strong seventh place was a monumental performance.
Maxim Van Gils (Lotto-Dstny)
The other revelation of the early season was Lotto-Dstny’s Maxim Van Gils. Beginning at Strade Bianche, the peloton was unable to answer the dominance Tadej Pogačar, but behind another race was unfolding and Van Gils persevered and podiumed, finishing just three seconds behind second place Toms Skujiņš.
Up next came Milan-San Remo two weeks later. The 24-year-old is not a sprinter by any means, but in the face of the first big sprint finish at the race for a number of years he managed to come home in a remarkable seventh place. And it wouldn’t end there.
On more natural territory in the Ardennes, he powered up the Mur de Huy to podium a brutal edition of La Flèche Wallonne, and at Liège-Bastogne-Liège he managed fourth place behind the talents of Pogačar, Romain Bardet and Van der Poel.
Back-to-back wins arrived later at Eschborn-Frankfurt and GP Kanton Aargau, and he finished just behind Pogačar for fifth on the opening stage of the Tour de France.
Jonas Abrahamsen (Uno-X Mobility)
The Tour de France is the race that springs to mind when thinking about Jonas Abrahamsen’s breakout season, but he laid the groundwork beforehand with a strong second place at Dwars door Vlaanderen and his first pro win at the Brussels Cycling Classic with a solo attack in the dying kilometres.
At the Tour, his Uno-X Mobility squad were expected to light up breakaways wherever possible. Abrahamsen committed to the task and came second on the second stage in the mountains jersey, which he would hold to the end of Stage 10. He also stepped onto the podium as winner of the day’s combativity award, an achievement he replicated on Stage 8 after spending an enormous 140km in a solo breakaway.
He didn’t win the overall combativity award, but he did win my Vibes Classification. Some might say that is even better.
Pablo Castrillo (Equipo Kern Pharma)
Equipo Kern Pharma’s Pablo Castrillo ignited the Vuelta a España with an attacking flair that gained him fans the world over. His persistence secured his first professional win on Stage 12 on the Montaña de Manzaneda and only three days later he would win again in a fierce fight against Aleksandr Vlasov on the viciously steep slopes of Cuitu Negru.
It also caught the attention of many WorldTour teams, including Ineos, but in the end it was Movistar who managed to sign him to a three-year deal from next season.
Oscar Onley (DSM-Firmenich-PostNL)
Scotland’s Oscar Onley wasted no time this season, victorious on the queen stage of the Tour Down Under, which included two ascents of Willunga Hill. Luck would not be on his side however, at Amstel Gold Race he crashed and broke his collarbone for the third time in just eight months.
A return to racing two months later saw him achieve eighth overall at the Tour de Suisse with a Tour de France debut incoming. His DSM team were stage hunting and on a hilly Stage 17 to Barcelonnette, Onley rode his way into the day’s big breakaway and, when that split, remained in one of the chasing groups. The win would be decided from a trio up ahead and Onley crossed the line in fifth.
He went on to ride to second overall at the Tour of Britain, winning the youth classification, had a huge day out at the World Championships mostly in the group chasing Pogačar, and finished his season with second place at the Tour of Guangxi.
Stevie Williams (Israel-Premier Tech)
In the same vein, Stevie Williams was another who started strong this year by winning the final stage and overall of the Tour Down Under. The Welshman’s biggest victory came at La Flèche Wallonne, where no one could follow him up the Mur de Huy.
A sprint against Julian Alaphilippe and Onley on Stage 2 of the Tour of Britain meant Williams took over the race lead and he took that all the way to the finish in Felixstowe to win the overall.
Matteo Jorgenson (Visma-Lease a Bike)
In Matteo Jorgenson’s first season with Visma-Lease a Bike it only took a couple of months for success to hit. Despite not winning a stage at Paris-Nice, the American won both the overall and youth classifications by bumping himself from second to first on the final stage as his compatriot Brandon McNulty dropped down the standings.
Victory at Dwars door Vlaanderen followed with a 7km solo attack meaning he became the first American to win the race. He put in a spirited performance at the Tour of Flanders, being the closest rider to Van der Poel’s Koppenberg assault, but paid the price and came home 31st.
Heading into the summer he climbed to an impressive second overall at the Critérium du Dauphiné, only eight seconds down on Primož Roglič. He was a loyal lieutenant for Jonas Vingegaard at the Tour de France before getting his chance in the breakaways, coming heartbreakingly close to a first stage win at Isola 2000 (thanks Tadej), and his efforts led him to a strong eighth overall.
Neve Bradbury (Canyon-SRAM)
Neve Bradbury’s first professional win came from a sensational 1-2 alongside teammate Kasia Niewiadoma on the third stage of the Tour de Suisse, in which the pair broke away for a dominant victory in the hills.
The real jewel in the crown came on the queen stages of the Giro d’Italia, where she soloed to victory on Blockhaus, finishing almost a minute ahead of lead GC duo Lotte Kopecky and Elisa Longo Borghini.
The 22-year-old also had several strong overall performances too, coming second at both the Tour de Suisse and the UAE Tour and third at the Giro d’Italia, and she went home with youth classification victories in all three.
Kasia Niewiadoma (Canyon-SRAM)
It might feel weird seeing her on this list given she’s been one of the peloton’s best riders for a long time now, however there’s no debating that 2024 was a breakthrough for Kasia Niewiadoma. A close second place to Elisa Longo Borghini at the Tour of Flanders was soon followed by a powerful attack on the Mur de Huy at La Flèche Wallonne, resulting in her first victory on the road in almost five years.
The defining moment of her season was the Tour de France Femmes though. A crazy Stage 5 thrust her into the yellow jersey after she capitalised on Demi Vollering misfortune and SD Worx’s mishaps and just about held on all the way to the finish on Alpe d’Huez despite a gripping challenge from Vollering to win yellow by just four seconds. It was one of the best finishes to a Tour in recent memory.
Justine Ghekiere (AG Insurance–Soudal)
A first year at WorldTour level came with an immediate breakthrough year for 28-year-old Justine Ghekiere, particularly as the gradients increased. The AG Insurance-Soudal rider dominated the mountains classifications at the Volta Ciclista a Catalunya and Giro d’Italia Women before heading to the Tour de France Femmes.
There, she not only won the tough Stage 7 solo, but she also held on to the mountains classification ahead of Vollering.
After all that personal success, Ghekiere put on one last show at the World Championships where she was the pivotal teammate for Lotte Kopecky’s rainbow jersey defence.
Who have we missed? Let us know in the comments or on social media.
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