Cyclist
7 pro cycling things that should be left in 2024
The 2024 season has been over for about a month now. After a season underlined by a certain Slovenian‘s Grand Tour domination and a rainbow jersey conquest in the cobbled Classics, 2024 saw one of pro cycling’s most unique seasons in recent times, especially for the men’s peloton.
As for the women, 2024 saw the first season in a post-Annemiek van Vleuten world. The Grand Tours were all won by different riders, as were the key Classics of the Tour of Flanders, Paris-Roubaix, Trofeo Alfredo Binda and Liège-Bastogne-Liège.
As always, pro cycling has things to work on. After another year of racing, we spotted some trends and points for improvement. Feedback is a blessing, or so I have been told. So, we’ve put together a list of pointers for the UCI, race organisers and riders in general for the next season.
Here are the things we want to leave behind in 2024.
Blue kits
It always takes some time to get used to all the new kits in the pro peloton when the Tour Down Under rolls around in January. Heck, sometimes I’m still scratching my head by Paris-Nice trying to pick teams apart. That said, it was a lot harder than usual in 2024 due to the sea of blue jerseys.
Movistar, Alpecin-Deceuninck, Soudal-QuickStep, Red Bull-Bora-Hangrohe, Groupama-FDJ, Israel-Premier Tech and Decathlon-AG2R all sported similar blue hues this year. Yes, they do have some small differences, but it’s tough to decipher whether Ilan Van Wilder or Gianni Vermeersch is on the attack. Teams are rightfully constrained by sponsor logos and colour schemes, but it feels like we’re fast approaching a peloton of blue-clad clones – even Visma-Lease a Bike joined in. Blue looks nice, yes, but there are plenty of other shades on the colour wheel.
The UCI has taken a hardened stance on jersey colour recently. It implemented a new rule (1.3.051) stating that race organisers should more closely regulate jersey colours. It implores Grand Tours to encourage teams to submit jerseys that avoid colour clashes with the leader’s distinctive jerseys. This rule is a bit woolly, but it could mean a decline in the usage of yellow, pink and red in the pro peloton in 2025. At this point in the calendar, jerseys for the next season have already been submitted to the UCI for review. We’ll soon find out if we’re in for more blue kits in the new year. Don’t disappoint me, EF Education-EasyPost.
Bad luck for men’s Tour favourites
Thanks to one dodgy descent at the Itzulia Basque Country, we missed out on a fair Tour de France battle between Jonas Vingegaard, Remco Evenepoel and Tadej Pogačar. Factor in Primož Roglič’s signature Tour de France tumble, and we were deprived of the big battle we’ve been bracing for for several years.
Next year, I wish all Tour favourites the best of luck. Wrap them up in bubble wrap and give them stabilisers if that’s what it takes. I just want to see the big four duke it out at the Tour without any asterisks. In reality, this rarely happens, but let’s be optimistic. More than anything, I think having them all on their A-game at the Tour would provide great racing, particularly in the mountainous second and third weeks of next year’s race.
After Vingegaard and Pogačar’s pre-Tour crashes in 2023 and 2024, we’re still not entirely sure who’s the strongest. Some fans put an asterisk on Vingegaard’s 2023 victory on the basis that Pogačar was injured on the run-up. Likewise, Vingegaard fans are quick to point out that he was in a hospital bed just three months before the 2024 Tour. Would a fully fit Vingegaard beat a fully fit Pogačar? Let’s get a proper answer instead of working on what-ifs.
This bad luck isn’t just isolated to Tour favourites. Wout van Aert fell victim to two heavy crashes during the 2024 season, hampering his year greatly. Visma-Lease a Bike, in particular, felt like the walking wounded at times in 2024. Dylan van Baarle, Steven Kruijswijk and Sepp Kuss were all ruled out of the Tour de France due to crashes and illness. Less of that next year please.
Domination
We’ve already beaten the ‘witnessing greatness’ horse to death over the past year. We first discussed Pogačar’s tyranny back in the spring after the Slovenian won Liège-Bastogne-Liège unopposed. Later into the season, this domination only continued, and more people became frustrated with his unanimous victories.
The Classics this year weren’t exactly vintage. Pogačar and Van der Poel smashed the Monuments, with the only glimmer of hope being Milan-San Remo which was won by Van der Poel’s teammate Jasper Philipsen. Pogačar kept up the one-man show at the Grand Tours, winning both the Tour and Giro, taking twelve stage wins along the way and accumulating a total lead of sixteen minutes across both races. These aren’t the kind of Grand Tours you yearn to watch – at least if you’re hoping to be entertained by a close battle for the GC lead.
This isn’t to say that this kind of domination is here to stay. Only in 2023, we were watching three-up battles in the Classics between Van Aert, Van der Poel and Pogačar. Similarly, 2023’s Grand Tours saw three entertainingly close-fought podium races. A year can make a lot of difference, after all.
Perhaps this will be solved by a crop of top-flight contenders unhampered by bad luck and injury, particularly in the absence of Vingegaard at the Tour or Van Aert in the Classics. I’m not quite sure how you tackle the issue of superteams, though. UAE Team Emirates concentrated much of their resources on the Tour, so maybe they’ll spread themselves out more next season.
Nevertheless, I can only hope that we park these dominant performances to one side in 2025. I’d quite like a Monument that isn’t decided over an hour out from the finish.
Bad weather spats
2024 marked another year of disputes between race organisers and riders in regard to poor weather. Whether this is rain, snow or heat, it seems like we’re not really getting anywhere, especially given that the UCI reviewed its own policy on the matter during 2023.
For example, the Giro d’Italia renewed its annual tradition of having a ‘will they, won’t they’ stand-off with the peloton on Stage 16 from Livigno. Later into the season, Tre Valle Varesine saw the women race in treacherous conditions in the morning while the men agreed to call it quits not long after setting off. This was even after riders in the women’s race raised concerns over the weather a couple of hours prior.
The UCI’s extreme weather protocol is fairly open to interpretation but is mostly applicable to hot weather conditions instead of rain or snow. Even when the Vuelta a España hit 40°C on Stage 9, the race went ahead as planned despite riders suffering heatstroke.
With the threat of climate change and the increasing likelihood of weather extremes, these conditions are only going to become more prevalent. Regardless, the process for solving these weather spats seems to be very hazy. A convoluted web of rider unions, organisers, the UCI and the riders themselves seem to be responsible for any weather protocol decisions.
Next year, I hope the UCI and race organisers take the riders’ concerns more seriously surrounding extreme weather. If half of the teams raise concern through the rider union, the organisers should accommodate their wish for the route to be altered, shortened or even cancelled. While I’m here, clearer communication regarding weather protocol would be much appreciated. Transparency never goes amiss.
Poor coverage of women’s racing
The year is 2024. Women now have their own Grand Tours and Monument-equivalents yet the quality of women’s broadcasts seems to be lagging well behind what we have for the men. Why is that?
Only the final hour of some major women’s races reach the airwaves. This is regardless of the speed of the race or the situation on the road. Yes, it’s all about the profitability and resources available, but you’d think the races would accommodate this. After all, having video coverage is the best way for people to tune in, engage with the race and see all the sponsor billboards on the side of the road.
The Tour de France Femmes has stepped up the quality of women’s coverage. The racing receives a couple of hours of broadcast time and the viewing numbers seem to show an increased interest. To me, I think all WorldTour races should show at least two hours of racing live. I also hope more racing gets shown live on TV channels. The Giro d’Italia Women wasn’t shown live on Eurosport, only via Discovery+. When there’s a Women’s WorldTour race on, I’d like to think that TV channels would prioritise that over lower-tier men’s races, which is often what happens at the moment.
The Demi Vollering conspiracy
Out of all the things on this list, this might be the most likely relic of the 2024 season. So, make the most of it before it’s banished into the vaults.
In 2024, we witnessed a number of Demi Vollering mishaps. At the Vuelta Feminina, she was left to her own devices on key mountain stages. Later at the Tour de Suisse, Vollering duelled against her teammate Lotte Kopecky, much like at the 2023 Strade Bianche. The most high-profile whoopsie, however, has to be the handling of her crash on Stage 5 of the Tour de France Femmes. After hitting the deck, her teammates didn’t pull back to help her return to the peloton. Instead, her colleague Blanka Vas won the stage and Vollering rolled across the line solo around one minute later. Full team support from SD Worx seemed to be compromised throughout the season. Some claim this to be a result of her widely reported departure from the team.
Vollering will move across to FDJ-Suez in 2025. She has already voiced her content surrounding her new team’s philosophy, hinting that she might feel a little more at home on the French team. She has taken directeur sportif Lars Boom with her and she’ll also be supported by a reinforced FDJ-Suez lineup that will include Elise Chabbey and Juliette Labous on top of current FDJ rider Évita Muzic. Let’s hope her teammates aren’t pitted against her like at SD Worx.
When it comes to international championships, like the UCI Road World Championships, the tide might be changing too. The Dutch team will be headed up by a new boss, Laurens ten Dam. With this, Vollering might be able to spread her wings at long last.
The decline of British racing
It feels strange to talk about the decline of British racing when this year marked another high for British riders at the Tour de France. With 11 British starters, the UK had its biggest presence on the Tour’s start line in decades. Riders are now more spread out across teams, and plenty of young British faces are making their way onto the WorldTour in 2025. So what’s the fuss about?
Domestically, British racing is on the decline. Trinity Racing has announced in the past week that they won’t be in road races after this year. A rough look given that Ineos Grenadiers have now tied themselves to the German Team Lotto Kern-Haus PSD Bank development programme. The interesting Ribble Rebellion squad is another one to fold, as is women’s team Lifeplus-Wahoo.
Initiatives like Monument Cycling TV have helped breathe some life into the British scene, but it’s certainly looking like a sinking ship. Fewer races are being held in the UK and that doesn’t look like that’s going to change. The men’s Tour of Britain saw its shortest edition in two decades. More critically though, RideLondon won’t take place next year due to scheduling clashes and a lack of council support. This has caused a knock-on effect for the three-day RideLondon Classique, which will also go on hiatus – that’s never a good sign.
Sales at flagship UK bike retailer Halfords have also been reported to be on a year-on-year decline of 25%. The demise of Wiggle hasn’t helped the outlook of day-to-day cycling in the UK either. Let’s hope the domestic scene and the UK cycling market return to their former glory in 2025, or at least show some progress.
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