The 2024 highway racing season steps up one other stage this weekend with the opening males’s and ladies’s races on the European calendar overlapping with the ultimate levels of the boys’s Tour Down Beneath and the Benidorm cyclocross World Cup.
The boys’s Clàssica Comunitat Valenciana 1969 and the Trofeo Felanitx-Colònia Sant Jordi in Mallorca kick off a packed five-week unofficial ‘early-season’ calendar of racing that runs by way of February to the Spring Classics, that start with Omloop Het Nieuwsblad in Belgium on February 24.
The early season is without doubt one of the busiest instances of the yr. Each group, sponsor and rider need some early victories to spice up morale and present they’re prepared for 2024. There are additionally a haul of UCI rating factors obtainable, that are important to WorldTour standing and ProTeam invites to future WorldTour races.
The early-season occasions assist riders work on their race health and race craft after lengthy blocks of winter coaching, new teammates get to race collectively for the primary time, dash leads outs are examined and polished, and everybody lays the foundations for the larger objectives later within the season.
A number of choices for the boys
From Valencia and subsequent week’s Problem Mallorca races, the boys and their groups can observe a variation of calendars relying on their ambitions, season plans and skills. WorldTour, ProTeam and Continental groups race collectively in a myriad of races.
The early calendar consists of Etoile de Bessèges and different races within the south of France, the Volta a la Comunitat Valenciana, Tour Colombia, the Volta ao Algarve in Portugal, the Vuelta a Andalucía Ruta Del Sol, the AlUla Tour in Saudi Arabia, the Tour of Oman, males’s and ladies’s UAE Tour WorldTour races, and lots of others.
Whereas the likes of Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-Lease a Bike), Mark Cavendish (Astana Qazaqstan) and a few Classics contenders could decide to mix or precede coaching at altitude with their 2024 debuts, most groups will run double and even triple race programmes.
Tadej Pogačar (UAE Workforce Emirates), Primož Roglič (Bora-Hansgrohe) and Wout van Aert (Visma-Lease a Bike) are racing much less and coaching within the spring, whereas the sprinters are particularly eager to rack up early season victories.
From group camps to early racing in Spain
Most groups have spent a big a part of December and January in Spain at coaching camps, benefiting from the hotter, drier climate.
The early-season Spanish races provide comparable advantages, and Saturday’s Clàssica Comunitat Valenciana 1969 consists of the Coll de Charges climb, the place many riders have achieved their testing. Michael Matthews and Dylan Groenewegen lead Jayco AlUla, Bryan Coquard is a risk for Cofidis and the beginning record features a host of gifted younger riders.
The 2024 early season additionally consists of the Ruta de la Cerámica-Gran Premio Castellón race on Sunday within the north of Valencia, providing a second likelihood for a really early win and take a look at of type.
The boys’s five-day Problem de Mallorca follows between January 24-28 and can entice one other collection of riders making their season debut, with the Volta a la Comunitat Valenciana again on the Costa Blanca between January 31-February 4. There are different races in Murcia after which the Vuelta a Andalucía Ruta del Sol between February 14-18.
O Gran Camiño is scheduled for February 22-25, with Vingegaard set to make his season debut within the hilly four-day race, racing alongside Egan Bernal (Ineos Grenadiers), Cian Uijtdebroeks (Visma-Lease a Bike) and different large names that keep away from the Opening Weekend and the UAE Tour.
The traditions of the South of France
France as soon as hosted the primary early-season races as groups skilled on the Mediterranean. Most groups have migrated to Spain and the Tour Down Beneath globalised the early season, however the French races stay a significant stepping stone to the spring.
The forty fifth version of the Grand Prix Cycliste la Marseillaise kicks off racing on January 28 in Marseille. All of the French groups will likely be in motion, with Magnus Cort additionally making his debut for Uno-X Mobility. The Etoile de Bessèges-Tour du Gard follows between January 31 and February 4, and ends with a group time trial round gorgeous Alès.
Subsequent up is the Tour de la Provence between February 8-11, adopted by the Traditional Var and the two-day Tour des Alpes Maritimes et du Var on February 16 and 17-18. The final races of the French early season are the Faun-Ardèche Traditional on February 24 and the Drôme Traditional on February 25. Extra single race days imply extra UCI factors on provide, attracting extra groups.
Australia, Saudi Arabia, Oman after which the UAE Tour
Some riders started their 2024 season on the Tour Down Beneath in Australia and they’re going to trip the Cadel Evans Nice Ocean Highway Race subsequent weekend earlier than travelling to Europe maybe by way of the Center East races.
The AlUla Tour gives one other heat climate early race between January 30 and February 3, whereas the Tour of Oman is held between February 10-14, with the Muscat basic including an additional day of racing on February 9.
The UAE Tour is simply a brief flight away and gives extra dash alternatives and WorldTour factors earlier than the general classification is determined on the Jebel Hafeet climb on February 25. The Tour du Rwanda is a decrease stage different for late February racing.
Fabio Jakobsen (Workforce dsm-firmenich PostNL) is anticipated to make his season debut in Oman, with Tour Down Beneath revelation Isaac Del Toro a attainable total contender, alongside UAE Workforce Emirates teammate Adam Yates.
The USA’s Luke Lamperti will likely be a part of the Soudal-QuickStep lineup after making his debut on the Problem Mallorca and he might additionally make his mark within the sprints. The mountain end on Inexperienced Mountain will resolve the general winner.
The UAE Tour lasts seven levels between February 19-25 and so overlaps with the Opening Weekend however gives desert racing, nice motels and a few winter solar as a substitute of the cobbles and chilly climate of Belgium.
A Colombian altitude expertise
The Vuelta a San Juan is not any extra on account of financial difficulties in Argentina however Colombia gives another South American early-season expertise, with the Tour Colombia again on between February 6-11.
Cavendish and his Astana Qazaqstan teammates are already in Colombia, coaching at altitude, whereas Rigoberto Uran and Richard Carapaz will make their season debuts with EF Training-EasyPost and Bernal leads the Colombian nationwide group. Nairo Quintana may even race for Movistar after driving the Colombian nationwide championships subsequent week.
Large names face off in Portugal
Paris-Good and Tirreno-Adriatico are historically the primary stage race showdowns of the season however because the season is beginning earlier and earlier, and the Volta ao Algarve has grown in significance.
This yr the February 14-18 five-stage race will see Remco Evenepoel (Soudal-QuickStep), conflict with Tom Pidcock (Ineos Grenadiers), João Almeida (UAE Workforce Emirates), Tao Geoghegan Hart (Lidl-Trek) and Van Aert and others. A complete of 14 WorldTour groups will likely be on the beginning line, elevating the standard of the racing.
The route features a hilly stage to the Alto da Fóia, a closing stage as much as Alto do Malhāo and a hilly 22km time trial. It appears good for Evenepoel to present an early indication of his 2024 type and stage race intentions.
A brand new Spanish twist to the ladies’s early season
The ladies’s peloton started racing on the Girls’s WorldTour opener Tour Down Beneath, gained by Sarah Gigante (AG Insurance coverage-Soudal), and people riders and groups will keep in Australia for the subsequent spherical on the Cadel Evans Nice Ocean Highway Race on January 27.
Not all groups made the journey to the southern hemisphere and lots of will start their highway racing seasons in Europe on the new occasion for girls on the Mallorca Problem, which gives three one-day races held from Jan 20-22.
The ladies’s race precedes the boys’s occasion on the Spanish island, with the whole eight days of racing rebranded because the Backyard Resorts Luxcom Problem. Each the boys’s and ladies’s races will likely be broadcast dwell on Eurosport and Teledeporte in Spain.
The ladies’s racing in Mallorca begins with the Trofeo Felanitx-Colònia Sant Jordi adopted by Trofeo Palma Femina after which Trofeo Binissalem-Andratx, and so they provide loads of alternative for the Continental groups to race towards the Girls’s WorldTeams.
There are six WorldTeams anticipated to line up for the three races with headlining riders: Olympic Champion Anna Kiesenhofer (Roland), Arlenis Sierra (Movistar), Ashleigh Moolman-Pasio (AG Insurance coverage-Soudal) and Joscelin Lowden (Uno-X Mobility). Paris-Roubaix champion Alison Jackson will compete with the newly-formed EF Training-Cannondale, and Mavi Garcia (Liv AlUla Jayco) will lead the Spanish nationwide group.
Extra Spanish races
A hotbed for early-season racing, mainland Spain may even host a top quality peloton throughout 4 occasions – three 1.1. one-day races and a ProSeries stage race – and proceed to supply the nation’s elite and second-tier groups loads of alternative for competitors.
Additionally it is the proper time of the season for the WorldTeams to mix racing and coaching camps beneath the nice and cozy Spanish solar alongside the coastal communities from Almeria to Valencia.
With a lineup of races that provide a mixture of brief, steep climbing and quick finishes, the routes present a mix of difficult racing and extra coaching forward of the WorldTour-level racing in Europe.
The Girls’s Biking Professional Costa de Almeria is the primary of the collection of Spanish races held on January 28, gained by Arianna Fidanza (Ceratizit-WNT) final yr. A lumpy 135km of racing between Campo Hermoso and Cuevas del Almanzora is prone to see a profitable breakaway or a lowered group dash.
One other one-day race on the Vuelta CV Feminas on February 4 is now in its sixth version and has develop into one of many staples of the early-season races. Movistar completed 1-2 in final yr’s version, with Floortje Mackaij taking a solo win forward of Liane Lippert. At 95km, the route is shorter, however with two mid-race ascents at Oronet and La Frontera, it’s actually one for the breakaway specialists.
The peloton will then compete on the four-day Setmana Ciclista Valenciana-Vuelta Comunitat from Feb 15-18. The extent of competitors additionally strikes up a notch as this occasion is a part of the Professional Sequence.
A well-attended occasion, Setmana Valenciana permits groups to eliminate any pre-season nerves and get to know each other in a stage-race setting. It is also a race that may reveal which groups and riders are in type and which want extra preparation and will produce a shock total winner because it did final yr in Justine Ghekiere (AG Insurance coverage-Soudal).
The one-day Clasica de Almeria on February 25 is the final likelihood for groups to safe a pre-season win forward of the Spring Classics. The 137km race from Puebla de Vicar to Vera is hilly, with a mid-race ascent however an extended descent into the end, the place Emilie Fortin took the primary win for Cynisca Biking.
The UAE Tour Girls
Right now of the yr, groups will likely be coming back from Australia, whereas others will likely be competing in Spain, however the large focus and a much bigger purpose will likely be on the UAE Tour Girls, the third spherical of the Girls’s World Tour held from February 8-11.
The inaugural occasion was held in 2023 as the ladies’s peloton headed to the Center East for the four-day race, which supplied three dash alternatives dominated by rivals Lorena Wiebes (SD Worx) and Charlotte Kool (DSM).
A summit end spotlighted stage 3 atop Jebel Hafeet, gained by Elisa Longo Borghini (Lidl-Trek), and she or he went on to safe the general title.
Anticipate a lot of the identical for the 2024 version with comparable programs, beginning with the pan-flat stage to Dubai Harbour, a equally flat stage from Al Mirfa to Madinat Zayed, and the decisive stage to Jebel Hafeet earlier than the ultimate featureless stage across the Abu Dhabi waterfront.