All eyes are firmly on the Paris Olympics which get underway this weekend, with occasions throughout 4 various kinds of biking: BMX, highway, mountain biking and observe.
Simply because the Tour de France moved away from Paris this summer time, it doesn’t imply that Parisians and the remainder of the world will likely be compelled to overlook out on any elite degree biking motion within the metropolis, removed from it.
Within the Tour’s stead, the Olympic highway races are sure to carry barnstorming motion to the streets of Paris as a number of the finest riders on the planet do battle for an Olympic gold medal. In the meantime the velodrome can also be set to offer a stage for what guarantees to be a number of the most enjoyable observe motion ever seen on the video games.
The Nice Britain biking group arrives in Paris with a number of playing cards to play as they go searching for medals throughout all the sport’s numerous disciplines. Right here we check out eight riders who we predict will shine as soon as competitors will get underway.
Tom Pidcock
(Picture credit score: Getty Photos)
Yorkshire-born Pidcock arrives in Paris in prime mountain biking type. He deserted the Tour de France as a consequence of suspected Covid, however could have made full use of the additional preparation time that offered going into the elite cross-country occasion at Elancourt Hill on Monday.
As reigning Olympic and World Champion, Pidcock will likely be closely marked by his rivals, however that received’t get in his means as he goes face to face with the likes of Switzerland’s Nino Schurter.
Pidcock already has 4 victories on flat bars to his title for the reason that flip of the 12 months. Previous to beginning the Tour de France, he received each the cross nation and quick observe occasions on the Crans Montana spherical of the UCI World Cup.
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On the tail finish of final 12 months he additionally received the cross nation occasion in Mont-Sainte-Anne in Canada after choosing up the mtb rainbow bands in August.
All of this mixed makes Pidcock a scorching tip for a medal on Monday, perhaps even one other gold.
Emma Finucane
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Emma Finucane loved a breakthrough 12 months in 2023 wherein she was topped the youngest match dash world champion in virtually 50 years.
Previous to her summer time triumph in Glasgow, she received each occasion she competed in on the nationwide observe championships in Newport, placing her effectively on her option to a spot on the Nice Britain observe group for the Paris video games.
After her success simply down the highway from her hometown of Carmarthen, the Welsh rider then received two silver medals on the European Championships, her first UCI gold medal at a Nations Cup occasion and she or he then saved the perfect till final, her maiden world title in Scotland.
With all of these achievements mixed, she has the opportunity of changing into the primary feminine bicycle owner to win three gold medals in a single Olympic video games, a feat which might immediately make her a family title.
Finucane’s races will likely be unmissable. Ensure you’re tuned in when the 21-year-old traces up within the Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines Velodrome for the primary time.
Stevie Williams
(Picture credit score: Zac Williams/SWPix.com)
Regardless of a quiet time on the Tour de France, Williams thrived in the course of the Spring, taking victory at La Flèche Wallonne which continued the wonderful type that he confirmed within the early half of the season by profitable the general classification on the Tour down Below.
The punchy circuit in Paris fits a rider of his qualities, and Williams will likely be licking his lips on the sight of a number of the quick, sharp climbs on the menu within the 276 kilometre race. Tom Pidcock is more likely to be Nice Britain’s major man within the highway race, however Williams will present a wonderful foil ought to Pidcock show any indicators of mountain biking fatigue.
Race favourites Wout van Aert and Mathieu van der Poel, and Pidcock, would be the ones to look at, however Williams might spring a shock.
Pfeiffer Georgi
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British nationwide champion for 2 consecutive years, Pfeiffer Georgi is one in every of many aces hidden up GB’s sleeve forward of the ladies’s highway race in Paris.
Identical to the lads’s race, the course the elite girls will face is seemingly tailor made for a rider with a skillset suited to the spring Classics, one thing which Georgi possesses in abundance. The 23-year-old completed on the rostrum at Paris-Roubaix Femmes in April earlier than narrowly lacking out on third place on the Amstel Gold race.
Her climbing prowess displayed on the slopes of Saltburn Financial institution on the British nationwide championships ought to imply that she ought to fly if given the chance to take action as soon as the race will get underway.
Georgi will likely be up towards the likes of Lotte Kopecky and Demi Vollering within the scrap for the medals, however that should not faze her an excessive amount of.
Josh Tarling
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World Championships bronze medallist, European champion, British nationwide champion. There’s little that Welsh phenomenon Josh Tarling can’t do on a time trial bike it could appear.
The 20-year-old was out taking time trial data on his dwelling roads of west Wales when he was barely strolling, after which progressed on to set data on his native membership programs at an unimaginable charge.
Tarling received 9 out of the ten time trials he competed in previous to signing for Ineos Grenadiers, and hasn’t appeared again since, taking the European title final summer time and a second British nationwide title only a handful of weeks in the past.
Tarling informed Biking Weekly that his ambitions are easy for his Olympic debut on Saturday, to “win” it doesn’t matter what. Making his willpower that clear will imply that Tarling is a drive to be reckoned with this weekend when he rolls down an Olympic begin ramp for the very first time.
Lizzie Deignan
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Lizzie Deignan is ready to grow to be the primary feminine British bicycle owner to compete at 4 successive Olympic video games when she takes to the highway race course every week on Sunday.
Deignan took a silver medal at London 2012, earlier than competing in Rio de Janeiro in 2016, and on the rearranged video games in Tokyo in 2021. Regardless of her standing, it’s potential that the 35-year-old is not going to lead the GB group as they get set to aim to get a rider onto the rostrum as soon as extra.
As a substitute, Deignan could also be known as upon to help the likes of Georgi, Anna Henderson and Anna Morris. However, ought to a few of her youthful teammates miss a choose transfer that will get away, then you’ll be able to guess on Deignan being current.
The Lidl-Trek star made the eventual profitable transfer within the highway race final August on the World Championships and was proper in rivalry for a medal all the way in which all the way down to the wire in Glasgow.
She was compelled to accept sixth final August, however Deignan will definitely be a darkish horse for the rostrum this time spherical.
Dan Bigham
(Picture credit score: Getty Photos / Rene Nijhuis)
Three years in the past, Dan Bigham was on the Olympics in Tokyo, however not as an athlete.
The now 32-year-old was current in Japan working as an engineer and aerodynamicist for the Danish observe group after discovering himself at a crossroads in his observe biking profession. Bigham was informed he wanted to decide on between being an engineer or a rider, he selected the previous at that time.
Now Bigham finds himself again in a skinsuit and again in a velodrome as a rider in Paris. His journey within the sport has been exceptional lately, with two report breaking hour data set and different vital milestones handed.
In 2022 Bigham turned a world champion within the group pursuit and claimed two European gold medals. Alongside his teammates, he now stands on the cusp of serving to Nice Britain reclaim the lads’s group pursuit title that they have been compelled to surrender in Tokyo after controlling the occasion within the final three video games.
Bigham took a silver medal within the particular person pursuit behind Filippo Ganna eventually summer time’s mixed worlds in Scotland, however this 12 months might present Bigham along with his greatest second but.
Anna Henderson
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Recent off the again of profitable the feminine British nationwide time trial title for a second time, Henderson will compete in each the highway race and race towards the clock for Nice Britain.
She had beforehand received the nationwide champion’s jersey in 2021, and claimed it once more as soon as extra in Redcar and Cleveland in mid-June. She has been working within the wind tunnel within the run-up to this Video games, and ought to be in rivalry for the TT podium.
In addition to profitable her nationwide time trial title, Henderson has confirmed herself to be in stellar type on the highway, taking second general on the Tour of Britain Girls behind Kopecky forward of going up towards the Belgian as soon as extra in Paris.
The 25-year-old from Hemel Hempstead might show to be a wonderful deputy to both Georgi or Deignan within the highway race and will effectively get her personal alternative ought to the racing state of affairs present it.
Both means, the Nice Britain girls’s group for the highway race is packed filled with high quality. Anna Henderson’s presence takes it a step above as soon as extra.
