Paris 2024: Who are the favourites for gold in the women’s cycling road race? Will Lotte Kopecky or Demi Vollering win?

The final road cycling medals of Paris 2024 will be decided on Sunday, August 4 as the women’s road race takes to the streets of the French capital. The undulating parcours favours the one-day specialists and puncheurs of the peloton like Lotte Kopecky, Demi Vollering and Elisa Borghini. But could an outsider like Team GB’s Anna Henderson add her second medal of the Olympic Games?

The Paris 2024 women’s cycling road race will see the final medals decided in what’s been a pulsating programme that kicked off with Grace Brown’s win in the women’s individual time trial on the Olympic Games’ opening weekend.

A 96-strong peloton will line up on the Trocadero in central Paris before setting off along the Left Bank on their way out of the French capital.

After a 5km neutralised zone, they’ll be pitted against a 158km route that packs 1,700m elevation gain across its rolling parcours before the riders make it back to the finish on the banks of the Seine.

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Dotted with short, sharp climbs, the course favours the peloton’s one-day and Classics specialists.

But as this is the Olympics, where team sizes are limited and radios are banned, anything is possible - as shown when Annemiek van Vlueten thought she’d won the women’s road race at Tokyo 2020, only to be told after celebrating that Anna Kiesenhofer had crossed the line more than a minute ahead of her.

While it can at times be unpredictable, there are a number of riders who are clear favourites for the gold. From the reigning world champion to outsiders who could thrive in the chaos, here are the ones to watch during the women’s cycling road race at Paris 2024.

Lotte Kopecky

Kopecky times sprint to perfection to secure first-ever Paris-Roubaix Femmes victory

Video credit: TNT Sports

The 2023 world champion has continued her amazing form into 2024 with wins at the Paris-Roubaix Femmes, Tour of Britain and a second place at the Giro d’Italia women, while the attritional nature of the Olympic road race course suits her combative style.

She is one of Dutch legend Annemiek van Vleuten’s favourites for gold, and victory would make up for a crash-interrupted sixth place in last weekend’s individual time trial. The only question mark is whether her Belgian teammates can handle the strength of the Netherlands.

Lorena Wiebes

Image credit: Getty Images

One of the Netherland’s potential plans, the 25-year-old Classics specialist dominated the 2024 RideLondon Classique - winning all three stages to take the general classification and points jersey - and is Kopecky’s main threat in a bunch sprint for the line.

Her biggest competition for gold though could come from her own team, with Demi Vollering a contender in her own right, while Marianne Vos knows what it takes to be Olympic champion after her win more than a decade ago at London 2012. With no team radios and riders required to decide race tactics on the fly, Wiebes would have to be the Netherlands’ plan A to be in with the best shot of winning.

Elisa Borghini

Elisa Longo Borghini

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The Italian rider edged Kopecky in the overall of the Giro d’Italia women, and knows what it takes to win a one-day race on the biggest stage - with a palmeres including victories in the Paris-Roubaix Femmes (2022), Strade Bianche Donne (2017) and two at Ronde van Vlaanderen (2015 and 2024).

Unlike the Netherlands, her four-strong team will be working solely for her, which could give her the edge in improving on her bronze medal from Tokyo 2020.

Demi Vollering

Image credit: Getty Images

The Netherland’s second weapon is the closest match to Kopecky, and the 2023 Tour de France Femmes winner will be looking to avenge her loss to Belgian at last year’s 2023 world championships, where she wasn’t able to close down her SD-Worx teammate’s break in the dying stages of the race.

She has won every stage race she’s entered in 2024, including the Vuelta Espana Femenina, although the lack of serious hills might prevent her from edging Kopecky.

Anna Henderson

Watch as Henderson produces ‘huge ride’ to seal supreme ITT silver

Video credit: TNT Sports

The Paris 2024 individual time trial silver medallist is an outsider for a medal in the road race, but could use her against-the-clock credentials to lay down a break that an unorganised peloton isn’t able to reel in.

She finished second to Kopecky in the Tour of Britain Women overall in June, and is part of a three-strong Great Britain team. Others to look out for include Henderson’s teammate Pfeiffer Georgi, who finished on the podium at this year’s Paris-Roubaix Femmes, while Lizzie Deigan brings extensive experience into her fourth Olympic road race, which includes a career best of silver at London 2012.

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