by Aside from the big names and their expected wins – some more than others – 2024 saw some riders have a breakout year, 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 a key role at the World Championships, it wasn’t just the same names lighting up the races this year.
Now that the season is over, we’ve put together a list of the ten biggest breakthroughs of 2024.
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Laurence Pithie (Groupama-FDJ)
Think back to the beginning of this season. I mean really early. Laurence Pithie, then 21, won the Cadel Evans Great Ocean Road Race and enjoyed a brief stint in the yellow jersey at Paris-Nice. However, it was in the classics that he really shined.
After two 15th places in Milan-San Remo and Bruges-De Panne, he was the only man in Gent-Wevelgem who was not from Lidl-Trek and was able to hold on to Mathieu van der Poel’s bike for the first ascent of the Kemmelberg. He managed to stay in the quartet alongside Van der Poel, Mads Pedersen and Jonathan Milan for quite a while, but was eliminated last time out on the Kemmelberg and ended up just a few seconds behind in the big second group.
It set the stage for arguably his best performance of the year in an exceptional debut at Paris-Roubaix. The New Zealander managed to join the five-man chasing group behind Van der Poel’s breakaway group and made a strong impression. However, he slipped in a corner and crashed with 30 km to go. Still, a strong seventh place was a monumental achievement.
Maxim Van Gils (Lotto Dstny)
The other revelation of the early season was Lotto-Dstny’s Maxim Van Gils. Starting at Strade Bianche, the peloton couldn’t keep up with Tadej Pogačar’s dominance, but behind them another race unfolded and Van Gils held on and ended up on the podium, finishing just three seconds behind second-place finisher Toms Skujiņš.
Next up was Milan-San Remo two weeks later. The 24-year-old is by no means a sprinter, but given the race’s first major sprint result in several years, he managed to come home in a remarkable seventh place. And that wouldn’t be the end of it.
On more natural terrain in the Ardennes, he stormed up the Mur de Huy to reach the podium in 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.
Two consecutive victories later followed at Eschborn-Frankfurt and the GP Kanton Aargau, and on the opening stage of the Tour de France he finished just behind Pogačar in fifth place.
Jonas Abrahamsen (Uno-X Mobility)
The Tour de France is the race that immediately comes to mind when you think of Jonas Abrahamsen’s breakout season, but he made a solo attack leading up to it with a strong second place at Dwars Door Vlaanderen and his first professional win at the Brussels Cycling Classic Foundation stone laid dying kilometers.
On the Tour, his Uno-X Mobility squad was expected to throw in breakaways wherever possible. Abrahamsen was committed to the task and finished second in the mountain jersey on the second stage, which he held until the end of the 10th stage. He also stood on the podium as winner of the day’s combat skills award, a feat he repeated on stage 8. He spent a massive 140km in a solo breakaway.
He didn’t win the overall combat ability award, but he won my Vibes classification. Some would say that’s even better.
Pablo Castrillo (Equipo Kern Pharma)
Pablo Castrillo from Equipo Kern Pharma was the catalyst for the Vuelta a España with an attacking flair that won him fans around the world. His persistence secured him his first professional victory on stage 12 on the Montaña de Manzaneda and just three days later he won again in a fierce battle against Aleksandr Vlasov on the extremely 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 on a three-year contract starting next season.
Oscar Onley (DSM-Firmenich-PostNL)
Scot Oscar Onley wasted no time this season in winning the premier stage of the Tour Down Under, which also included two ascents of Willunga Hill. However, luck was not on his side as he fell during the Amstel Gold Race and broke his collarbone for the third time in just eight months.
When he returned to racing two months later, he finished eighth overall in the Tour de Suisse and was about to make his Tour de France debut. His DSM team was on a stage hunt and on the hilly 17th stage to Barcelonnette, Onley made his way into the day’s large breakaway group and remained in one of the chasing groups when they separated. Victory would be decided by a trio up front and Onley crossed the finish line in fifth.
He then rode to second overall at the Tour of Britain, won the youth classification, had a great day 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)
Likewise, Stevie Williams was another who started strong this year by winning the final stage and overall victory of the Tour Down Under. The Welshman’s greatest victory came in La Flèche Wallonne, where no one could follow him up the Mur de Huy.
A sprint against Julian Alaphilippe and Onley on the second stage of the Tour of Britain meant Williams took the lead in the race and extended it to the finish in Felixstowe to take overall victory.
Matteo Jorgenson (Visma-Lease a Bike)
In Matteo Jorgenson’s first season with Visma-Lease a Bike, it only took a few months for success to come. Although he didn’t win a stage at Paris-Nice, the American won both the general classification and the youth classification, moving from second to first place on the final stage, while his compatriot Brandon McNulty fell back in the general classification.
The victory at Dwars door Vlaanderen was followed by 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 and was the rider who came closest to van der Poel’s Koppenberg attack, but paid the price and finished 31st.
At the start of the summer he climbed to an impressive second place overall at the Critérium du Dauphiné, just eight seconds behind Primož Roglič. He was a loyal deputy to Jonas Vingegaard at the Tour de France before getting his chance in the breakaways and coming heartbreakingly close to a first stage win at Isola 2000 (thanks Tadej), and his efforts took him to a strong eighth place overall.
Neve Bradbury (Canyon SRAM)
Neve Bradbury’s first professional victory came with a sensational one-two with teammate Kasia Niewiadoma on the third stage of the Tour de Suisse, where the pair pulled away to a commanding victory in the mountains.
The real jewel in the crown came on the queen stages of the Giro d’Italia, where she soloed to victory on Blockhaus and finished almost a minute ahead of the leading GC duo Lotte Kopecky and Elisa Longo Borghini.
The 22-year-old also put in several strong performances overall, finishing second in both the Tour de Suisse and UAE Tour and third in the Giro d’Italia, and she went home with wins in the youth classification in all three categories.
Kasia Niewiadoma (Canyon SRAM)
It may feel strange to see her on this list considering she has long been one of the peloton’s best riders, but there is no doubt that 2024 was a breakthrough for Kasia Niewiadoma. A close second place behind Elisa Longo Borghini in the Tour of Flanders was soon followed by a powerful attack on the Mur de Huy in La Flèche Wallonne, which resulted in their first away win in almost five years.
However, the defining moment of her season was the Tour de France Femmes. A crazy fifth stage saw her take the yellow jersey after taking advantage of Demi Vollering’s misfortune and SD Worx’s mishaps, making her way to the finish on Alpe d’Huez despite a thrilling challenge from Vollering, taking the yellow by just four seconds to win, just barely held on. It was one of the best endings to a tour in recent times.
Justine Ghekiere (AG Insurance – Soudal)
A first year on WorldTour For 28-year-old Justine Ghekiere, the year marked an immediate breakthrough, especially as the gradients increased. The AG Insurance-Soudal rider dominated the mountains classifications at the Volta Ciclista a Catalunya and the Giro d’Italia Women before heading to the Tour de France Femmes.
There she not only won the difficult solo stage 7, but also defended the mountain classification from Vollering.
After all this personal success, Ghekiere put on one final show at the World Championships in which she competed The central teammate for Lotte Kopecky’s rainbow jersey defense.
Who did we miss? Let us know in the comments or on social media.
