The 2024 year was a mix of positives and negatives across the teams with Kern Pharma winning stages at La Vuelta and Visma Lease-a-bike falling short of winning on multiple occasions and having multiple injuries across the team. Multiple top riders also transferred after the season which will create new dynamics across the peloton. Not to mention all the records that were equalled and beaten.
One of the more notable things that happened in the year was Tadej Pogacar winning almost everything he started having one of the most successful seasons on record. Included in his wins was the GC at both the Giro and the Tour a feat last done by Marco Pantani in 1998. Then in the world championships later on in the year he won the road race by 34 seconds over Ben O'Connor who was a surprise to see on the podium. What makes this more impressive is that he won 6 stages in both grand tours and won two monuments in the same year which has never been done before.
Other notable performances over the season were Remco Evenepoel getting gold medals in both the road race and the time trial at the Paris Olympics and then going on to win the Worlds TT before shortly missing out on the win at the road race by finishing 58 seconds behind the winner in a group containing Mathieu Van Der Poel, Tom Skujins and Marc Hirschi.
Mathieu Van Der Poel also had a decent season winning Paris-Roubaix and Flanders adding to the ever growing list of classics wins, he also showed that he was a great lead out man for his team mate Jasper Philipsen who won three stages at the Tour.
As well as Pogacar making history with his wins, Sir Mark Cavendish finally got another stage wins after all the set backs and low points, he finally got number 35 setting a record which may never be broken. Biniam Girmay also became the first black African to get a stage win at the Tour gaining 3 and the Green Jersey making his home country of Eritrea proud and showing the world what is possible.
In women's cycling both the Olympics and the tour led to some more surprising results. Demi Vollering lost out on the yellow jersey by 4 seconds to Katarzyna Niewiadoma after a gruelling time trial on the last stage. At the Olympic road race the American Kristin Faulkner won after being a reserve on the start list, showing that she deserves a place in the sport and that the country should have been grateful she was there.
2024 has also been an emotional year for many teams with crashes and wins all over the place. Visma were dealt a bad hand, having only 32 pro victories, with Jonas Vingegaard suffering a huge crash during the tour of the Basque country and being taken away in an ambulance and his participation at the Tour being put under question. His comeback to come second in the GC and outsprinting the yellow jersey on stage 11 show determination and how insane the riders are. Wout Van Aert also suffered crashes at the Vuelta leading to him being forced to abandon despite holding two jerseys at the time, yet more bad luck for Visma coming off of their high in 2023 and win of all three grand tours. Many riders showed their emotion with tears being shed across the sport. Jonas Vingegaard being put down after losing time to Tadej Pogacar, Matteo Vercher after coming second on stage 18 despite only having been a pro for a year, Demi Vollering after losing out on the yellow jersey by 4 seconds.
Pablo Castrillo was an unfamiliar name to many even more out of place on the start list of La Vuelta with his team Equipo Kern Pharma. However he still won two stages doing better than many pro teams have all season, he won the stages by 8 and 12 seconds respectively after being in the breakaway on the mountain stages.
Now for the failures of the year, Ineos Grenadiers have had yet another disappointing year with only 14 pro wins, Red Bull Bora Hansgrohe had 24 wins with their new rider Primoz Roglic who is a familiar name among the pro peloton, he went on to win La Vuelta again reclaiming the title from Sepp Kuss.
How long before Ineos are competitive again?