Following the preview of the sprint events at the Vélodrome National in Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines, we now focus on the endurance events taking place during the last week of the Olympic Games Paris 2024.
As for the sprinters, endurance specialists have six events (three for women, three for men) on the programme: the men’s and women’s team pursuit, omnium and Madison.
Team pursuit: all stars align
Held in every edition of the Olympic Games since 1920 (after a first appearance in 1908), the team pursuit is an absolute test of collective strength that will set the tone for the endurance events, with the first battles on 5 and 6 August, ahead of the finals the following day.
The women’s team pursuit has been extraordinarily open since Germany overthrew Great Britain at the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020. Mieke Kröger, Lisa Brennauer, Franziska Brausse and Laura Süssemilch went on to dominate the event at the 2021 UCI World Championships. But Italy (crowned in 2022) and Great Britain (2023) have succeeded the Germans and although Brennauer has now retired they can still count on Lisa Klein – also an Olympic Champion at Tokyo 2020.
French hopes rely on riders (Victoire Berteau, Marion Borras, Clara Copponi, Valentine Fortin, Marie le Net) who have refined their power at road events as well as the highest level track competitions. They took bronze in the last two editions of the UCI Worlds.
The men’s field also promises fierce battles. Italy comes with the same quartet that ruled the Izu velodrome at the last Olympic Games: Simone Consonni, Filippo Ganna, Francesco Lamon and Jonathan Milan. But they’ve had to settle for silver in the last two editions of the UCI World Championships, dominated in 2022 by Great Britain (used to claiming gold in the Olympic Games team pursuit) and last year by Denmark (silver medallists at Tokyo 2020).
Australia, Belgium, Canada, France, Germany, Japan and New Zealand are the other contenders in the men’s team pursuit, while Australia, Canada, Ireland, Japan, New Zealand and the USA complete the women’s field with many stars to watch in this first event before they move on to events as individuals or in pairs.
Women’s team pursuit entry list
Omnium: major French hopes
Resilience will certainly play a strong part in the omnium, with four races to master in a single day to achieve glory: the scratch race, the tempo race, the elimination race and the points race. The male specialists (representing 22 nations) will shine on Thursday 8 August. The women (also from 22 nations) will cap off the week on Sunday 11 August.
French stars are highly anticipated in this discipline. In the men’s competition, Thomas Boudat celebrates the 10th anniversary of the rainbow jersey he won in the UCI Track Cycling World Championships in 2014. Benjamin Thomas was the winner in 2017 and 2020, and is also a three-time silver medallist in the omnium at the UCI Worlds, most recently in 2022 and 2023.
They’re not the only stars with rainbow stripe history ahead of an all-out battle: Aaron Gate (New Zealand) won the omnium at the UCI Worlds in 2013, Fernando Gaviria (Colombia) did so in 2015 and 2016, Ethan Hayter (Great Britain) in 2021 and 2022, and Iúri Leitão (Portugal) is the reigning UCI World Champion.
In the women’s competition, French hopes rely on Clara Copponi and Valentine Fortin, who both participated in the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020 and have claimed several medals in UCI World Championships and UEC European Championships.
They’ll face hard competition led by the USA’s Jennifer Valente, the reigning Olympic Champion and winner of the omnium in the last two editions of the UCI Track World Championships.
Big names also include the likes of Lotte Kopecky (BEL), Amalie Dideriksen (DEN), Italy’s Elisa Balsamo and Letizia Paternoster, Yumi Kajihara (JPN)… the battle will be exhilarating right until the closing ceremony!
Madison: the duos to watch
A similarly star-studded field will do battle in the Madison pairs event, with the women’s final scheduled for Friday 9 August and the men’s the following day.
France have stepped on the podium of the Madison in the last four editions of the UCI Track World Championships but the gold medal always escaped them. Will home support make the difference? UCI World Champions such as Neah Evans and Elinor Barker (Great Britain) beg to differ.
In the men’s competition, Benjamin Thomas embodies France’s hopes again (with either Thomas Boudat or Vincent Tabellion) after he won the Madison in the 2017 and 2022 UCI Track World Championships and took bronze in the speciality at the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020. On both occasions, he was riding with Donavan Grondin, who wasn’t selected for Paris 2024.
Crowned at Tokyo 2020 with Lasse Norman, Denmark’s Michael Mørkøv will try to power to another title in his stellar career, with Rasmus Pedersen or Niklas Larsen.
The reigning UCI World Champions Yoeri Havik and Jan-Willem van Schip (the Netherlands) are among high favourites. As are Great Britain’s Ethan Hayter and Oliver Wood. And we mustn’t overlook the historical feats Germany’s Roger Kluge and Theo Reinhardt have already achieved through their careers.