The 2024 UCI Gran Fondo World Championships held in Aalborg, Denmark (29 August - 1 September), once again proved the speed, strength and diversity of non-professional cycling.
After a year of qualifying events as part of the UCI Gran Fondo World Series, the best riders came head to head in the Danish city in the bid to win the rainbow jersey of UCI Gran Fondo World Champion.
The UCI World Championships were the culmination of months of racing around the globe, from Italy’s Gran Fondo Matidilca in August 2023 to Great Britain’s Gran Fondo Isle of Man at the end of July 2024, with events in Australia, Indonesia, Brazil, Jordan, Cyprus, Croatia, the USA, and Costa Rica, among others, in between. All gave riders a chance to qualify for the event in Denmark, which saw thousands of riders flock to the former training ground of Jonas Vingegaard and roads where Emma Norsgaard won the individual time trial Danish National Championships on two occasions.
3,270 participants from 74 nations
The action was packed across four days from Thursday 29 August, with the individual time trial, until Sunday 1 September, as the road races led a historically loaded field through the Danish backcountry.
The 2024 UCI Gran Fondo World Championships brought together 3,270 riders, beating the previous record for participation set in the 2018 edition, when 3,175 participants in Varese, Italy.
The competitors represented no fewer than 74 nations – six more than last year, when the event was part of the UCI Cycling World Championships held in Glasgow and across Scotland (Great Britain). Belgians led the count with 416 participants, ahead of the local Danish heroes (303 riders). The start list also included 113 Australians, 93 riders from the USA, a couple from Thailand, and one from Tanzania.
The field was not only impressive in size and diversity, it was also loaded with talent, featuring 11 defending road race UCI World Champions and 18 of the 21 time trial UCI World Champions from 2023..
Blazing time trials
The quality and dedication of the riders, the flat nature of the courses and the windless conditions led to very fast racing around Aalborg.
A blazing tone was set in the time trials, over a 33.3km flat and scenic course (just 127m of elevation) on the Limfjord. Belgium’s Guillaume Seye posted the fastest time of all the categories (40’01’’, an average speed of 49.66km/h) to renew his title in the Men 19-34. Denmark’s Johannes Rom Dahl made the most of his power in a familiar environment to take the silver medal (+31’’) in the same category. The third best time was set by another Belgian, Jari Verstraeten, who claimed the rainbow jersey in the 35-39 age class.
At 46 years old, Norway’s Sonja Moi was the fastest female finisher, with a time of 45’09’’ (44.02km/h). Already crowned last year, she is based in Stavanger, like the professional and aspiring professionals of UCI Women’s WorldTeam Uno-X Mobility. Second fastest woman was Sweden’s Cecilia Hansen (crowned in the 40-44 class with a time of 45’31’’), and third place went to Germany’s Adelheid Schütz, winner of the 50-54 age category, who beat second-placed Molly Van Houweling (USA), former holder of the UCI Hour Record timed by Tissot, by 37 seconds.
A total of 23 UCI Gran Fondo World Champions were winners in the time trials.
The depth and the quality of the field were also highlighted in Friday’s team relay, crowning UCI World Champions for the first time in this event. Poland’s Anna Witczak, Wojciech Szczepanik, Jakub Rucinski and Maciej Rogulski claimed the rainbow jersey with an average speed of 44.67 km/h on multiple laps of the 2.2km city centre circuit. Silver went to Belgium, and bronze to Czechia. A total of 26 teams took to the start.
Buchanan, Gaffuri, Lacomme… Shows of class
Sunday saw riders battle over the courses of the Medio Fondo (114km) and the Gran Fondo (152km).
Italy’s Mattia Gaffuri showed his class to break away from the peloton and claim a solo victory with the fastest time across all categories: 3h28’56’’, an impressive average speed of 43.91km/h.
At 25 years old, Gaffuri is a member of the Swatt Club, an Italian team which attracts hundreds of members. He’s been a finalist of the Zwift Academy, a silver medallist in the 2023 European Climbers Championships, and now he’s a UCI World Champion with a rainbow jersey.
Twelve UCI Gran Fondo World Champions (one more than in 2023) were crowned in the men’s class ages, from Gaffuri (19-34) to France’s Michel Lacomme, who dominated the 85-89 class with an average speed of 28.5km/h and a margin of 17’04’’ over his runner-up, the USA’s Leon Malmed. France’s Pierre Moreau (80-84) claimed victory both in the time trial and Medio Fondo.
In the women’s categories, Great Britain’s Linda Dewhurst (65-69) and the USA’s Camilla Buchanan (80-84) both took two rainbow jerseys in Aalborg.
The fastest female time in the Gran Fondo was Dutchwoman Arianna Pruisscher (19-34), who outsprinted her countrywoman Maaike De Vries after 4h11’21’’ of effort. A former member of UCI Women’s Continental Team Stade Rochelais Charente-Maritime (now named Winspace), Pruisscher is a dentist and also does speed skating.