2024 season preview: The most exciting drivers - what are the Germans' chances?
Tom Mustroph
· 01.01.2024
Will 2024 be a year of records for the cycling history books? Tadej Pogacar and Jonas Vingegaard are fighting to join the club of three-time Tour de France winners. At 25, Pogacar would be the youngest rider to achieve this. The last rider to do so was the American Greg LeMond in 1990. Apart from him, only the two Frenchmen Philippe Thys and Louison Bobet are still members. Four-time winner Chris Froome is one level higher, above him are the champions with five victories, Jacques Anquetil, Eddy Merckx, Bernard Hinault and Miguel Indurain.
Marathon man Tadej Pogacar
The Slovenian can aim for another Merckx feat: the double of the Giro d'Italia and Tour de France in one year. Pogacar tries the double start in 2024However, this could be associated with a reduction in his form for the Tour de France. Afterwards, Pogacar wants to take part in Olympia a top position and was able to win the World Cycling Championships 2024 in Zurich take home the rainbow jersey in the autumn. Pogacar's decision not to defend his title at the Tour of Flanders could give German newcomer Nils Politt from Bora-Hansgrohe at UAE Team Emirates more freedom at the Ronde and at Paris-Roubaix to concede.
Mark Cavendish on the hunt for a record
Mark Cavendish is also on the hunt for a record - still. The now 38-year-old Briton extended his adventure with Team Astana to claim his 35th Tour stage win and thus surpass Eddy Merckx's all-time record. Looking at the overall classification, a Tour victory would also lift the new Bora captain and Giro and Vuelta winner Primoz Roglic to a new record high.
In the classics, the two best one-day racers of the present day are likely to be the best, Mathieu van der Poel and Wout van Artcontinue their long-running duel. The Belgian van Aert is keen for revenge. He came away empty-handed at the 2023 Monuments, while van der Poel celebrated the Milan-San Remo and Paris-Roubaix double, was only narrowly beaten by Tadej Pogacar at the Tour of Flanders and achieved an epoch-making triumph at the World Championships in Glasgow.
New young guard: Johannes Staune-Mittet and Andrew August
There are also some younger pros to watch out for. Arnaud de Lie (Lotto-Dstny) took ten victories in his debut season, including one in the World Tour. He could earn his first merits in the bunch sprints at a Grand Tour at the Giro. Above all, however, the 21-year-old Belgian has his sights set on the Tour of Flanders and Paris-Roubaix.
The most promising rookie for the coming season is Johannes Staune-Mittet. The Norwegian, who like de Lie was born in 2002, could fill the gap left by Roglic at Jumbo-Visma in the medium term. He is a complete rider with strengths in the mountains as well as in the time trial and also has the attitude that is most valued at Jumbo-Visma: he puts the team's success above everything else. After his early season exit due to a crash at the Tour de l'Avenir, he was seen handing bottles to team-mates at the roadside in the final races of the season.
In the English-speaking racing scene, US-American Andrew August (born in 2005) is regarded as a rising star. The 18-year-old newcomer to Ineos Grenadiers impressed with outstanding physiological values at the training camp in January 2023. As "someone like Remco, only with even more power", his youth coach Toby Stanton raised him to an even higher level than the already outstanding Remco Evenepoel - huge praise for a teenager.
How good is Isaac del Toro?
The current Tour de l'Avenir winner Isaac del Toro (born in 2003) also has talent scouts clicking their tongues. He won the stage race, dubbed the junior Tour de France, with the comparatively weak Mexican national team and was signed by UAE Team Emirates. This has been sucking top talent off the market for years with the power of petro-dollars. A top German talent is also joining the World Tour. Emil Herzog, born in 2004 and Junior World Champion in 2022, is returning to the Bora biotope after a year of training with the US junior racing team Hagens Berman Axeon.
The chances of the German professional cyclists in 2024
From a German perspective, the coming season does not promise to be too rosy. It is unclear when Maximilian Schachmann will emerge from his deep valley of illness and setbacks. The hard-working Emanuel Buchmann may have passed his zenith and could ennoble his career with a yellow sleeve stripe as a helper in the Tour victory of his new captain Primoz Roglic. Lennard Kämna says he wants to continue his "overall classification project" at Grand Tours. He is more likely to win a leader's role at the Giro, while at the Tour the leader and co-leader roles at Bora-Hansgrohe are reserved for Roglic and Giro winner Jai Hindley.
Instead of victories - Giro stage winner Nico Denz was the only notable one in 2023 - German pros tended to attract attention by changing teams. After mediocre years with UAE, Pascal Ackermann will try out Israel-Premier Tech next year - and could thus still make his long-awaited Tour de France debut. Max Walscheid (from Cofidis) joins the sprinters' faction at Jayco-AlUla, Max Kanter (from Movistar) becomes team-mate of Mark Cavendish at Astana.
A fresh start for Marco Brenner
Felix Groß is reorganising his career in the Olympic year and is leaving Team UAE for his training team Rad-Net Oßwald, which should give him more freedom for his Olympic ambitions on the track. Marius Mayrhofer, Florian Stork and Marco Brenner from dsm-firmenich-PostNL are joining Fabian Cancellara's Tudor project in a trio. Above all these changes is the hope that things will go better in the new environment.
The year 2023 went well for Felix Engelhardt (Jayco-AlUla). The new pro impressed with his race overview and two victories. Georg Zimmermann (Intermarche) triggered a small surge of enthusiasm in Germany with strong performances at the Tour de France and a stage win at the Tour of the Dauphine. Simon Geschke (Cofidis) is aiming for a conciliatory end to his career.
