The 2024 Paris Olympics opening cycling event is the Women’s Time Trial. Held on the streets of Paris itself and taking in many of the sights and sounds like the Bastille and Eiffel Tower, the race promises to be a challenging one. There is a little bit of elevation but it’s generally quite flat as these major event time trials go. The challenge will come from the city streets and the weather conditions. As we saw from the wet opening ceremony, it has certainly been raining in Paris and that continued this morning as well. There is a bit of standing water in places and a generally slick road throughout. With manhole covers, the odd bit of flagstones, painted road markings and the oils lifted up by the rain, there is the potential for a rider to come unstuck.
As per the race preview, the main contenders here are Chloe Dygert, Ellen van Dijk and Grace Brown. The first two haven’t had it plain sailing here. Dygert hasn’t raced a UCI road race since back in the spring, with a series of injuries, covid and niggles preventing her from racing. Ellen van Dijk fractured her ankle, and as reported today, a lot more than that has come out too. Grace Brown, by contrast, has been ok with no maladies to report. She was the favourite to win the time trial at the Giro d’Italia Women recently but would finish 2nd by just 1 second to Elisa Longo Borghini there. This course should suit her more though. Just outside of the main trio of medal hopes are the likes of Elisa Longo Borghini, Lotte Kopecky, Demi Vollering and Anna Henderson.
Live Coverage
The race starts at 1:30pm today
Live on Eurosport/Discovery+ and BBC
All times in BST