Women's European Championships Time Trial 2024 History
The Women’s European Championships Time Trial has only been in existence since 2016 when it was decided to include an elite-level race. This came after almost 20 years of U23 and Juniors races with many big-name winners. Given the lack of a U23 women’s World Championship set of races, it’s almost a surprise that the European Championships was so ahead of the curve with Diana ŽiliÅ«tÄ—Â winning the inaugural edition back in 1997. She retained the title in 1998 and then a host of stars like Linda Villumsen, Ellen van Dijk, Anna van der Breggen, Hannah Ludwig, Vittoria Guazzini and Shirin van Anrooij have all won the U23 race.Â
When it comes to the Elites Women’s European Championships Time Trial, it’s been very much Ellen van Dijk‘s race over the years but she has been challenged in recent years by a trio of wins from Marlen Reusser. Van Dijk won the opening 4 editions of the European Championships and even in the last 4 years, she has still finished 2nd each time she has taken part (only her maternity leave in 2023 breaking the streak). Combined with her 2 wins at the U23 level, it’s an impressive record. Marlen Reusser won the last 3 editions but isn’t here to defend her title again after an injury and illness-filled 2024 season.
This year’s time trial course is by and large flat – there are a couple of smallish hills but nothing major. Therefore it should suit riders with high power numbers and the ability to push the outright watts rather than necessarily the lighter riders.
Previous Winners
2023
Marlen Reusser
2022
Marlen Reusser
2021
Marlen Reusser
Women's European Championships Time Trial 2024 Profile
TV Coverage
Wednesday 11th September 2024
Live on Discovery+/Eurosport/Max
14:00-15:30
All times in BST
Twitter: #EuroRoad24
Startlist: FirstCycling
Women's European Championships Time Trial 2024 Contenders
Ellen van Dijk will be a major favourite but the gap is arguably closer than it has ever been to the contenders. She’s had a mixed bag when it comes to recent time trials, with 11th in the rain at the Olympics and 6th at the Tour de France Femmes in Rotterdam. Before then, she’d comfortably won the TTs at the Vuelta Extremadura Féminas, Tour de Normandie and Omloop van Borsele. The Olympics ride showed that the ankle is still an issue when conditions are bad, so a win at this year’s European Championships could be weather-dependent.Â
Riejanne Markus won the Dutch national championships but was 2nd behind Van Dijk in Normandie, 2nd behind her teammate Lieke Nooijen at the Princess Anna Vasa Tour and then 11th in Rotterdam during the Tour de France Femmes. Those results show she can peak well and that a longer 30km+ effort like the one in this race suits her better. Luckily, that’s what she’s going to get in this year’s race. She should be set for a medal but there’s a chance of gold too.
Belgium’s Lotte Kopecky will be an interesting one to keep an eye on. She’s been getting stronger and stronger at the discipline, and whilst clearly strong, often ships a bit of time to the real specialists still. She won the Belgian nationals again this year, the 6th time in a row, and then finished 5th in the Giro d’Italia and 6th at the Olympics in the rain. She was in the hunt last year, finishing 5th at the back of a small train of riders all within 6 seconds of each other who decided the medals. She could take the win with a really good ride but silver or bronze feels more likely.
Another rider with the potential for a medal is Italy’s Vittoria Guazzini. She won the Italian national championships, eventually, after a bit of controversy where Elisa Longo Borghini set the quickest time by 1 second but was deducted time for having her team car follow too closely. The pair were comfortably faster than the rest of the Italian riders, with a minute back to 3rd place that day. She’s also won the non-UCIÂ Cronoromanengo – GP BMG time trial race this year but had a horror day in the Giro d’Italia, finishing 92nd with a ride that Guazzini explained was just a bad day.
Christina Schweinberger took the bronze medal here for Austria last year and has the potential to challenge once again. Her form has blown hot and cold a bit this year on the TT bike, with the uphill climbing TT at the Tour de Suisse not really suiting her much (42nd that day), almost winning the Austrian TT title but finishing 1 second behind Anna Kiesenhofer, and 3rd at the Thüringen Ladies Tour being her best international result. Another who might’ve done better at the Olympics on a dry day, after she was 10th in Paris. The potential is there to pull a big result out of the bag again but the form is questionable coming into the European Championships this year.
Swiss rider Elena Hartmann would probably have preferred some more climbing in this race but can call on some decent TT results already in 2024. 6th in the Giro d’Italia time trial was a strong result against some of the best on a twisty course and winning your national championships is always nice to have. She took the prologue in the Vuelta a El Salvador against relatively weak opposition and a few days later was only 4th in the Grand Prix MOPT. She was 17th in the Olympics and 3rd at the Chrono “Roland Bouge!”, both wet races, so it feels like another rider who would prefer a dry race to excel here.
The only time trial that Eugenia Bujak has raced this year was at the Olympic Games where the Slovenian finished 16th. She skipped the national championships, something that helped add to the controversy about the Olympic Games selection by her nation, so there really aren’t many data points to review. She does have a habit of pulling a top-10 out of the bag in the European Championships though with 3 of them in 5 editions, including 8th last year.
Mireia Benito retained her Spanish national title this year in what was a close 3-horse race against Mavi Garcia and Sandra Alonso. Benito was also 5th in the TT at the Thüringen Ladies Tour this year, a good way off the winner Mischa Bredewold but TTs in stage races can be a strange thing for a rider in a domestique role during the rest of the race. Benito has a chance for a top-5 with a good ride, with not much separating the riders once the medal favourites are out of the way.
Mieke Kröger gave up a road campaign this year for the Olympics but has still done the odd race here and there provided there’s a time trial. She took the German national championships for the 2nd year in a row (and 3rd overall win) and was maybe further back than she hoped at the Thüringen Ladies Tour, finishing 15th in that TT. She was then 13th at the Olympics where the goal quickly shifted to making sure she stayed upright with other goals to keep safe coming up on the track there. The last time she raced in the European Championships, she was 6th back in 2019 in Alkmaar.
Women's European Championships Time Trial 2024 Outsiders
It’s been really hard to pin down just what level Sandra Alonso is actually at on the time trial bike this season. She’s had results of 29th, 37th and 98th but counter to that was a really strong ride in the Spanish national championships. Alonso was 2nd there, finally finishing ahead of long-time champion Mavi Garcia and only a handful of seconds behind winner Mireia Benito. If she’s made this race a goal, then there’s a chance that she can deliver a good top-10 result for Spain.
Once upon a time, Lisa Klein would’ve been a favourite for the win here and took 2nd place back in 2019 and 4th place in 2021. She seems to have just tailed off a bit in recent seasons and hasn’t made the top-10 in the European Championships in the last 2 editions and doesn’t have a TT win at all since 2021 after scoring 9 between 2017 and 2021. She was 3rd in this year’s German nationals and 8th at the Tour de Normandie TT this season.
Anna Kiesenhofer has a strong record at the European Championships, with 4 top-10s in 5 editions and only just missed out in the exception year with 11th place in 2020. I’m just a bit low on Kiesenhofer’s chances after seeing her up-and-down season so far. She did win the Austrian nationals but then had a really bad day in the bad conditions in Paris, pretty much checking out of the race because of the conditions and finishing 33rd. 3rd at the Grand Prix MOPT felt like a missed opportunity against a weak field but the effects of a crash a few days before were still noticeable. She could make the top-10 again, provided it doesn’t rain.
Top 3 Prediction
- Riejanne Markus
- Ellen van Dijk
- Lotte Kopecky
