With just one race day in her legs so far this season, Kristen Faulkner (EF Education-Oatly) isn't dejected with the delayed start to the year, or fretting about a game plan to win Liége-Bastogne-Liége, or even looking too far ahead to score a fourth Grand Tour stage win. She said she may be medically healed from an off-season concussion, and now amps up her efforts for "real fitness".
Faulkner's staggering successes in 2024 have raised the bar, and she is now her own toughest act to follow. She won a stage at the Vuelta España and then the elite women's road race title at US Pro Road Nationals. Having qualified for the Olympic Games on the track to compete in Team Pursuit, she was a late fill-in for the road race in Paris, then came away with a gold medal in each event.
