The 2024 Giro d'Italia Women offered excitement from start to finish: The GC was a close fight between Elisa Longo Borghini (Lidl-Trek) and Lotte Kopecky (SD Worx-Protime) that was only decided on the final day.
In addition to that, several riders from all over the world took breakthrough victories, confirming their talent in one of the biggest races on the women's calendar. Looking back on the Italian stage race, Cyclingnews has picked the following five defining moments of the 2024 Giro d'Italia Women.
Longo Borghini waiting in the stage 1 ITT hot seat
At the time, it was simply the rider with the fastest time waiting to see if anyone could beat her in the opening time trial – but in retrospect, Longo Borghini's two-hour wait in the stage 1 individual time trial hot seat takes on a deeper meaning.
Italy had been waiting for a home winner of the women's Giro d'Italia for 16 years – the last was Fabiana Luperini in 2008. Before the 2024 edition, Longo Borghini herself had started 12 Giri, never reaching the top step of the GC podium: Her best results were second place in 2017, third place in 2020, and fourth place in 2022. Now aged 32, it felt as if time was slowly but surely running out for the best Italian road cyclist of her generation to win the Giro.
In Brescia, Longo Borghini went for an early start time to avoid the forecast afternoon showers and set the best time, going into the hot seat for the leader of the ITT and watching as rider after rider tried and failed to beat her time. Even when the rain started coming down, slowing down the later starters, Longo Borghini took nothing for granted, only celebrating after the last rider had finished.
Longo Borghini outsprinting Kopecky on stage 4
After her time trial victory, Longo Borghini was in the maglia rosa and would go on to keep the race leader's jersey all the way to the finish. But the Italian champion took a day-by-day approach, reiterating in the post-race interviews that she wasn't looking further ahead than the next stage.
And in the first half of the Giro, it looked as if it was only a matter of time until Longo Borghini would have to relinquish the maglia rosa. Through time bonifications for her second places on stages 2 and 3, Kopecky made up 12 seconds and was only 13 seconds behind the race lead going into stage 4.
The uphill finish in Urbino looked tailor-made for another Kopecky sprint, and although a breakaway had taken away the bonus seconds, the world champion made her move on the small pavé in a bid to drop Longo Borghini.
But the maglia rosa stayed on Kopecky's wheel and counterattacked, coming past in the final metres to finish ahead of Kopecky. Longo Borghini showed that she would fight for the maglia rosa with everything she had, and this set the tone for the rest of the race.
Even though Kopecky won stage 5 to get another ten bonus seconds, Longo Borghini won the favourites' sprint on stage 6 and replied to Kopecky's attack on the final 300 metres of stage 7, not giving an inch to the Belgian.
With six bonus seconds to second-placed Kopecky and four to Longo Borghini, they went into the final stage separated by the narrowest of margins. Kopecky made her move on the Acquasanta climb and again on the final kilometre, but Longo Borghini prevailed in the end, sprinting away from her rival to finish fourth on the day and celebrating her overall victory as she crossed the line.
Clara Emond soloing to her first professional victory and into the mountain jersey
Stage 4 also saw the first professional victory for Clara Emond (EF-Oatly-Cannondale). The 27-year-old Canadian is a relatively new entrant to the sport, having previously combined a career as a lawyer with racing triathlons and only switching to road cycling during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Emond did her first European campaign in 2022, then signed with Arkéa Pro Cycling Team for 2023 and raced at the Thüringen Ladies Tour, Tour de Suisse, and Tour de France Femmes. For 2024, she was picked up by the new-look EF-Oatly-Cannondale team.
In May, Emond had to abandon the Vuelta Femenina with an elbow fracture but returned to racing at the Tour de Suisse. In the Giro d'Italia Women, she went on a 90km breakaway on the way and spent the second half of that all by herself at the front of the race.
With a stage victory at stake, she kept going and could raise her arms in triumph atop the finishing climb to Urbino. Even though Emond had to abandon the race on stage 7 due to the effects of the heat, the victory has made her name known and will give her confidence going forward.
Neve Bradbury attacking to win the queen stage with a long climbing effort
With her Blockhaus stage victory and a spot on the overall podium, Neve Bradbury (Canyon-SRAM) has established herself as one of the top climbers in the women's peloton. And the manner of her victory was just as impressive as the 22-year-old Australian attacked from the group of favourites with almost ten kilometres to go and was never seen again.
Bradbury got her first pro contract by winning the 2020 Zwift Academy and has continued to perform since, but her 2024 season shows another step up: After a third place in the Tour Down Under, she attacked on the Jebel Hafeet climb in the UAE Tour Women where Kopecky was the only one who could bridge to Bradbury on the final kilometre and drop her on the last uphill kick.
Bradbury followed this up with a solid Classics campaign and a stage victory in the Tour de Suisse where she also finished second overall and won the young riders' jersey. At the Giro, Bradbury was at first eclipsed by her teammate Antonia Niedermaier who led the U23 classification after the opening ITT, but in Niedermaier's shadow, Bradbury stayed in contention and was 11th overall going into the queen stage with the ascents of the Passo Lanciano and Blockhaus.
On the finishing climb, Bradbury made her first move with over 10km to go, and when she was quickly reeled in again, she launched another attack 9.4km from the finish line, quickly leaving the other GC favourites behind. Even though she was over two minutes behind, her fast climbing caused Longo Borghini to set the pace so that Bradbury would not threaten the overall lead – but the stage victory was practically decided already, and Bradbury rode herself to a stunning victory and third place overall, defending her GC podium on the final stage.
Kim Le Court coming back from losing her GC to win the final stage
Kim Le Court (AG Insurance-Soudal) has put Mauritius on the map at the Giro d'Italia Women. The 28-year-old was a surprise signing ahead of 2024 as she last raced a full road season in 2016, but her performances this season have shown that Le Court was more than capable of holding her own even in the biggest races.
In the first half of the Giro, she built an excellent GC position for herself, climbing up the rankings every day until she was fifth overall after stage 4, having bridged to the breakaway with the help of her teammate Justine Ghekiere and taking 40 seconds on most of the other GC contenders.
Le Court lost roughly the same time again when she could not follow the GC contenders on stage 6 and shipped 16 minutes to the best on the mountainous stage 7, putting her out of the GC top 10.
But on the final stage, Le Court turned this time loss into an asset – she wasn't a danger to the top riders anymore and free to attack for the stage victory, bridging to Ruth Edwards (Human Powered Health) and Franzi Koch (DSM-Firmenich PostNL) who had gone clear a little bit earlier.
On the uphill finish in L'Aquila, Le Court was on Edwards' wheel coming onto the finishing straight but sprinted past the US rider to win her first professional victory.
The image of Le Court crossing the finish line resplendent in her Mauritian champion's jersey can serve as inspiration for other riders around the world that road cycling, even at the very top, isn't reserved only to those who grow up in the traditional heartlands of the sport.
