While superstars Tadej Pogačar and Lotte Kopecky truly dominated much of the 2024 cycling season, this past year - as always - has seen a new crop of stars burst onto the scene in men's and women's racing.
Some have found their breakthrough at the first attempt as neo-pros cutting their teeth in the peloton, while others have reached new heights and turned a significant corner in their career.
Be it with a first WorldTour win, a maiden Grand Tour stage victory or a consistent run of GC performances, several riders have announced themselves as contenders to watch out for now and in the coming years.
Cyclingnews has looked back at the next set of stars who have made a name for themselves between January at the Tour Down Under right the way through to the Tour of Guangxi in October.
Here are our top 10 breakthrough riders of 2024:
Isaac del Toro (UAE Team Emirates)
Few riders have hit the ground running as well as Isaac Del Toro (UAE Team Emirates) did when he announced himself to the WorldTour with victory on stage 2 of the Tour Down Under.
He showed both the confidence of a much more experienced pro when he outfoxed the peloton during the run into Lobethal and the power to go with it, holding off a Corbin Strong-led charging peloton behind by less than a second.
With his name in the spotlight, Del Toro went on to take eighth up Willunga Hill and third on the stage to Mount Lofty to confirm a maiden WorldTour stage race overall podium on his first attempt.
While it was no real surprise to see the reigning Tour de l'Avenir winner be able to produce such a display, even his teammate Tadej Pogačar wasn't firing that quickly when he won the famous U23 race and then headed Down Under at the start of 2019.
Del Toro would only continue to show his great promise against some of the peloton's biggest stars, notably Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-Lease a Bike) at Tirreno-Adriatico, where he finished fourth behind the Dane, his teammate Juan Ayuso and former Giro d'Italia winner Jai Hindley (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe).
The Mexican will be one of several young stars to watch on UAE in 2025 and it only looks like he is going to get better.
Neve Bradbury (Canyon-SRAM)
Canyon-SRAM have a real gem in Neve Bradbury as a GC star of the future. The young Australian showed glimpses of what she could do during her first three years on the German squad, however, in her 2024 campaign she found new heights and consistency.
Bradbury kicked off the season in January and February with a duo of podium finishes at her home Tour Down Under and the UAE Tour, losing out only to top-level competition in Sarah Gigante (AG Insurance-Soudal) and Lotte Kopecky (SD Worx-Protime).
But it was in May that the Women's WorldTour got to see the best the 22-year-old had to offer when she lit up the Tour de Suisse alongside teammate Kasia Niewiadoma and managed a stage win and second overall, sandwiched on the podium between Demi Vollering (SD Worx-Protime) and Elisa Longo Borghini (Lidl-Trek).
The true highlight arrived at the Giro d'Italia a month later when she stunned a top group of climbers and took victory atop the iconic Blockhaus, beating the likes of Kopecky and Longo Borghini before only finishing behind them on the overall podium a day later.
If her rate of progression is anything to go off of, Bradbury will be even stronger and raring to go at the biggest races. After a crash put a dampener on her maiden Tour de France Femmes, she'll certainly be aiming to show her climbing prowess there in 2025.
Lennert Van Eetvelt and Maxim Van Gils (Lotto Dstny)
There's always bound to be a Belgian on a list of breakout stars but this next pair comes as a package deal from Lotto-Dstny - Lennert Van Eetvelt and Maxim Van Gils, the duo of puncheurs who netted eight of their team's 25 wins this past year.
With Van Eetvelt winning the UAE Tour after a stunning solo up Jebel Hafeet and Van Gils proving his versatility at Strade Bianche and Milan-San Remo with third and seventh respectively, both impressed so much in the early season that Lotto extended their respective contracts until 2026.
Van Gils continued to prove his worth in spring with a string of top one-day results, including third at La Flèche Wallonne and fourth at Liège-Bastogne-Liège, which he followed up with his first WorldTour win at Eschborn-Frankfurt.
Van Eetvelt was put out of action due to requiring knee surgery but his return at the Vuelta and subsequent hitouts at Il Lombardia and the Tour of Guangxi saw him bookend the 2024 season with great form and the final WorldTour win of the year in China.
Thanks to the punchy pair and sprinter Arnaud De Lie, Lotto have their future stars locked in for the next two seasons which should see them return to the WorldTour division in 2026.
Cédrine Kerbaol (Ceratizit-WNT)
Cédrine Kerbaol's breakthrough was one not only for herself but also for France as a nation at the Tour de France Femmes. Her victory on stage 6, the first for the home nation since the race's revival in 2022, displayed all the panaché and bravery it deserved, with an opportunistic attack and daring descent granting her a maiden Tour win.
She backed up the stunning win which delighted French fans with a top-class finish on general classification in sixth after the stage to Alpe d'Huez.
At 23, Kerbaol is one of several stars building up their palmares and 2024 was a year that saw her become a more consistent winner. Not only did she triumph on French roads at the Tour but she also triumphed in the Vuelta CV Feminas, Durango - Durango and Tre Valli Varesine.
The latter came on a rain-soaked day in Italy and required her to show off the bike handling and descending skills that brought her to the line at the Tour de France Femmes. With her unquestionable skill set and power, she's set to kick on to even bigger results in 2025.
Her breakthrough year also earned her a big move to EF Oatly-Cannondale, where she'll be one of the big leaders as that team continues to build its stock.
Pablo Castrillo (Equipo Kern Pharma)
Spain found a new star in Pablo Castrillo in 2024 when he burst into life at the Vuelta a España and scorched to two stage wins. The first was to Manzaneda which gave his team, Equipo Kern Pharma, the biggest victory of their existence - a maiden stage win in their home Grand Tour.
It was a surprise mountaintop triumph from the break but he proved it was no fluke just three days later when he bested even stronger opposition for a second stage win up to Cuitu Negro, leaving Aleksandr Vlasov (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) and Pavel Sivakov (Ineos Grenadiers) behind on the hellish slopes.
At 23, he'd already shown signs of his climbing potential at the Tour of Slovenia and Tour de Langkawi. However, the Vuelta performance was an incredible breakthrough.
It logically led to an abundance of interest from WorldTour teams. But it felt right that it was Movistar, the only Spanish WorldTour team that landed his signature for the next three seasons. He won't have the element of surprise going forward but he might not need it after letting his legs do the talking at the Vuelta.
Puck Pieterse (Fenix-Deceuninck)
Multi-discipline star Puck Pieterse (Fenix-Deceuninck) needed no introduction when she started cropping up on the start lists of several one-day Classics at the opening of the road season. However, what was a surprise was how quickly she got up to speed and became a contender.
A standalone fifth place in Strade Bianche last year was just her second senior-level road race. However, her next eight races saw her manage top-eight finishes at all of Omloop Het Nieuwsblad, Ronde van Drenthe, Trofeo Alfredo Binda, Gent-Wevelgem, Dwaars door Vlaanderen and the Tour of Flanders.
It was an incredible show of strength, but having netted all of these stunning results in her first appearances at the respective races, it also showed her lack of experience was no impediment to top-level performances. Instead, Pieterse highlighted to all how she could translate her cyclocross and mountain bike excellence onto the road.
She then didn't even compete in the discipline for the following four months as she focused on the Paris Olympics MTB event. However, it was worth the wait. Pieterse took the start of her first stage race at the Tour de France Femmes and beat Demi Vollering and Kasia Niewiadoma on the thrilling wet stage to Liège, before holding her nerve up Alpe d'Huez to take 11th overall and the best young rider's white jersey.
The sky seems to be the limit for Pieterse right now, so with 16 days of road racing experience at the top level now in her favour, don't be surprised if those top eight finishes in the Classics turn into wins next season.
Stephen Williams (Israel-Premier Tech)
Riders can have their breakthrough at any age, and that just happened to be 28 for the punchy Welshman Stephen Williams. He opened his 2024 account Down Under where he netted the final stage win up Mount Lofty and the overall winner's ochre jersey with it.
The wins in Australia were just the second and third of his career, adding to a surprise win from the Tour de Suisse two years ago. However, his success wasn't limited to stage racing, with his next victory bringing Great Britain its first-ever triumph in the men's Flèche Wallonne.
He thrived in the freezing rain and ground his way up the Mur de Huy to best Kevin Vauquelin (Arkéa-B&B Hotels) and Van Gils for the biggest win of his career.
Williams described his 2024 as a season "I could have only dreamed of this time last year", capping off his earlier success on home roads at the Tour of Britain, where he managed two stage wins and the overall victory.
Approaching 30, Williams has entered the prime of his career, and he's only getting better. He made little impact but was proud of his maiden Tour de France appearance in 2024 - expect him to be right amongst it in the coming seasons.
Sarah Gigante (AG Insurance-Soudal)
2024 was a rebirth for Sarah Gigante. After several seasons plagued by illness and injury set her progression back, the Australian who burst onto the scene in 2019 with victory at her national championships elite road race finally found her feet.
She had been set for greatness at Movistar after signing in 2022 as one of the top climbing prospects in the peloton, however, the seatbacks mentioned saw her struggle to find form, opportunities and a full calendar.
The past season, Gigante finally rode over 20 race days at the professional level, with her previous highest total of 17 appearances more than doubled with 42, and at some of the biggest races.
She didn't win again after her success up Willinga Hill, however, Gigante did prove she could perform against Europe's best in the WorldTour. She managed fifth at the mountain stage to Jaca at the Vuelta Femenina, before truly finding her best legs at the Tour de France Femmes.
It was a debut to remember for Gigante, with a testing few days struggling off the back of the bunch being followed up by a top climbing performance up Alpe d'Huez that moved her up 10 positions in GC to finish seventh overall.
The comfortability and confidence in the peloton are skills Gigante will certainly want to work on but there's no doubt that when the road goes uphill, she's one of the world's very best.
Laurence Pithie (Groupama-FDJ)
It's certainly not easy to breakthrough in the cobbled Classics, such is the ferocity of the racing and difficulty of the terrain, however, Laurence Pithie established himself as a rider to watch this season with a series of strong results from Kuurne-Brussel-Kuurne all the way through to Paris-Roubaix.
The versatile Kiwi showed his power with a career-first WorldTour win at the Cadel Evans Great Ocean Road Race, before bringing his talents across to Belgium.
In Kuurne, his result of 43rd didn't show the full story of a relentless day on the attack alongside the eventual podium of Wout van Aert (Visma-Lease a Bike), Oier Lazkano (Movistar) and Tim Wellens (UAE Team Emirates). However, Pithie would fall away before he could mount any challenge for the top three, then being swallowed up by a larger chasing group.
There was Déjà vu for Pithie at Gent-Wevelgem when he survived all the way to the final Kellemberg ascent alongside Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Deceuninck) and Mads Pedersen (Lidl-Trek) before just failing to hang on and finishing 26th.
And after surviving Paris-Roubaix in the main chase group behind solo winner Van der Poel, Pithie had a disaster crash which ruled him out of chasing a possible podium or top-five finish, eventually coming home seventh at the Velodrome.
He may not have the results to show for it, but Pithie is the real deal when it comes to the cobbled Classics, which is exactly why Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe signed him from Groupama-FDJ to make up part of their new core for spring in 2025. That big result is just around the corner for the 24-year-old.
Kimberley Le Court (AG Insurance-Soudal)
Kim Le Court was a true revelation in the 2024 season, riding her first pro season since 2016 and first year at WorldTour level, the Mauritian showed what sort of untapped potential there is out there.
At 28, she found her way onto AG Insurance-Soudal after impressing at several Continental Games in Africa. However, the plan was for her to be a domestique, not a leading Classics contender.
She quickly became the latter on her first appearance at many of the big one-day races, netting 11th at Trofeo Alfredo Binda, ninth at Brugge de Panne, 13th at gent-Wevelgem and then a stunning 10th at Paris-Roubaix on debut.
Le Court will only have more to show next season with more experience under her belt in the Classics. But she also showed her stage racing potential to the fullest with a huge win at the Giro d'Italia Women on the final stage - a massive moment for her and Mauritius as a nation without a big cycling heritage.
Her pro career may have started late but Le Court is here to stay.
Honourable mentions
Oscar Onley (DSM-Firmenich PostNL) easily could've made the main list after a great 2024 campaign. Even with three collarbone breaks in eight months, the young Scotsman has proved his worth as a GC prospect with second-place finishes at the Tour of Britain and Tour of Guangxi, alongside fourth at the Tour Down Under after winning the Queen stage. His Worlds (16th) and Tour de France debuts also gave a glimpse into his future as a British star.
Justine Ghekiere (AG Insurance-Soudal) would have been the third rider from her team on the list after netting the biggest win of her career in 2024. Stage 7 of the Tour de France Femmes saw the Belgian, who was called up late to the race as a replacement, get into the breakaway and conquer Le Grand Bornand. She also won the QOM jerseys at the Tour and Giro alongside taking seventh at Worlds while helping Lotte Kopecky to victory.
Georg Steinhauser (EF Education-EasyPost) was one of the breakthrough stars of the Giro d'Italia where he took the biggest and only win of his career to date. It came after several attempts to win a mountain stage from the break on stage 17 to Passo Brocon when Tadej Pogačar finally didn't chase down the break and Steinhauser survived solo.
It's difficult to put a 31-year-old former cyclocross world champion on a list of 'breakthrough' riders but Thalita de Jong (Lotto Dstny) has undeniably started the next chapter of her career. After years of limbo, De Jong showed the qualities of a resilient champion with a bounce back in 2024, taking four wins and jumping 338 UCI rankings. The highlight was her Tour de France Femmes performance where she managed 10th overall, ultimately landing her a move back to the WorldTour in 2025 with Human Powered Health.
Thibau Nys (Lidl-Trek) is another tough name to call a breakthrough star given his previous successes both on the cross bike and road bike. However, he reached new levels on the tarmac in 2024. In a limited 34-day race calendar, Nys won nine times, five of those coming at WorldTour level. He's destined to be a star and hopefully gets a 2025 calendar with the Ardennes and a Grand Tour on it to really show off his potential.
