CyclistWho are the favourites for the womens World Championships Road Race 2024?The big battle for rainbow jerseys takes place this weekend, with the womens road race on Saturday 28th September and the mens road race on Sunday 29th September. Lotte Kopecky is looking to defend her title in the womens race, which begins in Uster, near Zrich in Switzerland, and finishes in Sechselutenplatz after 154km.The peloton will complete one lap around Lake Greifensee before four laps of a 27km city circuit that features the 1.1km Zrichbergstrasse climb with an average gradient of 8%, and Witikon, which is 2.3km with a 5.7% average gradient.These are the riders most likely to be pulling on the rainbow stripes at the end of the day.Lotte Kopecky (Belgium)Cycling WorldsReigning road race World Champion Lotte Kopecky won last years title with a thrilling final lap attack on the streets of Glasgow and will be looking to reclaim the rainbow bands in Zurich. Since her bronze medal in the road race at the Olympic Games, Kopecky has won both the Tour de Romandie and the European Championships time-trial.After placing fifth in the World Championships time-trial last weekend, she admitted to riding far below her level, but the short and sharp climbs of the road race will suit her style and could be the key to launching an attack in the final laps.Rating: 5/5 Related Posts What is the curse of the rainbow jersey? Who are the favourites for the mens World Championships Road Race 2024? UCI Road World Championships 2024: Routes, how to watch and all you need to know Elisa Longo Borghini (Italy)Dario Belingheri/Getty ImagesElisa Longo Borghini has had a phenomenal year, including winning the Tour of Flanders and the Giro dItalia, where she held the maglia rosa throughout the race, seeing off a strong challenge from Kopecky in the process.A training crash forced her out of the Tour de France Femmes and she could only manage ninth at the Olympics even apologising for her performance. Despite this, she remains a force to be reckoned with at the World Championships, having arrived with a recent second place at the Grand Prix de Wallonie and racing alongside a strong Italian team comprising former World Champion Elisa Balsamo and trade teammate Gaia Realini.Rating: 4/5Demi Vollering (Netherlands)A.S.O./Charly LopezVollering and Kopecky might be on the same trade team with SD Worx-Protime although thats set to change from next season but they are separated by nation, the duo potentially going head-to-head in a battle for the rainbow jersey.While boasting a season most could only dream of, with victory at La Vuelta Femenina, Itzulia, the Vuelta a Burgos and Tour de Suisse, her Classics campaign was lacking and, try as she did, she was unable to defend her Tour de France Femmes title, losing out by just four seconds.Vollering just missed out in the time-trial last weekend to Australias Grace Brown and will be determined to better her result in the road race to finish the season on a high.Rating: 4/5Kasia Niewiadoma (Poland)A.S.O./Thomas MaheuxSpeaking of Kasia Niewiadoma, the Tour de France Femmes winner turned around her fortunes this season. Entering the year on an almost five-year victory drought on the road, she soared to victory at La Flche Wallonne and ended her summer with the yellow jersey.Since then, she has taken a break from racing, so should be fully recharged in time for her return at the World Championships.Rating: 3.5/5Grace Brown (Australia)UCI CyclingAussie Grace Brown is on a fine run of form, no doubt boosted by the thought of retirement at the end of the year. She won Lige-Bastogne-Lige earlier this season, but the jewel in the crown was surely an Olympic gold medal in the individual time-trial.She recently made history by becoming the first rider to win the Olympic and Worlds ITT in the same year and heads to the start line of the road race with Neve Bradbury, Brodie Chapman, Sarah Gigante, Ruby Roseman-Gannon and Amanda Spratt on her side.Rating: 3.5/5Marianne Vos (Netherlands)A.S.O./Thomas MaheuxNo stranger to World Championships titles, 37-year-old Marianne Vos won her first back in 2006 and has been a dominant figure throughout her career.Vos hasnt won a World Championship on the road since 2013 but came extremely close in 2021, just missing out in the sprint finish against Italys Elisa Balsamo. She may be an elder stateswoman of the peloton, but no one will be counting her out. Shes another strong card to play in a fierce Netherlands squad.Rating: 3/5Kristen Faulkner (United States)Zac Williams/ZW PhotographyThe USAs Kristen Faulkner soloed to a spectacular victory at the Olympics, dropping Marianne Vos, Lotte Kopecky and Blanka Vas in the final 3km of the 158km road race. She made history in the process, becoming the first American woman to win since Connie Carpenter-Phinney on the races debut Games 40 years prior.Since then, Faulkner also won on the track with the American team pursuit squad and raced in the Tour de France Femmes where she finished 4th on Stage 5.Rating: 3/5Pauline Ferrand-Prvot (France)Piotr Staron/Getty ImagesIt will be interesting to see how Pauline Ferrand-Prvot fares during the race, which marks her return to the road scene after a three-year absence. In that time, the Frenchwoman has been dominating the mountain biking scene with recent victory at the Olympics, her last MTB race before returning to the road.Ferrand-Prvot previously won the World Championships on the road a decade ago and boasts the accolade in multiple disciplines over the years, including cyclocross in 2015, gravel in 2022 and mountain biking in 2015, 2019, 2020, 2022 and 2023.Her teammates include CdrineKerbaol, Juliette Labous and vita Muzic, who are all strong riders and capable of winning on their day too.Rating: 2/5Blanka Vas (Hungary)23-year-old multi-discipline rider Blanka Vas is becoming a force on the road, with stage victories in both the Giro dItalia and Tour de France Femmes, the latter in a hotly contested sprint against Niewiadoma, Lianne Lippert and Kristen Faulkner.Also a national champion, Vas finished just out of the medals in the Olympics road race. Dont be surprised if shes up there in the World Championships.Rating: 2/5Cecilie Uttrup Ludwig (Denmark)Tim de Waele/Getty ImagesCecilie Uttrup Ludwig has only seen success once on the road this year, bagging a stage at the Tour Down Under in January before her season was derailed by a crash at Omloop Het Nieuwsblad.The Dane has podiumed at the World Championships before, winning a bronze medal in Glasgow last year, and is a regular contender in the hilly Classics.Rating: 2/5Other riders to watchJuliette Labous (France)Lianne Lippert (Germany)Christine Majerus (Luxembourg)Puck Pieterse (Netherlands)Cyclists predictionDavid Pintens/Belga Mag/AFP via Getty ImagesTheres a theme at these World Championships and its riders doing things in twos, whether its the Olympic/Worlds ITT or retaining their ITT title.Lotte Kopecky will be a marked woman, but when is she not? A break on the final lap could see a repeat of Glasgow, with a select group behind not wanting to chase her down and ending up fighting for second place.Im also really looking forward to seeing how Pauline Ferrand-Prvot fares on her return to the road. Related Posts What is the curse of the rainbow jersey? Who are the favourites for the mens World Championships Road Race 2024? UCI Road World Championships 2024: Routes, how to watch and all you need to know The post Who are the favourites for the womens World Championships Road Race 2024? appeared first on Cyclist.