The up and coming British cyclists that made their mark at Paris 2024

Cycling Track 17 Sep 24

Paris 2024 was the first Olympics since Beijing 2008 without Team GB track cycling powerhouses Sir Jason or Dame Laura Kenny.

Britain’s most successful male and female Olympians retired ahead of this summer's Games' with the baton set to be passed on to a new generation of young talent.

And it was a case of no Kenny, no problem, as Team GB continued to demonstrate its prowess in all disciplines of cycling, not just on the track.

GB’s cyclists won 11 medals across the road, track, BMX freestyle, BMX racing, and mountain bike in Paris.

With many British cyclists in the Paris squad were 25 or younger, there’s plenty more raw talent coming through the ranks too, offering future competition for Olympic selection.

With that said, let’s take a closer look at GB’s up and coming youngsters:

Tom Pidcock

Tom Pidcock may no longer be 'up and coming', with two Olympic titles to his name, but at just 25-years-old, it's important to acknowledge the journey he's been on to get there.

Pidcock showed his dominant form in a thrilling charge to gold in the men’s cross-country mountain bike race. The Yorkshireman needed all his race nous to come back after suffering an early puncture. And he did, overcoming France’s Victor Koretzky in a neck-and-neck duel in the final lap to defend his Tokyo 2020 title in style.

The reigning mountain bike world champion has long entertained crowds and fans watching on the road, too. A talented junior, Pidcock won under-23 world titles on the road, in cyclocross and on the mountain bike, before turning pro in 2021. Racing for Ineos Grenadiers, Pidcock has won the prestigious spring classics Strade Bianche (in 2023) and Amstel Gold earlier in 2024.

Most memorably of all, he became the youngest man to win solo on the famous Alpe d’Huez climb at the Tour de France in 2022.

Pidcock continues to juggle road and off-road disciplines with no sign of slowing down.

Emma Finucane

Welshwoman Emma Finucane came into Paris as the reigning world and European sprint champion, and she was tipped by Kenny to win three golds.

The 21-year-old started her campaign in style with team sprint gold alongside Sophie Capewell and Katy Marchant, breaking the world record three times in the process.

She then took individual bronze in the women’s sprint and keirin, just edged out of contention for gold in a stacked field of sprint athletes. The huge achievement in her first Games made her the first British woman in 60 years to win three medals in a single Olympics, since Mary Rand took gold, silver and bronze in 1964.

Now with Olympic, World and European titles under her belt, the sky’s the limit for Finucane.

Anna Henderson

Anna Henderson kicked off GB’s cycling medal tally with a hard-fought silver in the women’s time trial.

Undeterred by lashing rain on the streets of Paris, it was all the more impressive for the 25-year-old after coming back from breaking her collarbone twice this year.

Only Australia’s Grace Brown could better her time as Henderson claimed the biggest achievement of her young career to date, but the potential has always been there, after Commonwealth silver in 2022 and European silver last year in the same discipline.

As well as being a time trial specialist, Henderson also came second in the Tour of Britain road race this year, and after a string of second places a first major title is surely due.

Charlie Aldridge

Many cycling fans will have known of Pidcock before the Olympics got underway, but fellow mountain biker Charlie Adridge may have been more of an unknown quantity.

The 23-year-old – who was world under-23 champion last year – held his own at the Olympic cross-country mountain bike race in Paris to finish eighth.

Only a few weeks later the Scot earned a silver medal in the World Championships short-track race (contested on a shorter course) and battled to fourth in the longer, cross-country race – just behind compatriot Pidcock.

At several points on the course it looked like a battle between the two Brits for a podium spot, so we may see some similar battles in the future.

Pfeiffer Georgi

Pfeiffer Georgi has won three of the last four national road Championships and has long been knocking on the door of the best riders in the world.

The 23-year-old finished fifth in the Paris Olympics road race, only narrowly behind the likes of serial champions Lotte Kopecky and Marianne Vos.

After a series of top-10 finishes at major classics and one-day races in 2023 and 2024, Georgi looks to be on an upward trajectory, and an Olympic medal in four years’ time shouldn’t be out of reach.

Josh Tarling

One of the youngest in GB’s Paris squad, 20-year-old Josh Tarling held his own high expectations going into a debut Olympics in the time trial.

At just 19 he won the elite European title, beating some of the best riders in the world last year.

A puncture robbed him of a medal in Paris as he finished just off the podium in fourth, but that disappointment will only spur him on to right matters in future competitions.

Battling back to even reach fourth place indicates that an on-song Tarling is a force to be reckoned with.

Beyond GB’s existing Olympians, there are several more riders waiting in the wings for their time to shine.

Zoe Backstedt, 19, Cat Ferguson, 18, and 21-year-olds Oscar Onley, Max Poole and Joe Blackmore have all made waves in cycling over the last couple of seasons.

Backstedt and Ferguson have both won an array of junior world titles across the road - in Backstedt’s case - track and cyclo-cross disciplines, while Scotsman Onley finished fifth on a stage of the 2024 Tour de France.

Blackmore recently won the Tour de l’Avenir, a prestigious under-23 stage race that often produces senior stars – including Tour de France winners and Olympic medallists like Tadej Pogacar.

Sportsbeat 2024

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