World Championship road races: Global Riders to Watch
World Championship road races: Global Riders to Watch
Riders from 8 nations who could spring a surprise over the next few days at the Zurich World Championships
The road races at Zurich 2024 look sure to be full of dynamic competition, with punchy climbs and open racing expected across the five events.
The biggest riders in the world will fight for the rainbows, but this is also the most diverse World Championships in history and riders from some of cycling’s emerging nations will also hope to show their faces.
Here are eight riders from smaller cycling nations to look out for during the road races at the World Championships over the next few days.
Nahom Zerai
Eritrea, U23 Men
The Q36.5 Conti rider has had a storming season. If logic prevails, he should be on his way to a professional contract for 2025.
He started his year off strongly in his home continent. At the Tour du Rwanda, he wasn’t far off overall winner Joseph Blackmore on the queen stage, finishing fourth. That was followed by a win in the criterium at the African Games before heading to Europe for his third season with Q36.5.
Zerai has mixed it with the best under-23 climbers this season. He was fifth in the first mountain top finish of the Valle d'Aosta (U23) before a brilliant 11th overall at the Tour de l’Avenir. Littered amongst these bigger races, he has been consistently strong on the Italian amateur circuit this year and took his first win at the Piccola Sanremo just a couple of weeks ago. This was just after placing 12th at the Giro della Toscana while guest riding for the ProTeam.
Zerai is part of a strong Eritrean lineup which includes some powerful climbing talent. A top-10 is possible in Zurich.
Maho Kakita
Japan, Elite/U23 Women
New EF-Oatly-Cannondale recruit Maho Kakita is an exciting talent from Japan. She was 5th in the 2022 junior Worlds road race and 13th in the TT. Since then, Kakita has focussed her efforts on the track with eyes set on Paris 2024.
With the Olympics now over, the 19-year-old is now full-time on the road with the America squad, who had first contacted her after the Wollongong Worlds two years ago.
Kakita’s track pedigree is sure to give her speed on the road, with the sprints likely to be where she specialises. She has not done much racing in Europe to this point. The 2023 Tour de l’Avenir and two recent 1.1 events with EF comprise the sum-total of her professional experience in Europe.
In 2022 she won the chasing bunch sprint in a group that was made up of riders currently in the Women’s WorldTour. She beat the likes of Julia Kopecky, Eleonora Ciabocco and Fleur Moors. Her lack of recent road racing will play against her in Zurich, but it will be fascinating to see how she compares this time.
Vicente Rojas
Chile, U23 Men
Young VF Group-Bardiani CSF-Faizanè rider Vicente Rojas is the spearhead of a strong group of young riders emerging from Chile at the moment. The 22-year-old, in his second year in Europe, is a rider crafted in the high mountains of the Andes.
After a year in 2023 where he showed himself to be one of the best climbers in the Spanish amateur scene, Rojas has made a step up after joining the professionals this year. Eighth at Alpes Isère Tour, fourth at Eschborn-Frankfurt U23 and fourth at the Giro Valle d’Aosta are results which give evidence to his promise.
The Chilean is a dangerous man to look out for on the climbs of the under-23 race on Friday. The likes of Jarno Widar and Isaac del Toro are sure to be on the attack. Rojas could spring a surprise by going with them.
Yanina Kuskova
Uzbekistan, Elite/U23 Women
It’s been one of the stories of the year, and over the last week or so it’s become even more mind-boggling. Yanina Kuskova, the only rider to make it through the Tour de France Femmes for the outcast Tashkent City team has had to fight for her place at the Zurich Worlds. Tashkent is no more and the national federation has refused to release Kuskova’s bike to her, according to the 22-year-old. However she has made it to Zurich, having paid for her own flight, and is ready to race.
Kuskova is seen as the one ray of light from the Tashkent catastrophe. At least, despite the farce of the last year or so, one rider with genuine talent and the level required to become a professional has emerged. Emotions are high for Kuskova. She will hope to channel that into a career-best ride on Saturday and secure that contract that many believe she deserves.
Kuskova is a gifted climber and will hope to hang tough for as long as possible. Or, she may choose to attack early and get her name out there. In these big events, I often think that the latter is a better option.
Read more: Tour de France Femmes: Tashkent's last rider finishes race on Alpe d'Huez
Thomas Silva
Uruguay, Elite Men
This 22-year-old is one of a number of talented Uruguayan riders coming through at the moment. He’s joined in the men’s elite road race by another, Burgos BH’s Eric Fagundez who was third overall at the Vuelta a Asturias this year.
Silva is coming to the end of his first year with Caja Rural-Seguros RGA and has been racing in Europe since his junior years. He has taken to life in the professional peloton excellently, with a string of results in .1 and .2 races alongside leading out WorldTour bound Venezuelan Orluis Aular to several wins this year.
He took his first senior UCI win at the Volta ao Alentejo in March and was second at the .PRO level twice later in the year, firstly in the GC at the Tour of Qinghai Lake and also just a few weeks ago at the GP Industria & Artigianato.
Silva is a versatile fast man. He’s incredibly quick, but gets over the lumps too. There is a world where he picks up a very respectable result in Zurich if he can stay in one of the chasing groups.
Ksanet Weldemikael
Eritrea, Elite/U23 Women
This young Eritrean rider has had very few opportunities to show it during her career, but the talk is that this is one of the most talented women in Africa.
The 22-year-old is the reigning and two-time national champion of Eritrea. Although she competes alongside her peers on the famous Asmara racing circuit regularly, opportunities to race outside her country have been few and far between.
This will be Weldemikael’s first World Championships, and she arrives here after a summer training and racing in northern France. She won a race in Plédran in August and placed highly in other events.
The elite women’s road race will be at a level Weldemikael as not yet experienced. It will be fascinating to see how she measures up.
Alexander Francois Erasmus
South Africa, Junior Men
This season is Alexander Erasmus’ first in the junior category and he’s shown some genuine promise. This, however, will be his biggest test to date.
He started his season at home in South Africa. After an under-par national championships he went to the biggest stage race in South Africa, the Tour du Cap. It’s not a UCI event, so juniors can race against the elites. Erasmus placed 10th in a race won by 2024’s XCO World Champion Alan Hatherly, and featuring others such as Jaco Venter, who spent four years in the WorldTour. He went against the seniors once more at the Tour de Windhoek in Namibia in May and took the overall win this time.
He has spent the summer racing in Europe with several solid results in Belgium, following that up with 11th at the Junior Tour of Ireland. How this all translates into the junior men’s race at the Worlds is unknown, but there is certainly potential here.
Natalie Revelo
Ecuador, Junior Women
This 18-year-old has had a great year. She spent the first half of it in South America with some solid results at national and regional championships. This included second at the junior women Pan-America championships behind Luciana Osorio, a Colombian also riding the junior women’s event in Zurich and who looks a similarly top prospect.
Revelo’s first race in Europe this year was the Vuelta a Cantabria, where she finished second overall after winning stage three. A win at La Vuelta - Clássica Feminina and second on GC at the Volta a Portugal Feminina U19 with a stage win followed, racing for the senior Matos Mobility - Flexaco team. She raced again for them during the 1.2 Pionera Race in Spain and finished an impressive 19th less than two weeks ago.
The form is there for a big result in Zurich on a course which suits Revelo perfectly. This is a huge step up, but crazy things happen in junior racing. I think Revelo could be one of the big surprises of the Worlds.
Who are you looking out for in the road races at Zurich 2024?
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I’m in Zurich now and it’s cool to see athletes from all over the globe riding around town intermixed with the European stars. Your blog is a super resource for following the racing. So appreciated as it blends my passion for global justice, my desire to root for the underdog, and my love of cycling. Perfect!
Thanks to your hot tip I’ll be watching for Natalie Revelo today