Women's World Championships road race 2024 predictions and cycling betting tips: Demi Vollering has rainbow jersey in her sights

Where to watch the women's world championship road race

Eurosport 1 & BBC iPlayer, from 11.45am Saturday

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Demi Vollering
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Women's world championship road race 2024 predictions

Five of the last seven women's world road race champions have hailed from the Netherlands and the Dutch domination of the race could continue in Switzerland on Saturday.

There will be a number of riders on the start line on the outskirts of Zurich targeting victory but few teams can match the power of the Dutch, who have leading options to claim the hallowed rainbow jersey no matter how the race unfolds.

That is potentially problematic for bettors when assessing who their overall leading candidate is, but the composition of the course suggests it should favour Demi Vollering most.

Vollering is arguably the biggest name in women's cycling and rumours earlier this year suggested she could become the first woman in the sport to command a salary of over one million euros.

The 27-year-old has won almost everything there is to win in the sport but a world title is one omission from her CV she will be eager to tick off.

The route for this year's worlds features more climbing than has previously been the case, something that will play to Vollering's strengths as the winner of the Tour de France Femmes in 2023 and this year's Vuelta a Espana Feminina.

Vollering, who was second behind SD Worx teammate Lotte Kopecky in Glasgow last year, agonisingly missed out on retaining her Tour title by just four seconds in August, when a crash on stage five saw her lose a chunk of time having been in the leader's jersey at the time.

She confirmed her wellbeing for a bold worlds bid with second place behind Grace Brown in last weekend's time-trial and could go one better in Saturday's road race.

Vollering's biggest threat should come from defending champion Kopecky, who has enjoyed another stellar season, but also watch out for her teammate Puck Pieterse, who pipped Vollering to a stage win at the Tour in August and is the Dutch team's wildcard option.

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