Paris 2024 Women’s Cycling Odds: Dygert Brings Home the Gold?

Kopecky is entering Paris 2024 in incredible form. Over the last two years, she has been a wrecking ball in road races. If the 28-year-old maintains her current form, Kopecky is going to be in great shape for the win.

The cycling star captured the 2023 UCI Elite Women’s World Road Race title and won several other major road events over the last year. To open her 2024 campaign, she won the UAE Tour Women, a four-stage event in February.

Last month, Kopecky won two stages of the Tour of Britain Women en route to a points and classification win. Only two weeks later, Kopecky took centerstage in her home country. She won the National Championships Belgium ME – ITT, and then three days later, a National Championships Belgium Road Race championship!

💥 THIS MOMENT 💥

👚 the Maglia Rosa @ElisaLongoB counterattacks and creates a small gap, but @LotteKopecky does not give up 💪

👚 la Maglia Rosa Elisa Longo Borghini contrattacca e prende un piccolo margine, ma Lotte Kopecky non molla 💪#GirodItaliaWomen #WonderfulWomen pic.twitter.com/wG7Iyn9AWt

— Giro d'Italia Women (@girowomen) July 12, 2024

In her latest effort, Kopecky came just shy of winning the Giro d’Italia Women general classification in 2nd. She did, however, win the points classification! I like where Kopecky is heading into the Olympics, and I am sure she is confident in her chances. In my opinion, the Belgian athlete should be a shorter favorite than +175.

The one rider who could give Kopecky a tough test is the 37-year-old veteran Marianne Vos. It’s an incredible accomplishment for Vos to be mentioned in this conversation as one of the contenders.

Despite nearly reaching 40 years old, Vos continues to give the younger women a run for their money. The staggering eight-time world champion most recently won the UCI World Championship in 2022 — her first since 2014.

Additionally, Vos recorded a big win in the 2024 Amstel Gold Race Ladies Edition. Although the Dutch veteran didn’t ride in the Giro d’Italia Women race, she won the Volta a Catalunya general classification this past June.

Vos, however, struggled in her most recent performance in the National Championships Netherlands Road Race. Vos gave way to the younger riders, falling to 47th in an effort well out of character.

Vos can win, but she’ll need to be in her best form. The late phase of her career has shown some inconsistent results. The question here is whether the weak recent results came because she was saving her energy for the Olympics.

Even if that’s the case, winning a gold medal in Paris 2024 will be a tough task.

The pressure is on Dygert to deliver for Team USA. Without a major contender in the men’s cycling events, Dygert appears like the only hope for the US.

The 27-year-old native of Brownsburg, IN, overcame a horrific leg injury in 2020 to reach Tokyo 2020 and now Paris 2024. With the injury a distant memory for Dygert, she has her eyes set on Olympic gold.

Oddsmakers at BetUS are confident that she can pull it off, given her Olympic cycling women’s odds in the time trial.

Three years in the making 🌈

After a serious crash in 2020, Chloé Dygert Owen is back on the top step#GlasgowScotland2023 pic.twitter.com/0zsyDI7hMl

— UCI (@UCI_cycling) August 10, 2023

Dygert reached several major milestones in the 2023 season. She won the National Championships United States ME – ITT and National Championships United States ME – Road Race last June. This past October, Dygert rose to the occasion in the World Championships WE – ITT to win it all in the UK.

She has been relatively quiet in 2024, as Dygert has been solely invested in preparing for the Olympic Games. There is a good chance that the American stands tall on the podium with the gold medal around her neck when it’s all said and done!

Australian rider Grace Brown is on my shortlist of top Paris 2024 Olympic cycling women’s predictions for the time trial. She is a two-time ITT world champion in 2022 and 2023. Brown made the Tokyo 2020 team, but came up short of the podium with a fourth-place finish.

The 32-year-old started off her 2024 campaign with a strong performance in Australia’s National Championships. She won the ITT championship but couldn’t pull through for gold in the road race three days later. Brown had to settle for a fourth-place performance.

Since then, she’s had some up-and-down results. In May, Brown captured the yellow jersey in the Bretagne Ladies Tour in France, and second in the points classification.

Brown took a run for the Giro d’Italia Women’s championship but came well short in 34th. She started off fast for a runner-up performance in Stage 1. However, it was the last time Brown would finish in the top 30 in the race!

Who's cutting onions? 🥹

🇦🇺 Grace Brown announces her retirement at the end of the 2024 season.

🥇 The end of a stellar career, which includes 3x national time-trial championships and this year's Liège–Bastogne–Liège! 👏👏#CouchPeloton pic.twitter.com/pxzmKlFQel

— SBS Sport (@SBSSportau) June 22, 2024

Expect Brown to be in the running, and if she’s in her 2022 form, Dygert will have a challenge ahead of her. With her retirement approaching at the end of this season, she should have an extra gear in Paris. That said, right now, the edge has to go to the American.

With a 63% probability to win, Ferrand-Prevot is the most likely winner. The five-time national champion and nine-time world champion is a cross-country specialist.

Give Ferrand-Prevot a mountain bike and great things happen. Last year, she won the cross-country World Championships in Glasgow. This was a year after the 32-year-old did the same in 2022 at Les Gets.

🏆🇫🇷 PAULINE FERRAND-PRÉVOT 🇫🇷🏆

The UCI World Champion takes the win after a very controlled race in the Women Elite XCO. 😎 pic.twitter.com/zPeua0rn3T

— UCI MTB (@UCI_MTB) June 16, 2024

In 14 races in 2024, Ferrand-Prevot has won or finished as the runner-up in 12 events. This incredible run includes 10 wins for Ineos Grenadiers’ French mountain bike star. In top form with the Olympics on the horizon, Ferrand-Prevot is the clear woman to beat in the women’s mountain bike race.

If Ferrand-Prevot has an unforeseen accident or isn’t in her best shape, the Netherlands’ Pieterse is highly likely to pick up the pieces and take over the lead.

At only 22 years old, Pieterse is the next hot commodity in women’s cycling. Will her career peak this early with a gold medal in the mountain biking race at Paris 2024? The Dutch champion is probably ready to take the next leap with a spot on the podium.

The attack that sentenced the race 😮‍💨

Puck Pieterse 👉 Women Elite XCC 🥇 in Crans-Montana 🇨🇭#MTBWorldCup pic.twitter.com/8dYT0ucGXD

— UCI MTB (@UCI_MTB) June 24, 2024

Pieterse is in search of her first world championship and gold. In 2023, only Ferrand-Prevot finished ahead of her at the World Championships in Glasgow. It was still a building block for Pieterse, who captured the silver medal as a youngster with far less experience than most of her opponents.

After coming just short of the World Championships title, Pieterse responded this year with a gold medal at the 2024 Mountainbike European Continental Championships. She’s finished 1st, 2nd, 1st, 3rd, and 1st in her previous five Women Elite cross-country events.

Pieterse has the makings of a future Olympic champion, but it’s more likely to happen at Los Angeles 2028 than in Paris this year.

The women’s road race has some of the best betting value on the board for the cycling events. Kopecky should be closer to an even odds favorite than +175, so this is a bet to give serious consideration for Paris 2024.

She is entering the Olympics with plenty of confidence following a promising second-place performance in the Giro d’Italia Women race. The defending Elite Women road champ is in a good position to add an Olympic gold to her impressive resume in Paris!

At this generous price, Kopecky is well worth considering for your Olympics cycling betting card.

Although the women’s time trial should be competitive and provide on the edge of your seat action at the opening moments, Dygert’s Olympic dream is likely about to come true.

Over the last few years, she’s gone through a lot to get back to the top of her game. In this spot, look for Dygert to reach the top of the hill to edge out Brown with the fastest time in the time trial.

The US isn’t expected to have a ton of success in the cycling events, but this is the exception. As the favorite, Dygert is worth betting on before her price hits -200 to win gold!

For my final Olympic cycling women’s pick, the mountain racing event is shaping up to be Ferrand-Prevot’s to lose. On home soil in France and in great shape, she would have to choke away the gold in this event.

As long as she stays on her bike and avoids an accident, she should be in the clear here. Pieterse is an emerging talent in mountain biking, but I see inexperience being her downfall against the experienced and talented Ferrand-Prevot.

With this in mind, consider backing Ferrand-Prevot to win gold in the mountain bike cycling race!