Top Cycling Events Worldwide in 2024

The Races Worth Watching and Riding in 2024

Top cycling events worldwide has gotten complicated with all the calendar changes, new gravel series, and continental tour reshuffling flying around. As someone who has been tracking the global cycling calendar obsessively since 2016 and actually attended three major events in person last year, I learned everything there is to know about which events matter, when they happen, and why certain races deserve your attention more than others. Today, I will share it all with you.

I got into following pro cycling the way most Americans do — accidentally, during the Tour de France, while channel surfing on a Sunday afternoon. Within six months I was setting alarms for European race starts and arguing about team tactics in online forums. The global cycling calendar is dense and confusing if you are new to it, so let me walk you through what actually matters.

The Grand Tours — Three Weeks of Racing That Define Each Season

Probably should have led with this section, honestly. The three Grand Tours are the backbone of professional cycling and the easiest entry point for new fans.

Giro d’Italia — May. Three weeks through Italy with some of the most dramatic mountain finishes in the sport. The Giro is consistently more unpredictable than the Tour de France because of Italy’s extreme terrain and unpredictable spring weather. The Stelvio Pass stage alone is worth clearing your schedule for. Pink jersey to the overall leader.

Tour de France — July. The biggest race in cycling and one of the biggest sporting events in the world. Twenty-one stages over 23 days covering roughly 3,500 kilometers through France and occasionally neighboring countries. Mountain stages in the Alps and Pyrenees, sprint finishes on flat stages, and the iconic final stage on the Champs-Elysees. This is the race that makes new cycling fans.

Vuelta a Espana — August to September. The Tour of Spain features relentless climbing in late-summer heat. The Vuelta’s mountain stages are often steeper and more numerous than the Tour’s, making it a climber’s race. Red jersey to the overall leader. Often the most exciting Grand Tour because riders who are not quite Grand Tour contenders use it as their primary target.

The Spring Classics — One-Day Races That Make or Break Reputations

That’s what makes the Classics endearing to us cycling fans — they compress an entire season’s worth of drama into a single day.

Strade Bianche — March. White gravel roads through the Tuscan hills, finishing in the medieval Piazza del Campo in Siena. The most visually stunning day of racing in the entire calendar. Relatively new to the World Tour but already feels like a classic.

Milan-San Remo — March. The longest one-day race at nearly 300 kilometers. A sprinter’s race that the Poggio climb can blow apart in the final kilometers. La Classicissima.

Tour of Flanders — April. Belgian cobblestones and steep bergs through Flanders. The Oude Kwaremont and Paterberg decide the race in the final 30 kilometers. Fanatical local fans line every meter of the course.

Paris-Roubaix — April. The Hell of the North. Medieval cobblestone sectors, spring mud, and mechanical carnage. Finishes at the Roubaix Velodrome. My favorite single day of racing in any sport.

Events Worth Riding Yourself

L’Etape du Tour — July. Ride an actual Tour de France mountain stage the day before the pros. Fifteen thousand amateur riders on closed roads in the French Alps or Pyrenees. The most accessible way to experience a Grand Tour course firsthand.

Unbound Gravel — June, Emporia Kansas. The biggest gravel event in the world. Two hundred miles of Flint Hills gravel. The 200-mile distance draws professional-level fields alongside amateurs who just want to survive. I’m apparently the kind of person who finds 200 miles of Kansas gravel appealing. My family disagrees.

Gran Fondo New York — May. A hundred miles of challenging terrain in the Hudson Valley with full road closures. Competitive timing, excellent support, and a serious field.

Cape Epic — March, South Africa. Eight-day mountain bike stage race through the Western Cape. Teams of two. One of the hardest multi-day cycling events on earth. The logistics alone make it an adventure.

The cycling calendar runs year-round if you know where to look. Cyclocross fills the fall and winter months. Indoor racing on Zwift has its own competitive season. Track cycling, BMX, and mountain biking each have World Cup circuits worth following. Start with the Grand Tours and Classics, find what resonates, and go deeper from there. This sport rewards attention — the more you watch, the more you understand, and the more you care.