"I executed that plan to perfection" - Grace Brown will end career with Olympic title after time-trial masterclass
Cycling
A lot of riders fell today in the Olympic Games time-trial but not Grace Brown. The Australian specialist was not only able to keep herself on the bike in the wet Paris course, but she was also by far the strongest in the 32 kilometers that were to decide the first Olympic medal in the sport of cycling this summer.
“I had a plan to win the time trial. I executed that plan to perfection. Or even better, so the day couldn’t have gone better," Brown said in a post-race interview. “It was raining, but that didn’t affect my morale. I don’t mind rain that much. I know you have to take the bends a bit slower, ride a bit more conservatively. But everyone did that.”
It was a perfect day for Brown, who was five seconds faster than Chloé Dygert in the first intermediate point, but extended that by 10 times into the second point as the American crashed - as many others did. The 32-year old, who announced recently that she will retire from pro cycling at the end of this season, had the perfect balance of risk and control on the bike this afternoon.
Away from the corners, she put on a brilliant display of power, perhaps the best of her career, to take the victory on the day over Anna Henderson by a whopping 1:31 minutes. It is a title that marks her career and highlights an incredible season where she had already become double national champion and also winner of Liège-Bastogne-Liège Femmes.
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Rúben SilvaEditor-in-Chief
A founding contributor to CyclingUpToDate since its launch in January 2022, Ruben Silva has played a central role in shaping the site’s editorial direction and long-term growth. Before joining the project, he built his experience through independent blogging at Echelons Hub and by producing race previews for Ciclismo Internacional, developing a strong analytical voice rooted in daily engagement with professional cycling.
Beyond editorial work, he has been closely involved in the expansion and coordination of CyclingUpToDate’s wider network, helping establish and support sister platforms across multiple languages. This includes ongoing collaboration with CiclismoAlDia (Spanish), CiclismoAtual (Portuguese), WielrennenUpToDate (Dutch), and RadsportAktuell (German), contributing to a shared editorial vision and consistent international coverage.
He also helps oversee editorial governance across the network, setting standards for accuracy and consistency and coordinating updates or corrections when needed.
Originally from the Porto metropolitan area in Portugal, he holds a bachelor’s degree in Geography. His path into cycling journalism was shaped not through formal media training, but through independent reporting, community engagement, and sustained on-the-ground involvement in the sport.
Over the course of his career, he has conducted approximately 100 interviews across road cycling and cyclocross, ranging from one-to-one conversations and online formats to press conferences and on-site pre- and post-race coverage. His interviews include leading riders, team managers, and prominent figures within cycling media: Tadej Pogacar, Jonas Vingegaard, Mathieu van der Poel, Primoz Roglic, Wout van Aert, Joao Almeida and Tom Pidcock; managers like Patrick Lefevere and Joxean Matxin; and YouTube personality Bryan Kennedy (BKXC)...
Within 18 months of launch, he helped grow CyclingUpToDate’s English-language platform into one of the most-read cycling news websites, built entirely from the ground up. As both a professional journalist and lifelong cycling enthusiast, his focus remains on delivering accurate, timely, and well-contextualized coverage.
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AUSTRALIA'S FIRST GOLD OF #Paris2024 🥇 Congratulations to cyclist Grace Brown who has won the Women's Individual Time Trial - our first-ever Olympic medal in this event. #AllezAUS | @AusCycling
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