Most combative riders of the 2024 season - Abrahamsen, Soler and Alaphilippe within the top tanks

As we come to the end of the 2024 season, it's time to make some final reflections on this year in road cycling. We have seen several riders headline races this year due to their combative style of racing and they are very worthy of a mention at the end of the calendar.

In collaboration with CiclismoAtual, we took a look at some of the biggest names in the field. One of the aspects often overlooked by many fans but which is a fundamental part of any cycling race is the breakaway. A breakaway is what often keeps us on the edge of our seats watching a race more closely. It's the opening of hostilities in a brave effort to race alone or in small groups against an entire peloton that spends hours and hours in pursuit.

There are many reasons for incorporating a breakaway, such as to gain visibility on television; to win prizes awarded at intermediate points in stages (such as mountain classifications or intermediate sprints or even to get extra points for points classifications); to force other teams not represented in the breakaway to take on the job of chasing, thus sparing their teammates; or as a matter of placement at strategic points in the stage in case there is an attack from a teammate coming from the peloton who can bridge to the front and benefit from having a teammate in the initial breakaway; or sometimes, perhaps, it's the breakaway itself that contests the stage win.

Joining a breakaway is a sign of spectacle, and when a rider joins the breakaway he has his moment of glory and the highlight of the day. Normally, in any stage race, the organizations distinguish the most combative cyclists of each day individually, but how many are left behind before the last combative rider of the day takes the podium?

Below we present the cyclists who were in breakaway the most kilometers during 2024, numbers collected by ProCyclingStats. Many of the names will be familiar to you and at the top of the list is Manuele Tarozzi from VF Group - Bardiani CSF - Faizanè. The 26-year-old Italian raced a total of 1962 kilometers (which corresponds to more than 15% of the total distance he covered during the entire season) and thus succeeds his compatriot Mattia Bais, who reached a mark of 1703 kilometers in 2023.

Tarozzi stood out for having been part of a total of 16 escapes throughout the season, which earned him two victories: one in the Tour de Langkawi and the other in the Tour of Qinghai Lake as well as a second place in the first stage of the Volta a la Comunitat Valenciana where he did the double with his teammate Alessandro Tonelli. Tarozzi was also in the spotlight in his home Grand Tour, the Giro d'Italia, entering the escape of the day 4 times but being caught on 3 occasions and on one of the days he incorporated a breakaway that was successful in the stage but he couldn't be in the fight for the victory that would eventually go to Andrea Vendrame.

In second place we have a man who has been in the spotlight this Tour de France: Jonas Abrahamsen. The Norwegian rider for Uno-X Mobility was wronged by many for not winning the super-combatant award at the Tour de France after being on the run for five days and covering a total of 753 of the 1948 total kilometers on the run in cycling's premier event. Abrahamsen gained even more prominence from the fact that he also wore both the Green Jersey and the Mountain Jersey for several days in the first week of the Tour, meaning that even though he had a lower record than Tarozzi in reality Abrahamsen's efforts were harder to execute. But unlike Tarozzi, his efforts didn't end up resulting in any stage wins, as he recorded a second place in the Tour (beaten by Kévin Vauquelin) and a second place in the Dwars door Vlaanderen (beaten by Matteo Jorgenson) but allowed the respective winners to reach the finish line in isolation.

In third place is perhaps a lesser-known face, a Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale Team working man called Dries de Bondt, who also has the particularity of being the second most-kilometer escapee of 2023. De Bondt managed to improve his 2023 record from 1651 to 1903 recently after two long escapes in the Tour of Guangxi that saw him momentarily wear the Mountain Jersey, which he ended up losing at the end of the race. Still, an impressive record from the 33-year-old Belgian who shows no signs of slowing down.

Still in the Top 10, there are a number of familiar faces, but I wouldn't say they're too surprising.

• Marc Soler is one of the names put forward who has logged the most kilometers on the run in World Tour races and I'm sure you remember the Spaniard's brilliant performance in the Vuelta a España, where he was on the run practically every day as a way of trying to clean up the image of UAE Team Emirates, which was left out of the fight for the general classification when João Almeida abandoned the race.
• Oier Lazkano, a cyclist who stood out with a victory in the Clasica Jaén Paraiso Interior after 116km out front as well as several attacks during the Tour and the Vuelta and also a surprise Top 10 in the Criterium du Dauphiné. This made the former Spanish champion one of the most coveted targets on the market and after a brilliant year he will now move from Movistar Team to Red Bull - BORA - Hansgrohe.
• Julian Alaphilippe owes his presence in the Top 10 of this ranking almost exclusively to his superb performance in the Tour of Italy. He was by far the most combative rider in the race and desperately sought a stage win that would remind him of his glory days. The French rider was at the end of his contract with Soudal - Quickstep and had already been publicly criticized several times by his team manager Patrick Lefevere, claiming that he couldn't justify his high salary on the road and criticizing his alleged bohemian lifestyle. Nevertheless, the former two-time world champion responded to the criticism in the best way he knows how: on the road. And so Alaphilippe took one of the most spectacular victories of the year on stage 12 of the Giro d'Italia in a stage of constant climbing and descending that was contested at a crazy pace. Alaphilippe bids farewell to Soudal - Quick-step, the team he has represented throughout his career, and is preparing to represent Tudor for the next three years.
• Pablo Castrillo wouldn't have been a name we would have thought to see on this list a few months ago, but the Spaniard is to the Vuelta as Abrahamsen was to the Tour and Alaphilippe was to the Giro. The Spaniard recorded a total of seven breakaways in the Vuelta, which earned him two stage wins in high mountains (including the mythical Cuitu Negru climb) and caught the attention of several World Tour teams. Castrillo has shown himself to the world and will now sign for Movistar for the next 3 seasons, having reportedly turned down more lucrative offers in favor of having more freedom to continue showing us his fighting spirit.

Cyclists with the most breakaway kilometers in 2024: