Olympic and World Champion Grace Brown excited to watch her former rivals in 2025: "The level has gone up"

Grace Brown retired from the peloton at the end of the 2024 season, and she had one of the greatest final seasons the sport has ever seen. Back in April, she won Liege-Bastogne-Liege, before winning the Olympic time trial in Paris, following by the world championship time trial in Zurich in September. The Australian bowed out in style, becoming the first cyclist to win the Olympic and World championship time trial races in the same season, beating Remco Evenepoel to the feat.

Now on the side lines, Brown can enjoy the sport from the spectators view. Brown recently spoke to Wieler Revue about some of the big stories in the women’s peloton, such as Demi Vollering’s transfer to her former team FDJ-Suez.

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"It will be interesting to see how she does without SD Worx. I am optimistic that the team will be able to adapt to her ambitions,” she said positively. “In any case, it is good for the sport that not all the top riders are in the same team anymore. Different teams will compete against each other and I think that will be good for the excitement."

Brown also is excited to see the legend Anna van der Breggen return to the peloton. “She was always a great champion and I'm curious how she'll feel in the peloton now. The sport has changed since she left."

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"The level has gone up, but I am sure she will reach her old level again. Will she be as dominant as before? That will be difficult. It adds an interesting aspect to the women's race. Van der Breggen has always remained very close to the peloton as team leader at SD Worx. That helps."