Altitude camp for Kristen Faulkner sets up return at Ardennes Classics and 'real fitness' for Grand Tours

ALPE DHUEZ FRANCE AUGUST 18 Kristen Faulkner of The United States and Team EFOatlyCannondale competes during the 3rd Tour de France Femmes 2024 Stage 8 a 1499km stage from Le GrandBornand to Alpe dHuez 1828m UCIWWT on August 18 2024 in Alpe dHuez France Photo by Alex BroadwayGetty Images
Kristen Faulikner rides at the 2024 Tour de France Femmes (Image credit: Getty Images)

With just one race day in her legs so far this season, Kristen Faulkner (EF Education-Oatly) isn't dejected with the delayed start to the year, or fretting about a game plan to win Liége-Bastogne-Liége, or even looking too far ahead to score a fourth Grand Tour stage win. She said she may be medically healed from an off-season concussion, and now amps up her efforts for "real fitness".

Faulkner's staggering successes in 2024 have raised the bar, and she is now her own toughest act to follow. She won a stage at the Vuelta España and then the elite women's road race title at US Pro Road Nationals. Having qualified for the Olympic Games on the track to compete in Team Pursuit, she was a late fill-in for the road race in Paris, then came away with a gold medal in each event.

Jackie Tyson
North American Production editor

Jackie has been involved in professional sports for more than 30 years in news reporting, sports marketing and public relations. She founded Peloton Sports in 1998, a sports marketing and public relations agency, which managed projects for Tour de Georgia, Larry H. Miller Tour of Utah and USA Cycling. She also founded Bike Alpharetta Inc, a Georgia non-profit to promote safe cycling. She is proud to have worked in professional baseball for six years - from selling advertising to pulling the tarp for several minor league teams. She has climbed l'Alpe d'Huez three times (not fast). Her favorite road and gravel rides are around horse farms in north Georgia (USA) and around lavender fields in Provence (France), and some mtb rides in Park City, Utah (USA).