The first battles of the 2025 UCI Women’s WorldTour, kicking off with the Santos Tour Down Under (17-19 January), will give fresh insight into the strength and shape of the women’s professional road peloton. The riders face a decisive year, following an intense transfer season as the best teams in the world aim to reach the highest summits faster than their rivals.
This year, 15 UCI Women’s WorldTeams defend their spot in the elite of road cycling. To do so they must feature among the 15 best teams when it comes to the sporting criteria that will be compiled from the results of the 2024 and 2025 seasons. They will face stiff competition from certain UCI Women’s ProTeams – the new level of women’s team introduced this year and including seven teams in 2025 (Arkea – B&B Hotels Woman, Cofidis Women Team, EF Education -Oatly, Laboral Kutxa Fundacion Euskadi, St Michel - Preference Home - Auber 93, Volkerwessels Cycling Team, Winspace Orange Seal) – that already have strong ambitions to move up to UCI Women’s WorldTeam level from 2026.
The enterprising transfers that shape the peloton for 2025 also hint at strong ambitions across the board.
To claim the most prestigious accolades, teams rely on established champions such as Demi Vollering, moving to FDJ-SUEZ, and rising stars like Cat Ferguson, gearing to show the full extent of her abilities with Movistar Team. Talents come with a number of different backgrounds, as illustrated by Team SD Worx-Protime.
Vollering - Van der Breggen: back to the future
The winners of the 2024 rankings of the UCI Women’s WorldTour (the last winners as these rankings disappear in 2025) notably register the return in the course of the season of Anna van der Breggen (34), three years after she provisionally hung up her bike. The Dutch icon will partner up with UCI World Champion Lotte Kopecky – “Anna was an amazing rider and I think she still is,” the Belgian rejoices – as well as new talents such as mountain bike star Laura Stigger and gravel sensation Geerike Schreurs.
When Van der Breggen retired, at the end of the 2021 campaign, her record was among the greatest in the history of her sport – with wins at the Olympic Games and the UCI World Championships, as well as Classics and stage races – and her successor was well identified: Vollering.
In 2025, the tables have turned as Van der Breggen returns to the peloton while Vollering stands as the main protagonist of the recent transfer market. The winner of the 2024 Vuelta España Femenina by Carrefour.es heads to a highly ambitious FDJ-SUEZ, who also signed up Juliette Labous and Elise Chabbey to cement their climbing strength. Meanwhile, Ally Wollaston adds her speed and craft as a UCI Track World Champion, having already snatched some prestigious wins on the road, and French youngsters Célia Gery and Eglantine Rayer Girault look ready to step up.
While Cecilie Uttrup Ludwig (Canyon//SRAM zondacrypto) and Marta Cavalli (Picnic-PostNL) head to new horizons, Vollering comes to FDJ-SUEZ. “Demi is an immense champion”, the Team Manager Stephen Delcourt sums up as he celebrates “a huge step” for FDJ-SUEZ, determined to bring a French outfit to the top of the podium of the Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift.
Talents and ambitions across the field
Katarzyna Niewiadoma, the defending winner of the Tour, will still spearhead Canyon//SRAM zondacrypto, with the fresh support of Uttrup Ludwig, while Chiara Consonni bolsters the German team in the Classics and sprints. The Italian leaves UAE Team ADQ, which achieved a major coup attracting Elisa Longo Borghini, coming from Lidl-Trek with two teammates, Brodie Chapman and Elynor Bäckstedt.
Already a powerhouse of the UCI Women’s WorldTour, Lidl-Trek still managed to add strength and depth with the likes of Emma Norsgaard, Niamh Fisher-Black, Anna Henderson and Riejanne Markus. The latter two come from Team Visma | Lease a Bike, who make headlines by bringing Pauline Ferrand-Prévot back to road racing. Partnering with Fem van Empel on the road, the French icon will be supported by new exciting talents such as Marion Bunel, Viktória Chladoňová and Imogen Wolff.
There are more rising talents to expand the UCI Women’s WorldTour horizons, such as Afghanistan’s Fariba Hashimi stepping up to the elite with Ceratizit Pro Cycling Team, and Mona Mitterwallner, three-time UCI Mountain Bike Marathon World Champion getting ready to rock the road with Human Powered Health.
High anticipation also surrounds the next steps for Marlen Reusser (Movistar Team), Puck Pieterse (Fenix-Deceuninck), Alexandra Manly (AG Insurance-Soudal Team), Monica Trinca Colonel (Liv-AlUla-Jayco), Tamara Dronova (Roland), Igvild Gåskjenn (Uno-X Mobility)…
The talent is widespread, and ready to spice up the 2025 UCI Women’s WorldTour!