The state of play in the Women’s WorldTour Part II: pretenders to the throne

Curious about part 1? You can find it here.

The Women’s WorldTour is in a state of flux in 2025. With 15 teams registered, the top tier of women’s cycling is thriving like never before, and following a redistribution of talent during the off-season, as a number of key riders left teams they had spent much or all of their careers with, this season has so far seen a levelling of the playing field. 

Criticised in recent years for being overly dominant and hoarding the top riders across a range of specialisms, Team SD Worx-ProTime saw one of their most valuable assets, Demi Vollering, depart at the end of the 2024 season following a turbulent few years with the team. Despite that loss however, the Dutch squad can continue to lay claim to the title of top team – at least, if you count in terms of number of wins. They have an impressive 18 victories so far in 2025, 13 of them at WorldTour level - though it's worth noting that 32% of those victories are attributable to one woman: Lorena Wiebes. 

The onus falls upon the remaining WorldTour teams to challenge the Dutch dominion, and try to prove that there is hope when it comes to achieving success, even with SD Worx on the start line. The tide is turning, in some respects – and much of it is down to one team – SD Worx’ newly established arch rivals, FDJ SUEZ.

FDJ SUEZ have made the transition from mid-level team to direct rivals to Team SD Worx-ProTime with the addition of one extroadinarily valuable asset: Demi Vollering. Currently ranked number one in the individual standings, so far in 2025 the French team are doing exactly what they set out to do: deliver Demi Vollering to positions from which she can win races. Specifically, general classifications at the most important races.

While Vollering arguably fell a little short of expectation once again in the Classics, her favoured terrain is in the high mountains, and at La Vuelta Femenina, Juliette Labous and Evita Muzic made the transition from GC contenders in their own right to deluxe super-domestiques, establishing a new world order on the biggest stage to throw down a gauntlet to the rest: we are now the ones to beat.

The French team are the second most successful so far this season with ten victories, but Demi Vollering is responsible for 40% of these, with only two others riders claiming wins: Ally Wollaston and Elise Chabbey. It’s quality over quantity for FDJ SUEZ, as with the value of her general classification wins, Vollering has boosted the team's standing to the point where they have moved just ahead of SD Worx in the UCI team ranking – see the below graph to track the progress of the two teams, throughout the 2025 season so far. The game is afoot, and this rivalry looks set to define the coming seasons, as Lotte Kopecky sharpens her GC toolkit, while Anna van der Breggen aims to return to her former level.

For FDJ SUEZ, the brief is stunningly straightforward: protect Vollering at all costs, and she will continue to deliver big results, while as a collective they finesse into one lean, mean Grand Tour-winning machine. At the Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift this summer, Vollering and her team have the chance to show the world that they are now the leading superpower in women’s cycling – and with a score to settle, both with her former team and the race itself, it’s hard to see anyone but Vollering taking home the maillot jaune.

Historically, Lidl-Trek are the team who have been closest to mounting a viable challenge to the Dutch superteam in previous seasons on two main fronts – with Elisa Longo Borghini in the Classics and Grand Tours, and Elisa Balsamo in races that end in a sprint. However, with a major change of personnel in 2025 it’s clear they must regroup if they want to keep pace with the newly developing superpowers of the peloton. 

The American team have nine wins this season, but crucially, only one at WWT level. Filling the substantial shoes of their talisman and leader Elisa Longo Borghini will be a difficult task for the American team, but there’s no doubt they have the spirit and will to put up a fight. While they take time to rebuild their climbing division around a rider, they will look to for the future of their GC ambitions in Niamh Fisher-Black, the consistency and quality of sprinter Elisa Balsamo will be key to the team remaining competitive.

Lidl-Trek’s loss is of course UAE Team ADQ’s gain. With the signing of Elisa Longo Borghini, the Emirati side signalled their intention to become a major player in the biggest races on the calendar. Though the Italian champion made a strong start to the year at their team’s home race, when she crashed out in Strade Bianche they were left short-handed for the remainder of the Classics, exposing the lack of depth in their squad. Erica Magnaldi has rallied, new signing Maeva Squiban has been lively in breakaways, and Irish sprinter Lara Gillespie has had a break-out season so far. They they have mainly scored through a series of sprint victories in smaller races, however, and with their biggest targets still ahead of them, they will hope to make an impact in WorldTour level races heading into the second half of the season.

Movistar have rallied since the departure of their long-time leader Annemiek van Vleuten in the past couple of seasons, and have been entertaining to watch so far in 2025. The freedom afforded to new team leader Marlen Reusser, as discussed in part 1, added to the emerging talent of Cat Ferguson, and the existing punch of Liane Lippert, have combined to form an aggressive racing unit who have been active throughout the season. Despite their strength however, the team have yet to make waves in terms of actual results on paper, with Reusser carrying the team, achieving four of their five victories. In fact, with two stage wins and the overall victory at the Vuelta Burgos, the Swiss more than doubled the team’s total for the year so far, and scored their first WWT level wins. The Spanish side will be looking more broadly within the team for success as the season goes on, to ensure they do not put too much pressure on the shoulders of their new leader.

Team Visma | Lease a Bike occupy a curious place in the hierarchy. Without a clear, consistent GC rider, they represent something of an outlier, yet what they lack in completeness, they make up for with raw talent and legendary status. Marianne Vos and Pauline Ferrand-Prévot formed a crack team during the Classics, their skillsets different enough to be complimentary, yet both bringing the grit, experience and competitive edge to feature across a range of one-day races.

They have a range of young riders whose stars are rising rapidly, from off-road specialist Imogen Wolff, who transitioned seamlessly into lead-out rider for fellow cyclo-crosser Vos, to French climbing talent Marion Bunel, who will grow into a future GC star with one of the greatest riders of all time as a role model. Though they may not challenge on all fronts, they have enough firepower to keep the other teams on their toes, and with Ferrand-Prévot’s goal to win the Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift within three years, they have a clearly defined plan – though given her form thus far, it wouldn’t be out of the question to see her vying for supremacy on her home roads as soon as this summer.

Arguably one of the teams most expected to challenge the paradigm of dominance in the peloton, Canyon//SRAM zondacrypto have fallen well short of that expectation so far this season. It’s almost impossible to believe they are one of the lowest scoring teams of the season so far, with Chloe Dygert’s single stage win at the Tour Down Under representing their sole victory in 2025. New addition Cecilie Uttrup Ludwig has yet to make an impact for her new team, following a difficult return to form after a crash early last season, while reigning Tour de France Femmes champion Kasia Niewiadoma has been competitive, but without the edge necessary to follow up her stellar 2024 season. 

The team has a wealth of talent, with young GC talents such as Neve Bradbury and Antonia Niedermayer, along with strong sprinters such as Maike van der Duin and the newly signed Chiara Consonni who should be able to pick up wins at smaller races, if they aren’t capable of getting past the might of Wiebes and Balsamo in higher profile events. They have a long way to go, if they are prove themselves up to the challenge of ousting any of the peloton’s superpowers – but they have the talent to do it.

Liv-AlUla-Jayco are a team who have undergone major upheaval in recent seasons, following the merger of Liv Racing and Jayco-AlUla at the end of 2023. Though they have plenty of talent within their ranks, they paid the price of having a smaller squad in the Classics, suffering as a few key riders suffered crashes, including Letizia Paternoster. The Italian was one of the team's big hopes, but on the whole she wasn’t able to follow up on her strong 2024 Classics season. On the GC side, the team are enjoying the fruits of their recruitment. their belief in new signing Monica Trinca Colonel has been borne out in her strong and consistent season so far, including a seventh place finish at La Vuelta Femenina. Trinca Colonel should prove to be a worthy successor to the veteran Mavi Garcia, who is building slowly towards her main target of the season, the Giro d’Italia. Silke Smulders is another rider on the cusp of a major victory – she started the season strongly at the Tour Down Under, narrowly missing out on victory, but will hope to make something stick in the races to come.

Fenix-Deceuninck offer an interesting prospect – replete with one-day specialists and stage hunters, they would have you believe they are on an equivalent mission to their men’s team, eschewing general classifications in favour of other prizes. Having said that, Pauliene Rooijakkers proved last summer at the Tour de France that she has what it takes to compete across multiple stages, and Yara Kastelijn was consistent enough to finish eight at the Vuelta Femenina last month – so don’t write off their chances, on any front. In any event, with multi-discipline talent Puck Pieterse their leading light, the team will hope to claim major victories in the seasons to come.

AG Insurance-Soudal are a team who are in a growth phase, having been promoted to WorldTour level in 2024, and they have had a slower start to this season than some would have predicted, with a number of riders coming back from illness and injury. There is plenty for them to be excited about, however. In Kim Le Court they have one of the peloton's most exciting and in-form riders, and in Justine Ghekiere and Sarah Gigante, two emerging talents who will be vital for the Belgian team’s success over the coming seasons. Guided by the experience of Ashleigh Moolman Pasio, they are a team with a big future ahead of them – even if there are still some pieces of the jigsaw to fall into place.

Team Picnic-PostNL haven’t much to show for their season in terms of points, with Charlotte Kool unable to find her way around either Wiebes or Balsamo in any of the big sprint showdowns. We have yet to see whether Marta Cavalli can return to the kind of form she showed prior to her horrific crash at the inaugural Tour de France, but the team can look to the future with intent. In Nienke Vinke and Eleonora Ciabocco, they have two promising young GC riders within their ranks, who have shown well so far in 2025 and will be vital to the team’s growth in the coming seasons. And as recently as this week, the team bolstered their points total with a fantastic win from another young talent, 21-year-old Mara Roldan, at the Tour of Britain.

Finally, to a team who may currently be classed as a ProTeam, but who are making big waves this season…

Currently ranked 7th in the UCI team rankings, despite being a ProTeam, EF Education-Oatly are punching above their weight. They are a team who have been everywhere all season, seemingly instrumental in moves and battles across races of all kinds, yet their aggressive and flowing racing style hasn’t produced as many victories as the hard work would seem to suggest. The American side have just three victories all season to show for their labour, though it’s not all about winning: they’ve scored some impressive results, for example Letizia Borghesi’s break-out ride to win second place at Paris-Roubaix Femmes, and have notched up some notable highlights, including Cédrine Kerbaol’s step up as an all-around GC contender at La Vuelta Femenina, and Noemi Rüegg’s dominance across a range of parcours, queen of Willunga Hill, and second in the final sprint at Milano-Sanremo. They have all the pieces in place to continue in their role of scrappy underdogs this season, with the likelihood that they will be promoted back into the WorldTour in 2026, and the potential that in future years, they may have the means to challenge for some of the biggest honours.

We haven’t mentioned all of the teams who currently possess a WorldTour licence as sadly, for reasons of budget, they just aren’t at the level to be able to challenge for the upper echelons of success at the present moment. The likes of Ceratizit-WNT Pro Cycling and Human Powered Health, who must grab wins where they can find them, and Roland, who currently rank 18th in the overall UCI team standings, below two of the continental teams. There will of course be a reshuffling at the end of this season, which will see some of these teams lose their WorldTour license, while others are promoted.

Women’s cycling is still building and the reasons behind a team’s struggles or successes are complex. Those with smaller squads will find the going tough if one or more of their number are injured, while those with lower budgets but more riders under contract may have less to spend on the kinds of accoutrements which are becoming increasingly significant in a rapidly evolving peloton – the likes of nutritionists, psychologists, and so on. 

In any case, while there is still work to be done, women’s cycling is enjoying its most visible era to date, and with the levels of competition improving across the board, the positive impact will be immeasurable both for riders coming through development levels - if the infrastructure to support them can follow suit - and for fans, who can look forward to exciting and unpredictable racing in years to come. This week's Tour of Britain Women has proven that even the most likely outcome is never inevitable - with two stages complete, Team SD Worx-ProTime have yet to take a victory, even with European champion Lorena Wiebes among their number. For those who dare to win, and don't respect any so-called hierarchy, anything is possible.  

With the expanding quantity and quality of the riders and teams in an increasingly professional peloton, the robustness of the sport as a whole continues to improve. The established dominance of the likes of SD Worx hangs in the balance - and this can only be a healthy development for the women's side of the sport.