UCI Women’s WorldTour peloton returns to action

With the addition of Fenix-Deceuninck alongside the likes of SD Worx, Trek-Segafredo and UAE Team ADQ, an expanded field will take on the 30 events of the 2023 UCI Women’s WorldTour, starting with the Santos Tour Down Under in just a few days.

The numbers of the UCI Women’s WorldTour keep on rising. Fifteen teams are gearing up to take on the 2023 series, one more than last year, and up from nine in the 2021 season. The highest level of female road racing attracts more and more players, and it welcomes, for the first time, a Belgian outfit among the UCI Women’s WorldTeams: Fenix-Deceuninck, the multi-disciplinary team formerly known as Plantur-Pura, led by versatile champions such as Julie De Wilde, Sanne Cant and Ceylin del Carmen Alvarado.

Two more teams, AG Insurance-NXTG and Ceratizit-WNT Pro Cycling Team, wanted to make the jump but didn’t make the cut of 15 teams allocated UCI Women’s WorldTour licences this season. As the field gets reevaluated at the end of the year for the following two seasons, they will be willing to show their worth and bring battle to the established powerhouses of women’s cycling.

Aussie talents shine for Trek-Segafredo while Wiebes and Van Vleuten prepare 2023

The Santos Tour Down Under (January 15-17) quickly brings a first opportunity to see UCI Women’s WorldTeams get into action and also to observe some of the changes the off-season has brought. Notably, Trek-Segafredo are lining up with their two new Aussie talents, the 3-time winner of the event Amanda Spratt and her compatriot Brodie Chapman. The pair partnered up superbly in their national championships, with Chapman soloing to victory in the road race while Spratt took the bronze medal.

Winner of the UCI Women’s WorldTour Team Ranking in 2020, and runner-up to SD Worx in the last two seasons, Trek-Segafredo are expected to battle against their Dutch rivals again in 2023. Team SD Worx are used to taking the competition head on with their collective strength. How they can work to bring the best opportunities to their new sprinter, the supremely talented Lorena Wiebes (23 wins in 2022, 13 of them in UCI Women’s WorldTour events), is one of the most exciting prospects of the year.

Other unmissable propositions are the rise of Movistar Team Women and Annemiek van Vleuten’s last dance. The Dutch icon - winner of the rainbow, yellow, pink and red jerseys in 2022 - has propelled the Spanish team into a new dimension since she joined them two years ago but has announced her retirement for the end of 2023. Her teammates have one more year to grow alongside one of the greatest riders ever and the team management has bolstered the squad with younger and punchy talents including Liane Lippert and Floortje Mackaij, who both arrive from the ranks of Team DSM.

Youngsters join the Elite

With Wiebes, Lippert and Mackaij, as well as Leah Kirchmann (retirement), Team DSM have lost a host of experienced and successful riders… So they brought up champions in the making, in line with the team’s focus on developing younger talents. Two medallists from the Junior road race of the 2022 UCI Road World Championships are joining the team: Eglantine Rayer (2nd) and Nienke Vinke (3rd).

As for Zoe Bäckstedt, who won both Junior road race and individual time trial at the UCI Road Worlds to go along with the rainbow stripes she also claimed on the track and in cyclo-cross, she’s also set to display her talent at the highest level. Already a trainee in the latter part of the 2022 season, the 18-year-old British champion will ride for the next two seasons with EF Education-Tibco-SVB.

Elena Pirrone moves from UCI Women’s Continental Team Valcar-Travel & Service to Israel Premier Tech Roland, and Ilaria Sanguineti makes the jump to Trek-Segafredo. Meanwhile, UAE Team ADQ signed five riders from the Italian team: Silvia Persico, Chiara Consonni, Olivia Baril, Eleonora Gasparrini and Karolina Kumiega. The Emirati team may have lost Mavi Garcia to Liv Racing TeqFind, but they look like they have even more firepower to take on 2023’s challenges.

Uno-X Pro Cycling Team also made significant moves with the signings of the Danish 2016 UCI Road World Champion Amalie Dideriksen, Maria Giulia Confalonieri and Anouska Koster. The latter comes from Team Jumbo-Visma, who signed Fem van Empel (current leader of the UCI Cyclo-cross World Cup and 3rd in last year’s Under 23 road race at the European Championships) to grow alongside the iconic Marianne Vos.

The field is impressive, with 204 riders making up the 15 teams of the 2023 UCI Women’s WorldTour. It’s time for them to kick off the show.