The stars of the UCI Women’s WorldTour tackle a new cycle

15 UCI Women’s WorldTeams defend their spot

The 15 UCI Women’s WorldTeams defend their spot at the highest level of road cycling in 2024 and 2025.

Fifteen squads, 239 talents from around the world and countless ambitions for the year ahead - the UCI Women’s WorldTeams are ready to tackle the 2024 season and especially UCI Women’s WorldTour events, with the first rendezvous just around the corner, in Australia.

Starting with the Santos Tour Down Under (January 12-14), the stars of the leading series of women’s professional road racing tackle a new cycle of two years, with international teams battling to show their worth and defend their spot at the highest level of racing. At the end of 2025, the UCI Women’s WorldTour licences will be awarded for a new period of three years.

After dominating the UCI Women’s WorldTour Team Ranking for the third year in a row, Team SD Worx return in 2024 with the likes of Demi Vollering, Lotte Kopecky, Marlen Reusser and Lorena Wiebes. But talents such as those in Canyon//Sram Racing’s roster are on the rise while Lidl-Trek (who dominated the ranking in 2020, before SD Worx’s hat-trick) have young and exciting new faces ready to turn the tables.

And there are two newcomers among the UCI Women’s WorldTeams: AG Insurance - Soudal Team and Ceratizit-WNT Pro Cycling Team, ready to vie with the established squads used to lighting fireworks on the roads all around the world.

Leaping into the UCI Women’s WorldTour

“The leap to the WorldTour division with our elite team is a milestone for our relatively young project,” says Natascha den Ouden, Manager of the AG Insurance - Soudal Team, founded in 2020 and led by the experienced South African Ashleigh Moolman Pasio (6th in last year’s Tour de France, she extended her contract for one more season). “We look confidently towards the coming years where we want to make our mark even more prominently in Belgian and global women's cycling.”

Now a German UCI Women’s WorldTeam, Ceratizit-WNT Pro Cycling Team reaches the highest level with its British amateur background. “I’d like to thank all of the team and staff for their hard work, and all of our sponsors for believing in us over the last 10 years,” said Head Sports Director Dirk Baldinger. “Everyone worked very hard last season, they were very motivated to collect as many points as possible to achieve our goal, resulting in our second-best season ever.”

With young talents such as Marta Lach and Cédrine Kerbaol, the women in blue and red now aim “to remain in the top 10 best teams in the world,” Baldinger says. It’s an ambitious goal given the ever-increasing level of women’s cycling.

New talents enter

New teams arise, and the established powerhouses also see a change of personnel with the turn of the years and with their continuous strive to achieve the best performances. Lidl-Trek – featuring Italian stars Elisa Longo Borghini and Elisa Balsamo - brought in six rising talents, with France’s Clara Copponi and five 18-year-old riders: the Holmgren sisters (Ava and Isabella), Fleur Moors, Izzy Sharp and Felicity Wilson-Haffenden. The future looks bright!

Another huge talent, Lauren Molengraaf, rises to the UCI Women’s WorldTeam level, signing for FDJ-Suez while Liv AlUla Jayco enjoys a deep reshuffle, bringing in five riders from Liv Racing TeqFind to the Australian side, in the wake of Spain’s Mavi García. Human Powered Health have recruited as many as nine riders for the new season (including Romy Kasper, Katia Ragusa and Silvia Zanardi) after they signed Audrey Cordon-Ragot in the spring of 2023.

But one UCI Women’s WorldTeam had a very special equation to solve in this off season. How could Movistar Team replace Annemiek van Vleuten after she retired at the end of 2023? The Dutch star has won virtually everything, conquered iconic jerseys of all colours (rainbow, yellow, rosa, roja…) and transformed the Spanish squad into a leading force at the highest level of road cycling.

As Van Vleuten steps away, it’s up to the likes of Liane Lippert to show her true colours. And the blue team has attracted seasoned talents like Olivia Baril and Claire Steels, and rising stars including the sisters Laura and Lucía Ruiz Pérez. How will they continue Van Vleuten’s legacy? The 2024 UCI Women’s WorldTour is about to give us some early answers.