From Australia to China and through events right around the globe, the 2025 UCI Women’s WorldTour came to an end as Great Britain’s Anna Henderson (Lidl-Trek) ruled the Tour of Guangxi on Sunday 19 October. The British rider took her second win of the season, after stage 2 of the Giro d’Italia Women, where she donned the Maglia Rosa, one of the many iconic prizes global stars battled for around the world since Switzerland’s Noemi Rüegg won the Santos Tour Down Under back in January.
Since then, a total of 27 events have been held in 11 different countries. China was the last destination on the map, with a stage race, the Tour of Chongming Island, and a one-day race, the Tour of Guangxi, to wrap up the tenth season of the UCI Women’s WorldTour, held since 2016.
Stepping up in the final straight
The last events of the year brought intense competition and stunning results. On day 1 of the Tour of Chongming Island, it was Australia’s Georgia Baker (Liv AlUla Jayco) who powered to her first UCI Women’s WorldTour victory after coming close on many occasions: 2nd in stages of the Giro d’Italia Donne, Vuelta España Femenina by Carrefour.es, the Santos Tour Down Under, and also in Chongming, as well as 4th in the Classic Brugge-De Panne in the spring of 2025.
“I’m incredibly happy with my first [UCI Women’s] WorldTour victory and the leader’s jersey in the Tour of Chongming Island,” Baker said before relinquishing the overall lead the next day to the Netherlands’ Sofie van Rooijen. UAE Team ADQ’s Dutch sprinter is a rising star - she was the Under 23 European Champion in 2024 and turned 23 this summer - and for her, too, this was a first victory in the UCI Women’s WorldTour.
Held since 2007, the Tour of Chongming Island had more thrills in store for the third and final day of action. As a strong group of attackers held off the peloton with a gap of 15 seconds on the line, Australia’s Josie Talbot (Liv AlUla Jayco) took her maiden UCI Women’s WorldTour win, ahead of Lidl-Trek’s Riejanne Markus. Third on the day, Dutch youngster Anne Knijnenburg (VolkerWessels Cycling Team) seized the opportunity to edge Van Rooijen and claim her maiden victory at such level, and her team’s first since 2022.
Henderson: “Really nice to finish the season like this”
Three days later, some 2,000 kilometres south-west of Chongming, Nanning witnessed double British success on the final day of the 2025 UCI Women’s WorldTour and UCI WorldTour. While Paul Double (Team Jayco AlUla) sealed his win in the men’s Tour of Guangxi, Anna Henderson (Lidl-Trek) punched her way to victory after 108.5km of intense battle.
Faced with four laps, each featuring the climb of Qingxiushan, the British rider made the early move and didn’t crumble when a handful of chasers bridged to the breakaway. She even flew away with Caroline Andersson (Liv AlUla Jayco) on the final ascent, before making the most of her power to dominate the two-woman sprint in Nanning.
“I am super happy because we came to China to get some wins and we had a bit of bad luck with sickness and it just didn't go our way,” said Henderson, who abandoned the Tour of Chongming Island before bouncing back to victory. “I was super good on the climb so I could attack twice and then make these small groups. I had Elisa [Balsamo] behind all the time so I could always play that game of Elisa's coming. Overall, I am just super happy and it's really nice to finish the season like this.”