As stars of the UCI Women’s WorldTour kick off the 2026 season in Australia, at the Santos Tour Down Under, the peloton shows its new constitution for 2026-2028, with 14 UCI WorldTeams battling to defend their position in the elite of cycling over the coming three seasons. Many other contenders will try to topple them.
The following teams have been awarded a UCI Women’s WorldTour licence after they met the different criteria, notably on the sporting level based on the Technical Ranking: AG Insurance-Soudal Team, Canyon//Sram zondacrypto, EF Education-Oatly, FDJ United-Suez, Fenix-Premier Tech, Human Powered Health, Lidl-Trek, Liv AlUla Jayco, Movistar Team, Team Picnic PostNL, Team SD Worx-Protime, Team Visma | Lease a Bike, UAE Team ADQ, Uno-X Mobility.
An influx of talent set for immediate impact
All of them are in Australia for the start of the 2026 UCI Women’s WorldTour, providing the opportunity to see riders wear their new kits for the first time. Among the most established faces, Spain’s Margarita Victo “Mavi” Garcia Cañellas begins her final season as a professional rider with UAE Team ADQ, where she returns after a few years with Liv AlUla Jayco.
Her much younger compatriot Paula Ostiz Taco, winner of the Junior road race of the UCI Road World Championships last September in Kigali, Rwanda, is also on the start list. Less than a week after turning 19 years old, she makes her UCI Women’s WorldTour debut as she becomes an outright member of Movistar Team after joining the Spanish outfit as a trainee at the end of 2025.
Watch out for more young rising talent such as Mackenzie Coupland, stepping up from Liv AlUla Jayco’s development team to the UCI Women’s WorldTeam, and who just won the road race at the Australian National Championships; Canadian track expert Sarah Van Dam, joining Team Visma | Lease a Bike after a strong season with Ceratizit Pro Cycling Team; and Belgium’s Lotte Claes will be there with Fenix-Premier Tech, preparing to head to the Classics after her stunning victory last year at Omloop Het Nieuwsblad.
In the meantime, Italy’s Sofia Bertizzolo is ready to show her punch with FDJ United-Suez, after four years with UAE Team ADQ, while German climber Ricarda Bauernfeind races for Lidl-Trek for the first time after rising through the ranks with Canyon//Sram zondacrypto.
Major moves involve the likes of Koch, Jackson, Rooijakkers…
With plenty of talents illuminating the roads around the world, many more recent transfers will shape the coming season. Now an established powerhouse, FDJ United-Suez rose to the top of the team UCI World Ranking in 2025 in the wake of their star rider Demi Vollering, who topped the individual UCI World Ranking. To continue their progress, they’ve notably attracted German Champion Franziska Koch and Dutch puncheur Eva van Agt, in addition to Bertizzolo. On the way out, Loes Adegeest leaves the French team to bolster Lidl-Trek.
Among the bigger names of the UCI Women’s WorldTour, Canadian icon Alison Jackson moves to St Michel-Preference Home-Auber93, a UCI Women’s ProTeam with strong ambitions to vie with established powerhouses such as Team SD Worx-Protime. The Dutch team notably signed young climbing talents such as Nienke Vinke (best young rider of the 2025 Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift) and Valentina Cavallar (winner of French Class 1.1 event, the Alpes Grésivaudan Classic). Meanwhile, Elisa Longo Borghini’s UAE Team ADQ strengthened their general classification ambitions with Pauliena Rooijakkers.
The stars are aplenty and they’re about to make their presence felt.