Van Vleuten, SD Worx and many more stars of the 2022 UCI Women’s WorldTour

Annemiek van Vleuten, Team SD Worx and Shirin van Anrooij won the different standings after the 22 events of the 2022 UCI Women’s WorldTour.

After she racked up successes all year long on the road, it’s time for Annemiek van Vleuten to collect her end-of-season awards. Movistar Team Women’s Dutch star has shone on many terrains, especially in the biggest events of the year, and it’s only natural to see her top the final 2022 UCI Women’s WorldTour rankings after 22 events (stage races and one-day events).

Van Vleuten takes victory with a significant margin on her chasers, led by Italy’s Elisa Longo Borghini (Trek-Segafredo) and the Dutchwoman Demi Vollering, whose Team SD Worx dominate the collective standings for the second year in a row. Another Dutch star, Trek-Segafredo’s Shirin van Anrooij, won the youth ranking.

Van Vleuten wrapped up her triumphant season a week ago, with 2nd place in the Tour de Romandie, in Switzerland, won by Ashleigh Moolman-Pasio (SD Worx). She was already certain to win the 2022 UCI Women’s WorldTour ahead of the final stage race of the season thanks to her iconic and historic run of triumphs in the summer that saw her add new pieces to her collection of prized jerseys: the Maglia Rosa in the Giro d’Italia Donne, the Maillot Jaune in the Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift and La Roja in the Ceratizit Challenge by La Vuelta. She then went on to conquer another rainbow in the UCI Road World Championships in Wollongong, Australia.

Van Vleuten’s best record

Nobody could stop her long-range attacks over European summits, nobody could react to her final assault in the Australian UCI Worlds, and nobody can rival her in the standings. Already a winner of the 2011 UCI Women Road World Cup, Van Vleuten has now dominated the UCI Women’s WorldTour in three seasons: 2018, 2021 and 2022. The latter was clearly her most dominant effort, at 39 years old (she turned 40 on the roads of Romandie).

Also a winner of Liège-Bastogne-Liège Femmes in the spring, Van Vleuten accumulated 3,589.3 points through 2022, 412 points more than the previous year. With 2,710.3 points, Longo Borghini is (by far) the highest scoring runner-up in the history of the UCI Women’s WorldTour but Van Vleuten keeps increasing the distance between her, stronger than ever, and her rivals, who also develop their skills to challenge the Dutch icon.

Belgian and Italian power

Among Van Vleuten’s fiercest challengers, Lotte Kopecky (SD Worx) found openings at the beginning of the season. The Belgian star, who very recently shone in the Tissot UCI Track World Championships, won the first UCI Women’s WorldTour of the year, Strade Bianche, ahead of Van Vleuten. And she tamed the Dutch star again on the roads and cobbles of the Ronde van Vlaanderen in April.

The other stars of the Classics were Italians. With her rainbow jersey, Elisa Balsamo powered to victory in the Trofeo Alfredo-Binda-Comune di Cittiglio, Classic Brugge-De Panne and Gent-Wevelgem in Flanders Fields. Her compatriot and Trek-Segafredo teammate Elisa Longo Borghini had an amazing ride towards Roubaix, proving the extent of her skills on the cobbles of Paris-Roubaix Femmes.

As for Marta Cavalli (riding for FDJ-Nouvelle Aquitaine-Futuroscope, that became FDJ-Suez-Futuroscope in the summer), she had an extraordinary breakthrough campaign, most notably winning the Amstel Gold Race Ladies Edition and La Flèche Wallonne Féminine while finishing 5th in Paris-Roubaix Femmes and 6th in Liège-Bastogne-Liège Femmes.

Collective strength

The other main scorer of the season was Team DSM’s Lorena Wiebes. The Dutch sprinter won 23 races this season, including 13 in the UCI Women’s WorldTour! Among her main achievements, she retained her crown in the Miron Ronde van Drenthe and took the first yellow jersey in the Tour de France Femmes, in the iconic settings of the Parisian Champs-Élysées.

A week later, her compatriot Van Anrooij stood on the podium, displaying the versatility of her talents as she took the white jersey as the best young rider of the Tour. After she had already shone in the cyclo-cross season, the Dutch youngster had a very consistent season on the road and was Trek-Segafredo’s fourth best scorer of the season after Longo Borghini, Balsamo and Audrey Cordon Ragot.

The stars from the American team accumulated almost 8,000 points (7,998.98) during the year. Impressive, but not enough to overthrow Team SD Worx, winner of the team standings for the second year in a row, after Trek-Segafredo edged them in 2020.

Impressive battles ensured non-stop excitement in 2022, and the competition will be heated again in 2023!