Women’s cycling has soared in popularity in the UK in recent years, perhaps spurred on by the major women’s races in the UK and the wave of British success at international competitions as well as the rise of women’s cycling generally. This has fostered a new generation of British riders in cycling’s top division, with 18 riders now signed onto the sport’s biggest teams.
That number is actually a decrease of two from last year – or four if you count the two stagiaires who tagged onto WorldTour teams halfway through the season. That said, there were only 13 when the Women’s WorldTour was restructured into its current form in 2022. The UK is currently the fifth most common nationality in the Women’s WorldTour, trailing behind only the Netherlands, Italy, Belgium and France.
Unlike in the men’s WorldTour, there are no British-registered women’s teams in the top flight at the moment, so the Brits are spread out across several teams. Picnic-PostNL is the most common destination for British riders with four, closely followed by Lidl-Trek and Movistar with three Brits on their rosters.
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Zoe Bäckstedt (Canyon-SRAM-Zondacrypto)
Daughter of Paris-Roubaix winner Magnus Bäckstedt, Zoe is one of the most exciting young riders in the peloton. She burst through the youth ranks in 2021 after winning the junior road race at the World Championships. This was backed up by a gold in the time-trial and world titles in both cyclocross and track.
The rider from South Wales signed for EF in 2022, until that iteration of the team folded and she moved across to Canyon-SRAM, immediately hitting the ground running with solid results in one-day races. Towards the end of last year – after a few months out – Bäckstedt impressed at the Simac Ladies Tour. There, she claimed the opening time-trial and finished third overall, her first GC podium at this level.
After defending her under-23 world title at the World Cyclocross Championships, Bäckstedt will likely return to road racing at the spring Classics.
Alice Towers (Canyon-SRAM-Zondacrypto)
22-year-old Alice Towers has packed a lot into her brief time on the WorldTour.
After winning the British championships in 2022, Towers was swept up by Canyon-SRAM and she made her Tour de France Femmes debut that year, supporting the GC interests of Polish leader Kasia Niewiadoma.
Towers started 2024 in strong form, reaching the top ten of the Cadel Evans Great Ocean Road Race. This caught the attention of her team who sent her to both the Giro and the Tour, and in the latter she was part of the winning team.
Another Classics programme looks to be on the cards and she is also likely to start at least one Grand Tour in 2025. Fingers crossed it'll be the Tour de France Femmes.
Millie Couzens (Fenix-Deceuninck)
Millie Couzens climbed through the British pecking order as a teenager. Balancing road and cyclocross ambitions, she was national champion for her age group throughout her teenage years.
As a young prodigy, she moved to Belgium to dip her toe in the European scene with Liv-Plantur, formerly ran by the Roodhooft brothers of Alpecin-Deceuninck. As a result of this move, the Oxfordshire rider has been racing for Fenix-Deceuninck since the start of 2023. During this time, she won two Ilkley Grands Prix and finished top ten overall at the Baloise Ladies Tour.
Last year, she made her Grand Tour debut at the Giro d'Italia and she's still just 21, so expect her to continue her development this year.
Flora Perkins (Fenix-Deceuninck)
21-year-old Flora Perkins from London is a product of the now-defunct British continental team Le Col-Wahoo. After a year spent with the squad in 2022, Perkins jumped across to Fenix-Deceuninck's Development Team in time for the 2023 season, during which she would light up the under-23 calendar.
Following a promotion to Fenix's pro team, she made a strong impression at the Vuelta Femenina, where she finished eighth and sixth in two sprint finishes, even winning the best young rider's prize on Stage 3. She carried this form into the Tour of Britain where she cracked the top ten on two occasions while racing for the British national team. To add, her late-season form also guided her to a set of solid results in the block of Classics in the autumn period.
This year, Perkins has been off to a good start. She has two stage races under her belt, and will soon start her one-day programme at Omloop Het Nieuwsblad.
Fun fact: she once appeared in an episode of the BBC's Songs of Praise in 2021.
Lizzie Deignan (Lidl-Trek)
Lizzie Deignan has been a flag bearer for British cycling for more than a decade. Beginning her career on the track as a world champion, Deignan transitioned onto the road in the early 2010s, sweeping up GC titles at several second-tier races before a career-defining silver medal at the London 2012 Olympics.
She'd continue this upward trajectory through the mid-2010s while riding for the Boels-Dolmans squad (now SD Worx). She made the podium at the Trofeo Binda, Tour of Flanders and La Flèche Wallonne in 2014. The following year, she'd take a step up by winning the Trofeo Binda, GP Plouay and the World Championships.
As world champ, Deignan enjoyed her best season, winning Strade Bianche, the Tour of Flanders, Omloop Het Nieuwsblad, Trofeo Binda and the Tour of Britain. In the following years, she continued to reign as one of the most accomplished riders in the women's sport, adding Paris-Roubaix, Liège-Bastogne-Liège and La Course to a stellar list of achievements. During her decade at the top of the sport, she ticked almost every box on the Classics bucket list.
2025 will be Deignan's last season as a professional, as she's set to retire at the end of the year as probably the most decorated rider in the history of women's cycling in the UK.
Anna Henderson (Lidl-Trek)
Anna Henderson was a skier to begin with and was on track to make it to the Winter Olympics before a heavy fall in 2015 forced her to spend months off the slopes. Cycling was a core part of her recovery plan and she soon pivoted to a career on two wheels rather than two skis.
A strong set of domestic results at the Tour Series caught the attention of WorldTour scouts and Henderson moved to Sunweb (now Picnic-PostNL) in 2020. After switching to the yellow outfits at Visma-Lease a Bike, she claimed her first pro wins with a stage at the Elsy Jacobs Cycling Challenge and a national title.
As a talented time-triallist, Henderson has a respectable collection of medals to her name, including silver in the time-trial at the 2024 Olympics as well as at both the European Championships and Commonwealth Games, and two elite national titles.
After a successful stint at Visma-Lease a Bike, Hertfordshire-born Henderson was poached by Lidl-Trek ahead for 2025 season. This year, she'll hope to hit the ground running in the Classics and as a leadout for Elisa Balsamo.
Izzy Sharp (Lidl-Trek)
Southampton-born Izzy Sharp claimed a formative win at Gent-Wevelgem Juniors in 2022, beating fellow Brit Cat Ferguson to the title. Later that year, she added a World Championships medal to her growing junior palmarès.
As a result of this impressive season, Sharp signed for Lidl-Trek aged 18 after being scouted by Ellen van Dijk at a junior race in the Netherlands. During her first season there she continued to demonstrate her knack for time-trialling.
Sharp has already kicked off her season with a set of races in Australia. Her later programme is still to be decided.
Cat Ferguson (Movistar)
Cat Ferguson was the breakout star of the World Championships last September. She claimed two titles in the junior category, winning both the time-trial and the road race. This topped off a strong season for the 18-year-old, who claimed a host of junior GC titles and one-day victories along the way and moved up to the top level as a stagiaire for Movistar. In 2025 she will complete her first full calendar at the senior level.
Ferguson is a multi-discipline athlete, competing in cyclocross alongside her road schedule. She was part of Britain's gold medal-winning relay team at the recent UCI Cyclocross World Championships in France.
Ferguson claimed two pro wins last year while riding for Movistar's elite team. These came at the Tour de la Semois, then the one-day race Binche-Chimay-Binche. Her strengths appear to be in the Classics, so the expertise of teammate Marlen Reusser will come in handy during the Yorkshirewoman's first full season in the WorldTour.
Carys Lloyd (Movistar)
Kentish rider Carys Lloyd is a new recruit for Movistar. The 18-year-old will be the youngest rider on the Women's WorldTour in 2025, having been born on the 31st December 2006.
Lloyd has a strong track background and she lit up the junior scene, winning a total of six gold medals at the World and European Championships at the junior level. Three of these titles came at the UCI World Track Championships in 2024. The team pursuit title there was claimed alongside her new Movistar teammate Cat Ferguson and Visma's new signing Imogen Wolff.
As a professional on the road, Lloyd has already scored some UCI points in her first two races. On debut, Lloyd finished in the top ten at the Trofeo Marratxi-Felanitx in Mallorca. She was later sent to the UAE Tour where she took a top-20 finish on the final sprint stage. With this, she seems to be more of a sprinter, but at the age of 18, there's plenty of space to grow.
Claire Steels (Movistar)
From one of the youngest riders in the WorldTour to one of the most experienced. Claire Steels took a while to crack the pro peloton, having spent almost a decade running her own fitness business and chasing triathlon success before that.
She tested the waters in 2020 with the Sopela Women's Team after winning the women's Rás in Ireland the year before and after some impressive results, she was swept up by Roland in 2023. During her first WorldTour season, she cracked the top ten of Trofeo Binda and followed that up with a consistent season spent inside the top 25 ranks of GC at every stage race she started, including the Tour de France Femmes.
After showing her strength at the top level, Steels was signed by Movistar in 2024.
Pfeiffer Georgi (Picnic-PostNL)
Three-time British champ Pfeiffer Georgi is one of the biggest names in the current crop of British racers. Having climbed through the ranks at DSM, the Brit won the British nationals for the first time as a senior in 2021. This kickstarted a quick rise to the upper ranks of one-day racing.
Two years later, she crafted a cunning move off the front of an echelon to win the WorldTour Classic Brugge-De Panne. This highlighted her form in a year that saw her make the top ten of Paris-Roubaix, Strade Bianche, Omloop Het Nieuwsblad, Amstel Gold and the European Championships.
In 2024, Georgi was closely marked in the Classics. After finishing fifth at Trofeo Binda, she snuck her way onto the podium of Paris-Roubaix in the photo-finish before another impressive one-day performance at the Amstel Gold Race. Later in the year, she finished in the top five overall at the Tour of Britain and the Paris 2024 Olympic Games road race.
Georgi has started 2025 in flying form. She surprised many with her climbing legs at the UAE Tour where she ultimately finished in tenth overall. Her aims this year will be in the Classics like the Tour of Flanders and Paris-Roubaix.
Josie Nelson (Picnic-PostNL)
22-year-old Josie Nelson dived into the realm of pro cycling as a teenager. Sister to former track world champion Emily Nelson, Josie dabbled in cyclocross before turning to the road in 2020.
After the pandemic, she rode for the Norwegian team Coop where she'd garner some attention for her hardy sprinting skills. At the beginning of her final year with the Scandinavian team, Nelson claimed her best WorldTour result to date with a fourth place at the Cadel Evans Great Ocean Road Race.
After signing for Picnic-PostNL in 2024, the West Midlands rider claimed a stage and second place overall at the Tour de Normandie. Later in the year, she'd add the British time-trial title to her growing palmarès before a GC bid at the Tour de l'Avenir, ultimately finishing that race in seventh overall.
During her second year with Picnic-PostNL, she'll most likely focus on one-day races. She is yet to compete at a Grand Tour with the Dutch squad, but that could change this year if her youth results are anything to go by.
Abi Smith (Picnic-PostNL)
Edinburgh-born but Yorkshire-raised Abi Smith has been in the pro peloton for a while now. She first took the step up with EF in 2022 as a 19-year-old. Smith enjoys races filled with lumps and bumps, highlighted by her best result on the WorldTour level, a top ten at the Tour Down Under.
At the beginning of 2024, she swapped teams for Picnic-PostNL. In her opening year with the squad, she competed at the Vuelta Femenina and the Tour of Britain, where she finished inside the top 20 overall. She'll soon open her second season with Picnic-PostNL at Le Samyn in March.
She's also an avid artist. On her Instagram, you can check out her custom-designed sliders often inspired by her team colours.
Becky Storrie (Picnic-PostNL)
Manx rider Becky Storrie didn't intend to become a pro cyclist. She picked up a triathlon scholarship at the University of Stirling before being diagnosed with chronic fatigue. As she recovered, she took to cycling full-time. The progress was fast from this point, and she represented the Isle of Man at the Commonwealth Games in 2022 while she was completing a Master's degree at the University of Strathclyde.
At the end of that year, she signed for Picnic-PostNL. Since then, Storrie has been included in Picnic-PostNL's Grand Tour roster, featuring in two Giros and one Tour de France Femmes. The Manx rider is a puncheur by nature, but she's a capable all-rounder.
Imogen Wolff (Visma-Lease a Bike)
Yorkshire-born Imogen Wolff stormed through the junior calendar in 2024. She claimed a win at the Piccolo Trofeo Binda, the junior Nation's Cup and two medals at the UCI Track World Championships. On the road, she added a bronze in the time-trial in the autumn.
Wolff has signed for Visma-Lease a Bike until the end of 2027. She'll join a talented fleet of young riders at the Dutch team, including Tour de l'Avenir champion Marion Bunel and junior sensation Viktória Chladoňová.
Elynor Bäckstedt (UAE Team ADQ)
Elynor is the older of the Bäckstedt siblings, and she made herself known at the 2018 UCI World Championships, winning a bronze medal in the junior time-trial. She backed this up with junior-level wins on the track before repeating her road feat in Harrogate in 2019. She was soon picked up by Lidl-Trek in 2020 and became a key domestique for the likes of Elisa Longo Borghini.
She's been developing steadily, turning more to the time-trials now as a senior. The Welsh rider jumped ships to UAE Team ADQ alongside Longo Borghini in the winter and rode her first stage race for the squad at the UAE Tour.
Lizzie Holden (UAE Team ADQ)
The second Manx rider to feature on this list, Lizzie Holden came up mostly through the Le Col-Wahoo team (although she spent two seasons in the middle with Spanish outfit Bizkaia-Durango) and in 2022 she enjoyed her best season to date, slipping into the top 20 at the Amstel Gold Race and made the top five at the Belgium Tour.
On the back of this solid season, she signed for UAE Team ADQ in 2023, a year in which she would win the British TT title and ride her second Tour de France Femmes. Since her first year with the squad, Holden has become a key domestique.
Elinor Barker (Uno X)
Welsh rider Elinor Barker has been a track rider for most of her career. Starting on the boards in her native Cardiff, Barker soon moved to Manchester to ride full-time on the track as part of the British Cycling programme. On the road, she took the junior world title in the individual time-trial back in 2012. After that, however, she'd give the track more of her focus.
With gold medals at the Olympics, World Championships, European Championships and Commonwealth Games during the 2010s, Barker turned back to the road in the 2020s.
She signed for Uno X in 2022 as part of the team's growing contingent of British riders. She rode her first full WorldTour season in 2023, making the top ten of Gent-Wevelgem before a Grand Tour debut at the Giro d'Italia. Since joining the WorldTour, she's refined her skills as a Classics rider and rouleur, and she's not afraid of jumping into the breakaway either.
