La Vuelta Femenina, the Giro d’Italia Women and Tour de France Femmes all saw first-time winners last year in Demi Vollering, Elisa Longo Borghini and Kasia Niewiadoma respectively, and three riders at the top of their game battling fierce opposition down to the wire produced some of the highlights of the season.
Things have been all change in the women’s peloton since then, however, with Vollering signing for FDJ-Suez, Longo Borghini moving to UAE Team ADQ, Niewiadoma joined by Cecilie Uttrup Ludwig at Canyon-SRAM and perennial winner Anna van der Breggen coming out of retirement.
So who will be the next name to break through and change the top of the order as the women’s peloton’s next Grand Tour winner outside of Vollering, Longo Borghini, Niewiadoma and Van der Breggen?
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Lotte Kopecky (SD Worx-Protime)
One of the best riders of her generation, World Champion Lotte Kopecky is as versatile as she is talented, with the Belgian’s elite abilities including track, gravel, Classics and stage races. In the Classics she has won almost everything going, including the Tour of Flanders, Paris-Roubaix, Strade Bianche and Omloop Het Nieuwsblad.
When it comes to the longer stage races, Kopecky finished second in both the 2023 Tour de France Femmes (to then-teammate Vollering) and the 2024 Giro d’Italia (to Longo Borghini). At the 2023 Tour, Kopecky spent six days in yellow after winning the opening stage, but lost time on the Col d’Aspin and Tourmalet to drop down to fourth overall, before a strong ride in the final day time-trial lifted her back up to finish second, 3min 03sec down. Things were closer at last year’s Giro, with only one second separating her from Longo Borghini going into the final stage. Tried as she might, though, Kopecky was powerless to stop her Italian rival attacking in the finale to increase her lead to 21 seconds.
This season, with the departure of Vollering for FDJ-Suez, Kopecky has her sights on the Tour de France Femmes title. She also has to contend with the return of Van der Breggen, but despite her former dominance the two-time Road Race World Champion likely won’t stand in the way of Kopecky’s plans, or not immediately at least, instead putting her focus on enjoying racing and testing her form.
The teammates-to-rivals transition with Vollering (although they were still arguably rivals even when they were teammates) will be enthralling to watch, with the Dutchwoman determined to reclaim the Tour crown she lost in 2024 to Nieuwiadoma. It’s shaping up to be the showdown of the season.
Neve Bradbury (Canyon-SRAM-Zondacrypto)
22-year-old Neve Bradbury had a breakthrough in 2024 including a second place behind Kopecky at the UAE Tour, her first pro win at the Tour de Suisse alongside teammate Niewiadoma, and an overall podium at the Giro.
It’s here that the Australian can develop further with Niewiadoma no doubt a lock for the team's Tour de France hopes. A spectacular victory on Blockhaus on Stage 7 of the 2024 Giro boosted her onto the podium with one day to go, a position she held onto on the final stage. On her way to that victory she left behind a group containing both Longo Borghini and Kopecky with an explosive attack in the final 10km.
Another podium should be on the cards for this season, and from there the sky is the limit for Bradbury.
Juliette Labous (FDJ-Suez)
Always knocking on the door of success at stage races, 26-year-old Juliette Labous has a plethora of top ten results to her name, including fifth at the 2024 Tour de Suisse, fourth at the 2024 Setmana Ciclista Valenciana and 2023 Tour de Romandie, and third at Itzulia last year.
Her consistency extends to the Grand Tours too, with best results of fifth at the 2023 Tour de France, fourth at the 2024 Vuelta Femenina and second place at the Giro d’Italia Women behind Annemiek van Vleuten in 2023, her career highlight to date.
She has moved from DSM to FDJ-Suez this year, and coming in alongside Vollering could complicate things for Labous. She may be one of two riders on this list with ambitions of becoming the first French Tour de France Femmes winner, but even though FDJ-Suez are a French team, Vollering will likely be the team's priority in terms of GC for the time being, so the Giro could be Labous's best chance of Grand Tour success for now.
Gaia Realini (Lidl-Trek)
Three was the magic number for Gaia Realini during her first season at WorldTour level, with her taking podiums at La Vuelta Femenina, Giro d’Italia Women and the Tour de l’Avenir. In her debut Tour de France Femmes she rode to fifth overall, in a race highlighted by a powerful display on the final day on Alpe d’Huez.
The pocket rocket climber thrives in the mountains and will undoubtably be a serious Grand Tour contender, and probably sooner rather than later now that Longo Borghini has left Lidl-Trek.
Évita Muzic (FDJ-Suez)
Évita Muzic is in the same boat as teammate and countrywoman Labous: a French talent on a French team that wants to win the Tour de France Femmes, but with a supremely talented teammate in Vollering likely to be the team's pick for GC focus. The 23-year-old has not shied away from showcasing her ambitions, however, and a Grand Tour in the next few years seems feasible.
Last year, she finished fifth at La Vuelta Femenina with a stage win to boot, beating Demi Vollering on La Laguna Negra. At the Tour de France, she raced to fourth thanks to an impressive ride on Alpe d’Huez. The mountains are very much her playground and some improvement in other areas such as time-trialling could help her bid for overall contention in years to come.
Pauliena Rooijakkers (Fenix-Deceuninck)
Pauliena Rooijakkers’s 2024 was eye-catching. The 31-year-old finished fourth at the Giro and on the podium at the Tour thanks to her strong legs in the mountains.
At the Giro, she was initially dropped on Blockhaus by Kopecky and Longo Borghini but raced at her own speed to bring herself back into the group in the final 4km. This persistence was also evident at the Tour, where she rose up the general classification all the way to the podium thanks to an impressive showing on Alpe d’Huez, where she was the only one that was able to stick with Vollering.
In 2025 she looks to be the rider Fenix-Deceuninck are pinning their hopes on in the big races, with Puck Pieterse key for the Classics while continuing her own Grand Tour development after winning the white jersey for best young rider at last year's Tour.
While some of the other riders on this list have strong results in other stage races too, however, Rooijakkers does not. Sixth at the UAE Tour, 19th at Itzulia, 12th at the Tour de Romandie in 2024 are results she'll be looking to improve on, though if she can peak for the Grand Tours then who cares?
Justine Ghekiere (AG Insurance-Soudal)
Justine Ghekiere has been sweeping up mountains classifications in Grand Tours, claiming the climbers' jersey at both the Giro and Tour last year. A stage victory also came at the latter despite her only being a late replacement in the AG Insurance-Soudal lineup. It hasn’t translated to a top GC standing in these races though, with Ghekiere finishing over 26 minutes down on Vollering at the Tour and almost an hour behind Longo Borghini at the Giro.
AG Insurance-Soudal is not a team that lines up with aspirations of winning a Grand Tour just yet, but they do have an experienced leader in Ashleigh Moolman Pasio and young star Sarah Gigante, and the true potential is yet to be seen.
Ghekiere is 28 years old and still has plenty of time to aim for the podium with only two full years of WorldTour racing under her belt so far. She’s more than competent in the mountains, it's just a case of making the GC her focus.
