The Australian Championships are set to take place this weekend, which can only mean one thing: the road season is back. Not long after, the women’s Tour Down Under will start in Brighton, Australia on 17th January. This three-day long stage race will officially open a monumental 2025 Women’s WorldTour calendar that’ll include the first women’s Milan-San Remo and the longest Tour de France Femmes to date.
Before Christmas, we gave our verdict on the men’s WorldTour in 2025. Now it’s the turn of the women’s top teams to receive the same treatment.
We’ll run through every Women’s WorldTour team, analysing their strengths, potential pitfalls and superstars in waiting. In honest form, we’ll stand by our sword and make one 2025 prediction for each team and hand out a school exam-like grade based on their team strength.
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AG Insurance-Soudal
AG Insurance had a surprisingly strong 2024. Most of the success came from Belgian climber Justine Ghekiere, who claimed the mountains classification at both the Giro d’Italia and Tour de France and won Stage 7 of the Tour while decked out in head-to-toe polka-dots.
Ghekiere has forged a name as a breakaway specialist over the past two years, which was plainly exhibited last year at the Grand Tours. However, she clearly has a knack for climbing. While it might not be on her radar, she is capable of reaching the top ten of the Tour de France Femmes overall if she locks onto her competition. Perhaps she’s a Guillaume Martin-Guyonnet in waiting.
While the Ghekiere GC project is very much a blueprint, Ashleigh Moolman-Pasio provides a more tested option. The experience South African has featured in the top ten of countless stage races. In 2025, she’ll probably chase another consistent spread of GC results. Also, get used to seeing Moolman-Pasio in a new jersey. She’s now the African Champion, so she’ll be sporting a special kit for 2025. Along with Mauritian champion Kim Le Court, this squad have two rainbow jersey lookalikes.
Speaking of Le Court, she enjoyed a terrific 2024. She made the top ten of Paris-Roubaix and took her first Grand Tour win on the last stage of the Giro. This season, she could enjoy more time spent on the top step of the podium. She’s a talented all-rounder who should really look to target another Grand Tour stage in 2025.
Prediction: Ghekiere wins another Grand Tour stage
Squad grade: B-
Canyon-SRAM-Zondacrypto
After winning the Tour de France Femmes in 2024, Canyon-SRAM-Zondacrypto have been busy recruiting riders to support another bid for Tour glory. They roped in Cecilie Uttrup Ludwig and Chiara Consonni to help foster more Grand Tour stage victories.
Looking at those races, they're filled to the brim with GC talent. Kasia Niewiadoma will no doubt try to defend her Tour de France title. It's a tough ask against a fired-up FDJ-Suez, but Niewiadoma and Uttrup Ludwig have a real chance to gain an early advantage with this year's punchy opening in Brittany. Don't count out Neve Bradbury and Ricarda Bauernfeind either. Both of them enjoyed solid Grand Tour campaigns in 2024, with Bradbury coming out of the Giro with an impressive solo win on Blockhaus.
In terms of the Classics, Chloé Dygert is long overdue a chance to show off her mighty engine on the cobbles and the Ardennes hills. After her strong performance at the World Championships in September, she could be a contender for victory at Liège-Bastogne-Liège or Milan-San Remo for example. Otherwise, Uttrup Ludwig and Niewiadoma will be there to light up the one-day races as they often do. Niewiadoma has come close to Monument glory in the past, so maybe her post-Tour confidence will bleed into the spring and help translate this talent into a headline one-day race win.
It's outside the team realm, but Niewiadoma should be confident of her chances at the late-season World and European Championships. The profiles suit her down to a tee.
Prediction: Niewiadoma finishes on the podium of the Tour de France Femmes
Squad grade: A
Ceratizit-WNT
Ceratizit-WNT suffered some big losses over the winter. The team's three highest point scorers have left the squad: Cédrine Kerbaol, Marta Lach and Kathrin Schweinberger. These departures will hurt the team going into the final year of the WorldTour relegation cycle.
Not only did Kerbaol score the team's first Tour de France stage victory in the summer, she also raked in points at the Classics, including her one-day win at the Tre Valle Varesine. As for Lach, her victories at the WorldTour-level Tour of Chongming Island helped to prop up the team in the UCI rankings. Her qualities as a puncheur also helped to give some direction at the Classics. Without these two, it's going to be tough for Ceratizit to move up the leaderboard in 2025.
The squad signed a couple of riders from lower-ranked squads, but the most notable signing is the promising Afghan talent Fariba Hashimi. She caught attention at the Tour de l'Avenir after finishing inside the top ten overall. Although she's just 21, the Afghan national champion could be relied upon for GC results in 2025 as she makes her WorldTiour debut.
Looking further afield, Mylène de Zoete will be an important player in Ceratizit's 2025 calendar. The Dutch sprinter has clocked up a handful of top five finishes in WorldTour sprints over the past few seasons. Likewise, another WorldTour nearly man is Spanish puncheur Sandra Alonso. She recently enjoyed WorldTour success at the women's Tour of Guangxi in China.
Weighing everything up, 2025 might be turbulent for Ceratizit. They'll need to be cunning in their hunt for UCI points in order to avoid relegation at the end of the year. Although this doesn't have the same consequences as the men, this could still blight their chances of entering the top-level races in the years to come.
Prediction: The team win a race in China
Team grade: D
FDJ-Suez
FDJ-Suez were the most active team in the women's transfer market. They signed a host of top-shelf riders, including 2023 Tour de France Femmes champion Demi Vollering and reigning French national champion Juliette Labous.
FDJ will be the team to beat at the Tour de France. They'll boast a roster filled with Grand Tour stage winners and podium finishers. In a similar ilk to UAE Team Emirates and Visma-Lease a Bike in recent editions of the men's Tour, I expect FDJ-Suez to control the race with a fine tooth comb, using their brute force to test their rivals. Using the likes of Labous, Elise Chabbey and Évita Muzic, the FDJ-Suez train could decimate the field and lay a yellow brick road for Vollering to claim her second Tour crown.
Outside of the Tour de France, the French team can be confident about their chances at winning the Vuelta Femenina with Vollering. She won the race in dominant style in 2024, only struggling in the wake of her new teammate Muzic on a summit finish in that race. Labous will most likely get sent to the Giro, a race she has excelled at in the past. A podium at the Corsa Rosa, therefore, is a real possibility in 2025.
The Classics should also be plain sailing. With Vollering and Chabbey on board, the team will be visible at the head of affairs in the Ardennes. It's likely they'll bag a win at either Amstel Gold or Liège-Bastogne-Liège.
Prediction: Vollering wins the Tour de France Femmes
Squad grade: A
Fenix-Deceuninck
Fenix-Deceuninck couldn't make their mind up about which jersey they wanted so they chose three. However, they only really have two cards to play in 2025: Puck Pieterse and Pauliena Rooijakkers.
As for the former, the Dutch off-road phenom made her mark in 2024. She claimed a stage on debut at the Tour de France, and cracked the top ten at both Strade Bianche and the Tour of Flanders in addition to a podium finish at the Trofeo Alfredo Binda in March. Rightfully, there'll be a fair few eyes on Pieterse in 2025. She hasn't released her road programme yet, but she'll soon take to the fields of cyclocross at the end of January. After that, she should turn her eyes on the Classics. With the supertalents spread around in 2025, Pieterse has a good chance of climbing onto the podium at a Monument like the Tour of Flanders or Liège-Bastogne-Liège.
When it comes to Rooijakkers, it'll be hard to top 2024. She followed Vollering's audacious move on Stage 8 and moved up the rankings to third overall. Stage races will be the her priority in 2025. Although the lofty heights of a Tour podium were reached last year, I think a podium bid at a races like the Vuelta a Burgos or Itzulia Basque Country is more achievable.
Prediction: Pieterse finishes on the podium at the Tour of Flanders
Squad grade: B-
Human Powered Health
Human Powered Health sit towards the lower end of the UCI rankings. They're not in danger of relegation, but they'll be eager to climb the ladder closer to the top bracket of WorldTour teams.
The American squad have lost a couple of personnel to retirement. French shoo-in Audrey Cordon-Ragot and American climber Krista Doebel-Hickok both hung up their cleats at the end of 2024. Some names were brought in to balance out the roster with Thalita De Jong the most prominent incomer. The former Lotto rider hoovered up UCI points last year after a consistent twelve months that culminated in a top ten finish overall at the Tour de France Femmes. The Belgian will be a big help for Human Powered Health in the stage race department. De Jong is already down to compete at the Vuelta Femenina, so look out for her there.
Daria Pikulik shocked many towards the end of last year with her bronze medal in the European Championships road race. Looking deeper at her palmarès, this shouldn't have been too much of a surprise. She's often pulled a big result out of the bag in hectic sprint finales. Pikulik isn't alone in this wildcard characteristic. Katia Ragusa is a decent Classics rider and rouleur, as is Austrian incomer Kathrin Schweinberger who doesn't shy away from sprint finales herself.
Prediction: De Jong finishes inside the top ten of the Vuelta
Squad grade: C+
Lidl-Trek
Lidl-Trek lost Elisa Longo Borghini during the off-season, but they made up for it with the addition of Riejanne Markus and Niamh Fisher-Black.
It'll be intriguing to see how the Kiwi gets on this year. After spending a couple of seasons as a domestique at SD Worx, the young GC prodigy has a point to prove. She's more than capable of making the top ten at a Grand Tour next year. Markus meanwhile has a strong engine and tactical know-how could come into play as she tries to hunt down more stage race podiums.
Despite these new additions to the squad, Gaia Realini remains the most proven GC rider at Lidl-Trek. The young Italian cracked the Vuelta podium in 2023 but struggled to follow this up in 2024 while in the shadow of her more experienced compatriot Longo Borghini. Realini is likely to be the team's leader for the Vuelta and Giro, so we'll soon see if she has what it takes to lead this team in her own right.
With Longo Borghini gone, Shirin van Anrooij will become the team's leader in the Classics. After supporting the Italian to Tour of Flanders victory last year, I wouldn't bet against Van Anrooij claiming a major cobbled Classic victory herself in 2025. Lidl-Trek have recruited some strong helpers for these objectives, signing Emma Norsgaard and Anna Henderson. Both are experienced rouleurs, and in Norsgaard's case a former Omloop Het Nieuwsblad runner-up.
Outside of these realms, Lidl-Trek will lose one of its stalwarts at the end of the year. Lizzie Deignan has formally announced that 2025 will be her last season in the pro peloton. With veterans Lucinda Brand and Ellen van Dijk's contracts due to come to a close at the end of 2025, it'll be interesting to see if they stay with the team. In the case of time-trial aficionado Van Dijk, she might consider retiring after turning 38 next month.
Prediction: Van Anrooij wins a major cobbled Classic
Squad grade: A
Liv-AlUla-Jayco
Liv-AlUla-Jayco have already made quite the impression in 2025. With their new purple and grey look, the squad have already topped our list of the best WorldTour team kits. Will these new threads foster a boosted confidence in the Australian team?
Mavi García has had a good relationship with the Giro in previous years. It makes sense, therefore, for her to target the race again. A podium finish might be out of reach for the 41-year-old, but a top ten is certainly within her capabilities. That said, I'd also like to see the Spaniard morph into a breakaway expert in 2025. She's experienced and race-savvy so could hit the ground running if she's looking to capture stage wins instead of GC results.
Letizia Paternoster and Ruby Roseman-Gannon had breakthrough years on the road in 2024. The latter took her first WorldTour win at the Tour of Britain next to a Morrisons supermarket in Leigh. She also shone at the World Championships, finishing in sixth place after valiantly going in an early move. The Australian should be confident ahead of 2025 knowing that she could be up there on rolling profiles.
On the other hand, a couple of core riders have left Liv-AlUla-Jayco during the winter. Classics breakout star Ingvild Gåskjenn has headed over to Uno X while Alex Manly has opted for AG Insurance-Soudal. These losses will be felt, but I think the team have a strong enough lineup to steady the ship in 2025.
Prediction: Paternoster wins a Grand Tour stage
Squad grade: B-
Movistar
Movistar have had a tough time restructuring after the retirement of former World Champion and Tour de France Femmes winner Annemiek Van Vleuten in 2023. This, however, seems to have been parked to one side for 2025. The Spanish squad have made some interesting signings, seemingly targeting the Classics.
This change in direction is mostly in part due to the signing of Swiss time-triallist Marlen Reusser. The former Gent-Wevelgem victor has suffered a turbulent twelve months at SD Worx after a season spent recovering from countless injuries and illness. However, it seems as though she's ready to make her comeback in 2025.
She's shown a good aptitude at races like Omloop Het Nieuwsblad and the Tour of Flanders in the past while working for other leaders at SD Worx. With her own chances at glory in Movistar colours, she could make a big splash in her comeback season. The Classics is not her only area of expertise. She's a three-time European Champion against the clock. No time-trials are on offer at the 2025 Tour de France Femmes, but that shouldn't detract Reusser. She has a good shot of getting a stage win on Stage 5, which has an open profile favourable to smart solo moves.
British fans will be casting an eager eye on Movistar in 2025. Double junior World Champion Cat Ferguson has stepped onto the WorldTour after a successful season spent dabbling on the top-level as a stagiare. Her most impressive senior result came at the end of 2024 at the cobbled Classic Binche-Chimay-Binche. With this in mind, her fast sprinting legs and hardiness over the climbs and cobbles should maximise her chances in the spring Classics. However, she recently suffered a heavy crash at a cyclocross race in Belgium, so her recovery might not be complete by the time Omloop Het Nieuwsblad rolls around. With Reusser now on the team, the Swiss rider's Classics experience should grant the young Brit a good chance to learn from one of the greats of the current women's peloton.
Outside of these two, the German Liane Lippert has a good shot in the Classics. She's a strong puncheur with a good sprint on her. With this in mind, Flèche Wallonne and the opening stages of the Tour de France Femmes should be underlined in her diary.
Prediction: Reusser returns to winning ways and takes the Omloop title
Squad grade: B+
Roland
Roland are perhaps the most enigmatic team on the WorldTour. The Swiss team were very quiet in the off-season, keeping their roster a secret until January rolled around. While it's unknown whether six of their 2024 riders will receive an extension through to the new year, the team have rounded up six new names to join the team bound for relegation at the end of 2025.
Tamara Dronova-Balabolina is probably the team's most reliable name. She's a steady points scorer and a bit of an all-rounder. The Russian slipped inside the top ten of the Tour of Chongming Lake at the end of 2025, but I'm hesitant to say that she'll be cracking the top twenty overall at the Tour de France Femmes.
Looking further down the list, the team is fairly threadbare of relevant top names. The Cypriot champion Antri Christoforou will garner some attention thanks to her unique kit, but there aren't many others that catch my eye.
As mentioned, a number of riders have uncertain futures. Anna Kiesenhofer is one of the riders currently left in the unknown. To me, it would be a mistake to leave her out of the roster in 2025. The former Olympic champion is a well-known entity and a solid breakaway rider. She might not be a big points scorer, but she's someone to keep the Roland name at the forefront of our minds.
Prediction: Bottom ranked WorldTour team at the end of 2025
Squad grade: E
Team Picnic-PostNL
Picnic-PostNL have become real staples of the women's peloton in recent years. Steady in the UCI rankings and Grand Tour top tens, the team have been visible from start to finish over the past several seasons. Despite losing their flagship GC leader Juliette Labous, this status should remain the same in 2025. Packed with talent in the spring Classics and sprints, Picnic-PostNL have every right to be quietly confident coming into 2025.
One key signing over the winter is Italian climber Marta Cavalli. Leveraged as part of the deal for Labous, Cavalli enjoyed a fruitful set of seasons with FDJ-Suez despite a number of big crashes and injuries. The 2022 Flèche Wallonne winner spent most of 2024 recovering from a collision with a car in training, so her form is somewhat unknown. That said, she was right at the top of her game before those troubles took over. Her 2022 Grand Tour results aren't to be snubbed at either. If she makes a full comeback, she should carry Picnic-PostNL to a Giro and Tour top ten alongside her own Ardennes successes.
In the Classics, Pfeiffer Georgi has them covered. The British rider won Brugge De Panne in impressive fashion back in 2023 and a podium finish at Paris-Roubaix underlines her mitre on tough one-day courses. In 2025, she will be the team's top dog in Flanders and Roubaix once more, hoping for more top tens to add to her steadily growing palmarès.
As for the sprints, double Tour stage winner Charlotte Kool has them locked down. The Dutch sprinter was a force to be reckoned with in 2022 and 2023, so we can expect her to be right back to her best in 2025 with stage-winning objectives at races like the Simac Ladies Tour and the Tour of Britain. It's likely that she'll get a chance or two at the Tour de France Femmes this year on Stages 3 and 4, which should both end in a bunch sprint.
Prediction: Cavalli finishes inside the top five of the Giro Women
Squad grade: B
Team SD Worx-Protime
Despite their tactical chaos, SD Worx managed to top the UCI rankings quite handsomely in 2025. For the most part, this was down to three riders: Lotte Kopecky, Vollering and Lorena Wiebes. Two of these three will remain in the Dutch team's roster for 2025 with Vollering moving over to FDJ-Suez.
Now that Vollering has left, the emphasis will be placed on Kopecky to become the team's top talisman. The double World Champion took victories at Paris-Roubaix, the UAE Tour and Tour of Britain in 2024, demonstrating her status as one of the most versatile riders in the bunch. Her sprint is among the best in the pack and her resilience over rolling terrain and cobbles gives her a real edge over her competitors. No team wants to carry Kopecky to the line in fear of what she might throw at them.
As demonstrated by that win at the UAE Tour, the Belgian has made a huge step up in stage races. She can now climb alongside some of the best in the GC field as was shown at the Giro, where she finished runner-up behind Longo Borghini. Likewise, her podium finish at the 2023 Tour de France Femmes highlights a real potential in the general classification. It'll be interesting to see whether the team use her as Vollering's replacement at the Tour. Kopecky should have a couple of stages in her sights, but a fully fledged GC bid might be an interesting experiment to watch out for.
One obstacle to this leadership role could be the return of Anna Van Der Breggen. The Dutchwoman has decided to start racing again after three seasons spent in the SD Worx team car. She's familiar with the workings of the pro peloton, but it's unknown whether she'll be able to return to her dizzying form from the early 2020s.
In the sprints, the team should have no worries. As the best sprinter in recent years, Wiebes is sure to pick up heaps of wins across the board. She could diversify her portfolio and perhaps target Paris-Roubaix in 2025. Her results in gravel last year were promising, so it's certainly possible that her expertise could successfully translate in the flat cobbled races of northern France and Belgium.
Prediction: Kopecky wins Paris-Roubaix for a second time
Squad grade: A
Team Visma-Lease a Bike
Visma-Lease a Bike will be focussing on the Classics in 2025 courtesy of the evergreen Marianne Vos. Last year's maillot vert winner will undoubtedly go into the cobbled Classics as one of the favourites. That said, she'll be hoping to break her curse at Paris-Roubaix and add the cobblestone prize to her overflowing trophy cabinet.
Of course, Pauline Ferrand-Prévot will be the most anticipated storyline to follow at Visma-Lease a Bike this year. She is making her long-awaited return to the road after initially moving on from the discipline in 2020. She's been busy since then winning Olympic golds in mountain biking and world titles in several off-road disciplines. Ferrand-Prévot has stated that she wants to target Tour glory. Whether it's a GC bid or a stage win, Ferrand-Prévot will rightfully be a watched woman at the French race.
There are another couple of names to keep your eyes out for. Tour de l'Avenir champion Marion Bunel will ride her first season on the WorldTour with Visma next year. She rode a solid Tour de France Femmes, finishing in 17th place overall at the age of just 19. She might light up races like the UAE Tour and the Tour de Romandie in her first year at the WorldTour level. Elsewhere, young Slovak Viktória Chladoňová might be a name to keep on your radar. She podiumed the junior time-trial and road race at the World Championships in Zurich last autumn.
Despite losing out on renewing Riejanne Markus and Anna Henderson, the Dutch team have hedged their bets on experienced riders and young talents ready to burst onto the scene.
Prediction: Marianne Vos narrowly misses out on Paris-Roubaix victory
Squad grade: B+
UAE Team ADQ
UAE Team ADQ were quite cunning in the 2024/25 transfer market. After a few seasons spent without major results at the Grand Tours, they swept up a number of star riders, namely Italian champion Elisa Longo Borghini.
Without a doubt, the reigning Giro title holder will be the team leader in 2025. After winning her first Grand Tour in 2024, Longo Borghini should rightfully carry that confidence into the 2025 Tour de France and Giro d'Italia. Although she's never clicked with the Tour, the 2025 route suits her well. The opening two stages could see her contend for the maillot jaune, but Stage 6's crucial mountain stage looks perfectly suited to the Italian's strengths. A podium bid is very possible, but it'll be tough to topple Vollering. In that case, a second Giro crown is more achievable.
In the Classics, Longo Borghini will lead the team as well. They don't have the strongest support in the cobbles, but the likes of Karlijn Swinkels and Silvia Persico could pilot Longo Borghini towards a major Ardennes trophy in 2025. The maglia rosa winner has thrived before at the Tour of Flanders and Paris-Roubaix, winning in 2024 and 2022 respectively. Kopecky will be a fierce opponent there, but the new UAE Team ADQ leader has a solid chance of making the podium at these one-day events.
Elsewhere, keep an eye out for Irish rider Lara Gillespie. The track star has been building her road palmarès in recent years, scoring top tens in WorldTour sprints and major one-day races in the Benelux. She's made the jump up to the WorldTour team this year and could make a strong impression in 2025.
Prediction: Longo Borghini wins the UAE Tour
Squad grade: B
Uno-X Mobility
Founded in 2022, Norwegian team Uno X are one of the newest teams to appear on the WorldTour. Formed of mainly Nordic riders, the squad is another team on the brink of relegation from the WorldTour after finishing last season in 16th place in the UCI rankings.
That said, there are some glimpses of optimism. Anniina Ahtosalo became a real discovery in 2024. The 21-year-old Finnish rider had a strong spring Classics campaign, mostly focussed on smaller Belgian one-day races. She finished runner-up in Le Samyn before making her Grand Tour debut at the Tour de France Femmes. She had a strong start to the Grande Boucle, scoring a second place finish on the first stage. A victory against the clock at the under-23 European Championships also proved that she has a mighty engine. Perhaps 2025 will be the year we see her breakthrough at WorldTour Classics.
Speaking of the Classics, Uno X did manage to scoop up a top five finish at Gent-Wevelgem in 2024 courtesy of Italian rider Maria Giulia Confalonieri. She's a solid points scorer, having made it inside the top 100 of the UCI rankings each year for the past decade. Riders like her might be crucial to the team's survival at the top level.
Another key asset to fend off relegation could be Ingvild Gåskjenn. The Norwegian rider made it onto the podium of Amstel Gold after a strong Classics campaign. She carried this form over into the Vuelta where she managed to sprint inside the top ten on a handful of occasions. Although a big win might be a stretch, she'll certainly be one of the more visible riders in the red and yellow kit of Uno X in 2025.
Prediction: Ahtosalo makes the top five of Gent Wevelgem
Squad grade: D+
