In a reset of the Women's WorldTeams, the UCI have awarded 15 new licences for the 2024-2025 seasons, with AG Insurance-Soudal and Ceratizit-WNT Pro Cycling moving up to the top tier for the first time.
This season was the end of the first-ever promotion/relegation cycle for the Women's WorldTour, and there were 16 applicants for 15 Women's WorldTour licences available, with Laboral Kutxa-Fundación Euskadi missing out.
It is the first season that the women's teams face a relegation system as the sport's governing body introduced a new 'sporting' requirement, which adds together each team's UCI points across the 2022 and 2023 seasons.
This new points requirement is taken into consideration alongside the other four criteria: administrative, ethical, financial, and organisational.
Cyclingnews takes a closer look at the 15 Women's WorldTeams for 2024.
AG Insurance-Soudal
- Best signing: Sarah Gigante
- Rider to watch: Ashleigh Moolman-Pasio
- Notable addition: Kimberley Le Court, Julie Van de Velde
AG Insurance-Soudal have secured one of the coveted 15 WorldTeam licences for the 2024-2025 seasons, a goal for the team since its inception. The team offer a three-tier program, a development pathway from under-19 to its under-23 to the new WorldTeam.
There are three new signings in 2024, with Julie Van de Velde joining the team from Fenix-Deceuninck and multi-time African Continental Champion Kimberley Le Court. A last-minute decision saw the team secure Sarah Gigante, who mutually agreed to end her contract with Movistar early. The Australian brings her powerful time trial and climbing strengths to the squad, and should shine in the mountainous stage races.
Ashleigh Moolman-Pasio, who intended to retire last year, made a decision to lead the AG Insurance-Soudal-QuickStep. In what has been one of her best career moves, Moolman-Pasio has reignited her drive to succeed with wins at Tour de Romandie, Setmana Valenciana, Durango Emakumeen Saria, Tour Féminin International des Pyrénées, top-10s in the Ardennes Classics, third overall at Vuelta a Burgos and sixth overall at the Tour de France Femmes.
Watch for Moolman-Pasio to help develop talent across the three AG Insurance-Soudal programmes in 2024.
Canyon-SRAM Racing
- Best signing: Zoe Bäckstedt
- Riders to watch: Ricarda Bauernfeind, Antonia Niedermaier
- Notable addition: Justyna Czapla
Entering a fifth season on the Women’s WorldTour, Canyon-SRAM Racing continues with a solid roster of veterans - Kasia Niewiadoma, Elise Chabbey and even Chloe Dygert. Next season, look for a surge from a flock of young talent, as nine of the 15 riders start the season at 23 years of age or younger. The German duo of Antonia Niedermeier, 20, and Ricarda Bauernfeind, 23, who graduated to the WorldTour last year from the team’s development squad, wasted no time in making impressions and are expected to do more.
Bauernfeind became the youngest stage winner of the Tour de France Femmes with a solo victory on the third day of racing last year. Niedermeier attacked late on stage 5 of the Giro d’Italia Donne and held off Annemiek van Vleuten (Movistar) for the victory. Furthemore, Niedermaier won two time trials in 2023, including the German U23 title, while Bauernfeind climbed her way to sixth overall at Tour de Romandie Féminin. They are a formidable duo.
The most recent call-up from the Canyon-SRAM Generation squad is another young German, Justyna Czapla. The teenager, who turns 20 in January, captured seven top 10s last year, including a bronze medal at nationals in the women’s U23 ITT. She has already embraced the longer distances of elite courses, noting that her eighth place at the 126.9km reVolta UCI 1.1 race was her biggest highlight. Expect her to shine in a support role this year.
Zoe Bäckstedt, also just 19, was one of the big signings for the German WorldTeam in advance of the 2024 season. She has already won Junior World Championship titles on the track, in cyclocross and on the road, winning both the women’s junior ITT and road race rainbow jerseys in 2022. So when EF Education-TIBCO-SVB folded in 2023, Canyon-SRAM signed her for three years, beginning in September last year and she impressed with fifth overall at Simac Ladies Tour.
Ceratizit-WNT
- Best signing: Marta Jaskulska
- Rider to watch: Marta Lach
- Notable addition: Cédrine Kerbaol
Previously performing on the Continental level for the past four seasons, Ceratizit-WNT Pro Cycling finished 2023 as the 10th best team in the world rankings and earned one of two Women’s WorldTour berths available for the next two seasons. Marta Lach anchors a core roster of 14 returning riders, with only Marta Jaskulska the only new addition.
Lach, still only 26, will ride a fourth year with the German team. She finished with a flourish this year, winning back-to-back one-day races at La Choralis Fourmies Féminine and Grisette Grand Prix de Wallonie, which followed a second and fourth place at two other French one-day events. She compiled 21 top 20s, including a stage win at Bretagne Ladies Tour.
French time trial champion Cédrine Kerbaol was the biggest addition to the team this past season and will continue to develop at just 22 years of age. Early in the season she won a stage and the GC title at tour de Normandie Féminin, scored top 10s in three more stage races and rode into the best young rider jersey on her first appearance at the Tour de France Femmes. At that race she proved she could climb with the best and was aggressive across all types of terrain.
Newcomer Jaskulska raced four seasons with the Liv programme. At 23, the Polish rider has three ITT bronze medals in her national championships, finishing behind teammate Lach the last two seasons. She performs well in one-day races, with top 15s at Classic Brugge-De Panne and Dwars door Vlaanderen in 2023, and adds depth to a young team of all riders in their 20s who are out to prove they belong at the top tier.
Team dsm-firmenich PostNL
- Best signing: Rachele Barbieri
- Riders to watch: Juliette Labous, Charlotte Kool
- Notable addition: Josie Nelson
Team dsm-firmenich PostNL have built a squad around the development and success of French rider Juliette Labous, who has a focus on the hilly one-day events and mountainous stages races.
Labous has continually shown progress in the high-altitude mountain climbs, time trials, and explosiveness in one-day races, along with a tactical skill that keeps her in contention for stage wins and top places in the general classification at the biggest races. The team also has a winning wildcard in Pfeiffer Georgi.
The team has added young climbing talent in recent years with Maeve Plouffe, Eglantine Rayer, Anna van der Meiden and Nienke Vinke.
The other main focus for the team centres around sprinter Charlotte Kool, who spent her first season at Team dsm-firmenich under the guidance of Lorena Wiebes before her compatriot transferred to SD Worx and became one of her biggest rivals.
The team have increased support for Kool in the sprints by bringing Rachele Barbieri on board. The Italian sprinter joins the team from Liv Racing-TeqFind but has ample experience to offer in the biggest races.
Kool missed out on a coveted stage win at the Tour de France Femmes, but with Barbieri joining her sprint team alongside Franziska Koch, Megan Jastrab and Georgi, her chances of capturing that win have increased.
FDJ-SUEZ
- Best signing: Amber Kraak
- Riders to watch: Marta Cavalli, Cecilie Uttrup Ludwig
- Notable addition: Lauren Molengraaf
FDJ-Suez had their most-ever wins in a season in 2023 with 19 wins, but couldn't quite match their victories at the biggest races from the year before.
Star climber and GC hope Marta Cavalli still felt the effects of her brutal crash at the inaugural Tour de France Femmes in the early part of the season but showed signs of returning to her best. She'll look to get back to the Amstel Gold Race and La Flèche Wallone winning form from 2022 and at only 25 has more than enough time to do so next season.
The French side maintains one of the peloton's most popular top riders, Cecilie Uttrup Ludwig, who took more thrilling wins at the Tour of Scandinavia and finished in the top seven at the Tour de France Femmes and Giro d'Italia Donne.
They will likely share leadership at Grand Tours and the hillier Classics in 2024, but also have Grace Brown who can feature on a range of parcours and took the most wins of her career. This included three at WorldTour level and she remains one of the best individual time trial riders in the world. Loes Adegeest also added another dimension to their attack, taking her brilliance in Esports cycling to the road at the Cadel Evans Great Ocean Road Race with victory there.
They have lost experience in Emilia Fahlin to Arkea-B&B Hotels and sprinter Clara Copponi to Lidl-trek, but have brought in a mix of youth talent in Lauren Molengraaf and Léa Curinier, alongside proven experience in Coralie Demay. Amber Kraak was another solid pickup from Jumbo-Visma and should help Uttrup Ludwig and Cavalli at the Ardennes Classics and Grand Tours.
Fenix-Deceuninck
- Best signing: Pauliena Rooijakkers
- Riders to watch: Yara Kastelijn, Julie De Wilde
- Breakthrough star: Christina Schweinberger
Fenix-Deceuninck made quite the step up in 2023 during their first year at World Tour level, and there's no reason to believe 2024 won't be more of the same.
Riders found new heights as the team stepped up to the sport's top division and the Belgian team lived with the big names of SD Worx and Lidl-Trek at the Tour de France femmes.
They took an incredible stage victory through Yara Kastelijn and came close to another with Julie Van de Velde getting agonisingly close to the finish line on stage 3 only to be caught by the sprinting peloton. Nonetheless, they punched well above their weight and also fought hard to be in the Queen of the Mountains jersey for the opening few stages.
The Tour wasn't their only highlight, as Austria's Christina Schweinberger established herself as a consistent top-ten rider on most parcours. She was excellent in the spring Classics and came top-eight in Omloop Het Nieuwsblad, Brugge de Panne and Gent Wevelgem.
She continued this into the summer with fifth on a stage of the Tour and two incredible performances at the World Championships in Scotland to take third in the time trial and fifth in the road race.
With herself and Kastelijn leading a young squad that also includes talents such as multi-discipline star Puck Pieterse, with the added experience of Pauliena Rooijakkers, Fenix-Deceuninck should be well watched out for.
Human Powered Health
- Best signing: Krista Doebel-Hickok
- Rider to watch: Audrey Cordon-Ragot
- Notable addition: Yuliia Biriukova
In their second season as a Women’s WorldTour team, the Human Powered Health squad improved 13 spots in the year-end UCI team rankings from the inaugural jump to the top tier. The boost was in large part due to some notable success for Polish rider Daria Pikulik, who had a stage victory at Santos Tour Down Under, a one-day win at Konvert Koerse and made her GC title at the Tour of Guangxi in October the icing on the cake for the season.
Two veterans will provide GC leadership for the team this year, notably Audrey Cordon-Ragot and also Ruth Edwards. They allow the team to give Pikulik room to continue to develop.
A two-time US national champion, Edwards is a wild card, having stepped away from a decorated road career in 2021 and built endurance at off-road events, including second place at Leadville MTB 100. The eight-time French champion had an unsettled start to her 2023, but settled in at HPH in April this past season. A now-stable environment, and an Olympic Games year in her home nation, gives Cordon-Ragot huge incentives to perform at her best.
Fellow US rider Krista Doebel-Hickok is one of nine new riders on the squad for 2024, and she should make an immediate impact. The California native is a pure climber who won the Tour Féminin des Pyrénées in 2022 and has ridden well on mountain stages at the Tour de France Femmes and Giro d’Italia Donne. She will pack a formidable 1-2 punch when racing with Edwards, but also with WorldTour debutante Yuliia Biriukova.
Biriukova will add options for attacking on mountainous terrain. The 25-year-old Ukranian has already notched a stage victory in the 2022 Thüringen Ladies Tour, had podiums in the Tour des Pyrénées and in 2023, while part of the UAE Development Team, won the Gran Premio Ciudad de Eibar.
Lidl-Trek
- Returning to the peloton: Ellen van Dijk
- Rider to watch: Elisa Longo Borghini, Lizzie Deignan, Elisa Balsamo
- Notable additions: Isabella Holmgren, Ava Holmgren, Izzy Sharp, Fleur Moors, Felicity Wilson-Haffenden
Lidl-Trek has made one of the biggest pushes in development, signing junior mountain bike and cyclocross World Champion Isabella Holmgren and sister Ava Holmgren, junior women’s time trial Worlds silver medalist Izzy Sharp, junior women's road race Worlds bronze medallist Fleur Moors, and junior time trial World Champion Felicity Wilson-Haffenden to the team starting in 2024.
While the future of the team is looking bright, Lidl-Trek will likely focus on leaders Elisa Longo Borghini and Lizzie Deignan across the biggest one-day races and stage races. Ellen van Dijk will also return to the peloton after taking time from the sport on maternity leave but will focus her time trial talents on the Olympic Games.
Joining the team this year is Clara Copponi from FDJ-SUEZ. She adds sprint power to the team and is sure to support Elisa Balsamo on flatter terrain but also in stages at races like the Giro d'Italia Women and Tour de France Femmes.
If there were ever a team that could rival SD Worx, it is Lidl-Trek, stacked with such a wide range of talent, including Gaia Realini, Lucinda Brand, and Shirin van Anrooij, among others; watch for this team to shake up the SD Worx racing narrative in 2024.
Liv-AlUla Jayco
- Best signing: Mavi García
- Rider to watch: Ruby Roseman-Gannon
- Notable addition: Ella Wyllie
The Australian team Jayco AlUla announced in July they would merge with Liv Racing-Teqfind and race in 2024 as Liv-AlUla. Both squads had similar seasons, Jayco finishing 15th in the UCI World rankings and Liv Racing at 17th. The core of the squad returns with a trio of Australian talent - Georgia Baker, Alex Manly and Ruby Roseman-Gannon.
Last season’s best individual performer was Ruby Roseman-Gannon, who ignited the year in January with the GC victory at Bay Crits, fourth overall at Santos Tour Down Under, and then had five top 20s at spring Classics in Europe, including fifth at Dwars door Vlaanderen. She continued with strong stage racing performances and should prove to be a key asset for the team’s newest signing, Mavi García.
Five-time Spanish champion García provides GC strength for any stage race, having a pair of GC top 10s at the Giro d’Italia Donne in the last two seasons, including third overall in 2022. A proven climber, she will have four teammates in tow from her Liv season last year - Jeanne Korevaar, Silke Smulders, Quinty Ton, and Caroline Andersson - so she won’t really feel like she’s on a new team.
New Zealander Ella Wyllie is a 21-year-old rising talent, who was third at last year’s Navarra Women’s Elite Classic one-day race and second overall in the youth classification at both the Santos Tour Down Under (with eighth on GC) and the Tour de France Femmes. She rode at the Continental level for Lifeplus Wahoo last year and will be a key support rider on any climbing stages for García.
Movistar
- Best signing: Olivia Baril
- Rider to watch: Liane Lippert, Emma Norsgaard
- Notable addition: Claire Steels
Nothing can prepare a team for the departure of one of the sport's icons in Annemiek van Vleuten, but that is the situation now presented to Movistar. The Dutch superstar has said goodbye after three great years on the Spanish team and they will now have work on their hands to fill the void of results left by her retirement.
Van Vleuten won both the Giro and Vuelta in her final season and it would be wrong to expect the team to immediately replicate it, however, at the Tour de France Femmes it was her teammates who stepped up. Liane Lippert took her first WorldTour victory in three years on stage 2, before Emma Norsgaard doubled the team's success with a breakaway triumph on stage 6.
Lippert will be key in 2024 and should lead the team in the Classics and Grand Tours, but she'll have the added support of new signings Claire Steels and Olivia Baril from Israel-Premier Tech Roland and UAE Team ADQ respectively.
Baril in particular is a great pickup for their GC ambitions having finished in the top six overall of both Itzulia Women and the Tour of Scandinavia, and at only 26 still has lots of roo to develop further.
The Spanish squad also invested in youth with the signing of Spanish twins Laura and Lucia Ruiz Pérez from Eneicat-CMTeam-Seguros Deportivos and bringing in British talent Cat Ferguson. The latter won't join the squad until August after turning 18 in April before her first full WorldTour season begins in 2025.
Roland Cycling
- Best signing: Sylvie Swinkels
- Rider to watch: Tamara Dronova-Balabolina
- Notable addition: Maggie Coles-Lyster
The Swiss team rolls along for a seventh season and in 2024 has a third name change across three years on the WorldTour level. As Israel Premier Tech Roland last year, the 12th-ranked women’s team in the World had consistent performances from six riders to rise six spots from the year before.
Gone to Movistar is Claire Steels, who was the top performer for the squad last year, but not far behind was Tamara Dronova-Balabolina. The 30-year-old can power across all types of hilly terrain on one-day races and never seems to falter in stage races. She finished on the podium on four of five days at Ruta del Sol late in the spring and was third on GC. Late in the season she finished sixth at Tre Valli Varesine women’s race.
It’s an Olympic year and Canadian Maggie Coles-Lyster has aspirations on the track, but she should be able to contribute with her first full season at Roland Cycling, and one without distractions from the collapse of B&B Hotels and then more turmoil with Zaaf Cycling. That is all in the past and the strong sprinter will look to continue strong results on the road, having finished fourth at Tour of Guangxi.
WorldTour and team rookie Sylvie Swinkels is just 23, but already has five seasons of racing. The Dutch rider adds depth to the sprints for flat stages and one-day races, and can attack for her own opportunities, such as Clasica de Almeria where she was in the bunch for 10th.
Team SD Worx
- Returning to the peloton: Chantal van den Broek-Blaak
- Riders to watch: Demi Vollering, Lotte Kopecky, Lorena Wiebes
- Notable addition: Femke Gerritse
The most powerful team in women's cycling, SD Worx, have a range of winning talent across one-day races and Spring Classics, time trials, flat to mountainous terrain and stage races with which to choose on any given event across the WorldTour season.
Notably returning to the peloton this year is former World Champion Chantal van den Broek-Blaak, who has taken time away from the sport on maternity leave. The Dutch rider is one of the most prolific winners in the Spring Classics, having secured titles at Amstel Gold Race, Strade Bianche, Gent-Wevelgem, Ronde van Drenthe, Omloop Het Niewsblad and Tour of Flanders. Watch for her to boost the team's already hugely successful Classics squad.
The team also relies heavily on their three top riders: Tour de France winner Demi Vollering, World Champion Lotte Kopecky and world's top sprinter Lorena Wiebes. It will be a top priority for the team to win a second consecutive Tour de France title but Kopecky will aim to strengthen her own wild-card role in the one-day races and stage races wearing the rainbow jersey as well as place a focus on road and track racing at the Olympic Games. Lorena Wiebes will dominate the sprints, but watch as she continues to evolve into a major player (and a winner) in the hilly one-day races and stage races alike.
The team's roster is largely the same as last year, with just one new signing, Femke Gerritse, who joins the team from Parkhotel Valkenburg. The 22-year-old will add to the team's climbing strengths in hilly and mountainous stage races, joining the team's other developing riders Anna Shackley, and Niamh Fisher-Black.
Visma-Lease a Bike
- Best signing: Margaux Vigie
- Riders to watch: Marianne Vos, Riejanne Markus and Anna Henderson
- Notable addition: Lieke Nooijen
The Dutch team will have a new feel in 2024 with a new name, new roster and new management setup. They lacked victories at the biggest races aside from the inaugural Vuelta Femenina where they won three stages - the opening team time trial and two sprints with Marianne Vos.
Vos couldn't reach her top level consistently as she struggled with worsening pain and a lack of power in her left leg due to a pinched iliac artery. She had surgery twice in 2023 to address the issue.
This isn't to say Vos was far off the success that has seen her become the most successful rider of all time, only missing out on stage wins at the Giro and Tour de France Femmes behind Lorena Wiebes and Chiara Consonni. So even at 36, expect Vos to be strong.
Aside from her, the team will rely on Riejanne Markus as their leader at the Tour de France Femmes and hill classics, with Anna Henderson playing a big role in the Spring Classics. The Brit was brilliant against the clock in 2023 without taking a win, but did enjoy time in the red jersey at the Vuelta.
With the three established leaders, Visma-Lease a Bike have invested long-term into their cyclocross star Fem van Empel. The 21-year-old is already World Champion and is so far undefeated in the cross field this season. Expect her to make another step up on the road in 2024 after taking a win at the Tour de l'Avenir and showing signs of strength at the Giro and Tour de Romandie.
They've lost three riders to EF Education-Cannondale in Noemi Rüegg, Kim Cadzow and Coryn Labecki, but have kept their three main leaders. Margaux Vigie was a strong Classics rider at LifePlus Wahoo and should work well with Henderson and Vos on the cobbles. Lieke Nooijen and Mijntje Geurts have also been brought in to bolster the young talent.
UAE Team ADQ
- Best signing: Dominika Wlodarczyk
- Rider to watch: Silvia Persico
- Notable addition: Chiara Consonni
Silvia Persico returns as the leader of UAE Team ADQ for a second season having posted a steady string of top results last year, including a signature win at De Brabantse Pijl in April. At the UAE Tour Women, an important home race for her team, she finished third overall. She was eighth overall at the Tour de France Femmes and fifth overall at Tour de Romandie before taking the silver medal at the UCI Gravel World Championships to showcase her talents.
Added to the squad in 2023 was fellow Italian Chiara Consonni, who had been teammates with Persico at Valcar-Travel & Service for five years and the duo created a stellar 1-2 punch.
The 24-year-old dazzled for the UAE squad, taking three podiums at spring Classics, including third at Scheldeprijs and a win at Trofee Maarten Wynants, and then was a game changer with a victory on the final stage at the Giro d’Italia Donne. She finished strong with GC at Tour of Chongming Island and second at the one-day Tour of Guangxi.
There are four new riders in 2023 - Anastasia Carbonari, Tereza Neumanova, Karlijn Swinkels and Dominika Wlodarczyk, who is the youngest at 22. Watch out for the young Polish rider who compiled a staggering 25 top 10s with a Continental squad last season. Wlodarczyk won a stage and the overall at the under-23 Watersley Womens Challenge, plus she took first or second GC places in three other stage races. At the 1.1 GP du Morbihan Femmes, she finished third behind Grace Brown and Cédrine Kerboal. She has noted all-around abilities and is a rising star.
Uno-X Mobility
- Best signing: Simone Boilard
- Rider to watch: Anniina Ahtosalo
- Notable addition: Katrine Aalerud
Uno-X have maintained their status as a WorldTour team for 2024 which will be their third year in the top division. They took their first pro win through Amalie Dideriksen at the GP Eco-Struct, adding to their four national titles claimed in 2023.
Anouska Koster was a consistent performer and came close to a stage win at the Tour de France Femmes on stage 4 after enjoying a stint in the Queen of the Mountains jersey.
The former World Champion should play a big part in the Norwegian side's hope to maintain their WorldTour status again in 2024 and compete for even bigger races, alongside the experienced Maria Giulia Confalonieri and their great young talent Anniina Ahtosalo.
The young Finn Ahtosalo is one of the most promising riders in the women's peloton and finished in the top ten of WorldTour level sprint stages throughout last season, perhaps best showing her strength with a podium finish at Binche Chimay Binche pour Dames. She's both the national time trial and road race champion in Finland and at 20 has lots more to give with her long-term future secured at Uno-X Mobility until 2027.
New signings in Katrine Aalerud and Simone Boilard should also bolster the squad throughout the year with the former working well for teammates during her stint at Movistar and the latter still having lots of room to develop at only 23 years old. They've also brought in Teuntje Beekhuis from Jumbo-Visma and 19-year-old Danish rider Solbjørk Minke Anderson.
