Zoe Bäckstedt is in the best road racing form of her life. The 21-year-old is no stranger to being at the front of bike races and podiums, being a WorldTour winner, a national champion, and a junior and under-23 world champion, but this April she seems a level above.

In her 16 one-day WorldTour races up to this month, Backstedt's best finished was 15th at last year's Paris-Roubaix Femmes. No bad thing for someone in her development phase. But this year there has been a marked improvement. At Dwars door Vlaanderen, Bäckstedt finished fourth, before fifth place at the Tour of Flanders last Sunday, her best ever result in a Monument.

There, she was narrowly beaten to fourth by former world champion Lotte Kopecky, who has won the race three times, in the second group behind solo winner Demi Vollering. It was an incredibly impressive ride for the 21-year-old Backstedt, holding her own in an elite group of favourites including Tour de France Femmes winners Vollering and Pauline Ferrand-Prévot.

"I was really proud of myself for the ride that I did," she tells Cycling Weekly in the lobby of her team hotel in the hinterland of the Belgian, Franch border. "It was definitely the best day that I've ever had on the bike. The confidence I also had in myself, especially being at the front of the bike race on the Koppenberg, I was like ‘I could do something here’. I have to be really happy with this but hungry for more."

"Before the [Oude] Kwaremont, I was thinking I'm good, I'm gonna boss this," The Red Bull rider continues. "Then I got to it, and I was like: ‘Oh no, this is not going the way I planned’. You look up and it's like, cobbles and cobbles. There were a lot of emotions going through my mind, but it was mostly keep fighting, try and get to this wheel, try and stay with that wheel. You have so much going on, but you have nothing in your mind."

Fortunately, the opportunity for her hunger to be sated comes just a week after, with Paris-Roubaix Femmes taking place on Sunday, with its 20 cobbled sectors over 143.1km. For Bäckstedt, this opportunity is all the more special because it's Roubaix, her favourite race, one that suits her skillset almost perfectly, and also the race which her father, Magnus, won in 2004.

"I would say this is what my cyclo-cross season and spring lead towards," Bäckstedt says, her energy and enthusiasm for the 'Hell of the North' clear. "After the race, I basically start my off season this weekend. It's the build up to the end of my season. I can go all in for that last one, and then take a breather and recharge, I can just go 100% full gas for this one.

"I've got nothing else for a while. So it's nice that I can just, I can be completely empty on the finish line."

Sunday will be Bäckstedt's fourth Paris-Roubaix, having ridden every edition since she turned pro with EF Education-TIBCO-SVB in 2023. The only two she missed out on happened before she turned 18, which is a good excuse for not being there.

"The first year I was obviously in the team with Alison Jackson when she won [2023]," Bäckstedt recalls. "That was my first Roubaix, and then to be in the team that won in the end was a super cool feeling in itself. Then in '24 I was on Canyon and I had my dad in the team car for the 20 year anniversary of his win. That brought another special aspect to it.

"Last year, I had super good form, and I felt really good going into the race, and everything had panned out. Now, after Flanders, the legs have told me that they're good. They just need to be the same on the weekend."

The legs might be good, but there is so much of what happens at Roubaix is down to experience, luck, and positioning, two of which the Welshwoman has been working on.

"It's absolutely brutal, it's possible to get massive blisters on your hands, and then it's a lot about luck," she explains. "It's a race where you have 26 plans, every single letter of the alphabet has got a plan to it, almost. If you have a puncture, you ride it until you can't ride it anymore."

"In the first edition, I was there almost to make up numbers a little bit, just to experience the race," Bäckstedt continues. "Now I'm here as a rider and I want to be in the front group. I want to be there when the big riders get going, when it kicks off. It's a very big change, but I'm excited for it."

Being in the right place at the right time is part of what makes a successful Paris-Roubaix, and is what helped her to her stand-out result at Flanders, too.

"It's about positioning," she says. "It's about being out of trouble. If you're at the front, if you're in the first five, then you only have four possibilities for someone to crash. If you're hundredth, then you have 99 people in front of you that can crash. I just have confidence in myself, that I know what I'm doing, that I can do these races. I can be at the front, and I'm worthy of being at the front."

In the absence of Kasia Niewiadoma-Phinney after her crash at Milan-San Remo, Bäckstedt was her team's leader at Flanders; the same role would be expected at Roubaix, despite the presence of former world time trial champion Chloé Dygert.

"I'm hoping that I will be the leader for the weekend," she says, diplomatically. "I've expressed enough how much I like this race, and how much I want to do well in this race, and I think the team believes that I can do well. It would be really nice to have their support on the weekend."

Despite having a fast finish, she is clear how she would rather win the cobbled Classic: "If you're on your own, then you have so many less things to worry about, to think about, whereas if you're in a sprint, anything could happen. It's the motto of this race."

While many riders fear Roubaix and the cobbles, one gets the impression that Bäckstedt savours it; it feels like the race is in her blood, and that she enjoys the suffering that it brings.

"I'm not really the kind of person that wants to go double bar tape or fully wrapped," she explains of her setup. "I quite like the feeling of having the exposed carbon as well. It can be quite cooling on your fingers, especially when you're riding your fingers get super tense. I'm not also one of the ones that goes tape on the wrist, tape on the fingers, that kind of stuff. No gloves, regular bar tape. Just ride the bike."

Just ride the bike. That might well be her motto at the race where anything can happen. Just keep riding, and an even more special result than last Sunday might well come.

The 2026 season is well underway, with two Women's WorldTour races already completed, the Tour Down Under and the UAE Tour.

As the racing switches to Europe, it's time to look at the teams, the key riders, and the races to watch across an engrossing season. Everything is building up to a fifth Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift in August, but there is so much more before then.

Here is our team-by-team guide to the Women's WorldTour, and the moments of the season to anticipate.

This feature originally appeared in Cycling Weekly magazine on 5 February 2026. Subscribe now and never miss an issue.

Teams

AG Insurance-Soudal
Belgium
2025 WorldTour wins: 5
Team leaders: Kim Le Court and Sarah Gigante
Team boss: Jurgen Foré
Raison d’être: Providing a solid platform for Le Court and Gigante to fly from

This was a winter of continuity for AG Insurance-Soudal, with two riders leaving and only one, Letizia Borghesi, joining. It means 2026 looks very similar to 2025, but with the hindsight of what happened last season, we can expect them to deliver more regularly.

Kim Le Court was far from an unknown, having won a stage of the Giro d’Italia Women in 2024, but last year was her breakout, with wins at Liège-Bastogne-Liège, the Tour of Britain Women and, the biggest, the Tour de France Femmes. Her teammate Sarah Gigante finished on the podium at the Giro and sixth at the Tour.

This pair will continue to lead the team, alongside Urška Žigart and Justine Ghekiere, both of whom have big results in them.

Canyon-SRAM zondacrypto
Germany
2025 WorldTour wins: 2
Team leader: Kasia Niewiadoma Phinney
Team boss: Ronny Lauke
Raison d’etre: Challenge again for the top step of the Tour de France Femmes

It was always going to be a big ask for Kasia Niewiadoma to defend her Tour de France Femmes title in 2025, especially with the return of Pauline Ferrand-Prévot at Visma-Lease a Bike and renewed hunger of Demi Vollering at FDJ-SUEZ, so to hold on to the final podium place in the end felt like a job well done. Never one to settle, the Polish rider and her team will be hoping to win back the yellow jersey this summer, but also pick up a few more victories along the way.

Although Canyon-SRAM zondacrypto won 15 times last season – their highest tally since 2019, and a marked improvement from six in 2024 – only two of those victories came on the WorldTour: one thanks to Chloé Dygert at the Tour Down Under, and the other signed by Zoe Bäckstedt at the Simac Ladies Tour.

The team will no doubt call on the two time trial sensations again in 2026. Already, Dygert has come out with fighting talk. “I’m sick of losing,” she said ahead of January’s Tour Down Under, “so this year, I’m really focusing on making sure it doesn’t happen much.” Unfortunately for the American, she left Australia with 12 stitches in her leg, and is now eyeing a period of recovery before the Classics.

There have been no new signings at Canyon-SRAM zondacrypto over the winter, and only two outgoings: Tour stage winner Ricarda Bauernfiend has found a new home at Lidl-Trek, while former British champion Alice Towers has moved to EF Education-Oatly. The effervescent Cecilie Uttrup Ludwig and budding climber Neve Bradbury remain among the most exciting riders in the team. Italian sprinter Chiara Consonni will be there for the flatter days.

EF Education-Oatly
USA
2025 WorldTour wins: 2
Team leader: Noemi Rüegg and Cédrine Kerbaol
Team boss: Esra Tromp
Raison d’être: Keeping the good vibes going at a young team full of talent

New to the Women’s WorldTour, EF Education-Oatly had the perfect start to their season, by winning the Tour Down Under for the second year in a row through Noemi Rüegg.

However, those were the team’s last WorldTour victories in 2025, so it is a low bar to clear for this season. In Rüegg and Cédrine Kerbaol they have two riders who were often at the front of races last year. The team stand out in pink, and also because they have the rainbow jersey, through Magdeleine Vallieres.

Kristen Faulkner, Olympic champion, will want more than her one win last year, while there has been an injection of youth to keep the American squad ticking over. No more Alison Jackson.

FDJ United-Suez
France
2025 WorldTour wins: 11
Team leader: Demi Vollering
Team boss: Stephen Delcourt
Raison d’être: To win the Tour de France Femmes and remain the world's top-ranked team

When the Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift was first announced, team manager Stephen Delcourt dreamed of winning it, building the team with that ambition in the front of his mind. Only six years ago the team was one of the also-ran squads, but since Évita Muzic won the closing stage of the 2020 Giro Rosa, their first WorldTour win, they’ve been on the rise. Last season they brought in defending Tour champion Demi Vollering hoping the yellow jersey ambition might be realised but, while she came close, second place was all the team could manage.

FDJ dominated the first half of last season. Vollering quickly repaid Delcourt's faith, blossoming into a fine leader, starting the year with victory in the four-day Comunitat Velenciana, then winning Strade Bianche, the Vuelta Femenina, Itzulia Women and the Volta Catalunya. They were far from a one-woman band; fellow new recruit Elise Chabbey and Ally Wollaston contributed multiple victories, helping the French team to top spot in the UCI rankings.

That said, they have fewer riders this year, but have recruited well, with German champion Frazinska Koch the pick of the new additions. A hugely versatile Classics rider and domestique, she will contribute widely, while Eva van Agt is a proven helper and Sofia Bertizzolo has been a target for the team for years now. It will be interesting to see how Scotswoman Lauren Dickson fares in only her third year in the sport. The signs are promising: she finished 17th on GC at the recent Tour Down Under, helping Wollaston to two stage wins and brilliant team performance.

Fenix-Premier Tech
Belgium
2025 WorldTour wins: 1
Team leader: Puck Pieterse
Team boss: Philip Roodhooft
Raison d'être: Big Classics victories

Fenix-Premier Tech are among the minority of Women's WorldTour teams to have more riders this year than last, starting 2026 with 19 of the permitted 22 riders. An interesting mix of cyclo-cross and Classics riders, they have never been prolific winners. Last season they took only five, though three of those were national championships.

When they do win, they win big, with stages in the Tour de France Femmes on the team palmarès. The hugely talented and versatile Puck Pieterse is always among the action, finishing in the top 10 in every one of last year's spring Classics and winning La Flèche Wallonne. Charlotte Kool joined the squad mid-season last year and should she regain her mojo will provide genuine winning potential in the sprints.

Lidl-Trek
Germany
2025 WorldTour wins: 5
Team leader: Elisa Balsamo and Niamh Fisher-Black
Team boss: Luca Guercilena
Raison d’être: Getting the big signings to deliver

There’s a lot of talent stockpiled at Lidl-Trek, and getting it to fire is the main goal of the team for 2026. Ellen van Dijk and Lizzie Deignan retiring could have unbalanced another team, but this one was prepared for this eventuality already, making the big changes ahead of 2025. As it is, the German squad’s signings this winter have largely been dealing with domestique reorganisation, and providing some experience to a developing roster.

Last season saw success through the year, although perhaps not quite at the level that was expected, with fewer WorldTour wins than 2024. However, there were stage victories at the Vuelta España Femenina and the Giro d’Italia Women, with Anna Henderson’s result in the latter perhaps spurring her on to more consistent success, and Elisa Balsamo won the Trofeo Alfredo Binda.

Niamh Fisher-Black and Riejanne Markus, both signed as general classification options, performed impressively at stage races, with Fisher-Black fifth at the Tour de France Femmes and sixth at the Vuelta. This year, they will aim to cement their places in the top five at WorldTour stage events, especially the Grand Tours. Fisher-Black has a lot of promise, and is still only 25, so one feels that there is a breakout performance still to come.

In the Classics, Balsamo has the abilities to overcome almost anyone, therefore just needs the race to fall in her favour, while she will be ably backed up by Clara Copponi, Emma Norsgaard, Shirin van Anrooij and Henderson, which has the makings of a pretty good collection of leaders for the chaos of one-day racing. The team still has four 20-year-olds, too, including Isabella Holmgren, who finished eight at last year’s Giro, so there is a lot of hope for the future.

Movistar
Spain
2025 WorldTour wins: 10
Team leader: Marlen Reusser
Team boss: Sebastián Unzué
Raison d’etre: Win regularly and develop young talent

Only four teams won more races than Movistar in 2025 – SD Worx-Protime, UAE Team ADQ, FDJ-SUEZ and Visma-Lease a Bike – putting the Spanish squad just outside of the realm of the super-teams. Of Movistar’s 10 victories at WorldTour level, seven came courtesy of the world time trial champion Marlen Reusser. And that doesn’t account for the Swiss rider’s status as one of the peloton’s best GC contenders; she finished runner-up at both the Vuelta Femenina and the Giro last year.

Movistar will also look to British prodigy Cat Ferguson for wins in 2026, one of a handful of talented teenagers in the squad. The youngest is Spaniard Paula Ostiz, the junior world and European road champion, who turned pro this year.

Picnic PostNL
Netherlands
2025 WorldTour wins: 1
Team leader: Pfeiffer Georgi
Team boss: Iwan Spekenbrink
Raison d’etre: A team in transition, with a host of young riders on board

Nine riders left Picnic PostNL over the winter, and eight came in, underlining how in transition this team is. Some of those who left will be missed badly: Charlotte Kool, Francesca Barale, Franzi Koch, Megan Jastrab and Nienke Vinke. It leaves a young, callow squad, which will hope to outperform low expectations.

They hit the ground running at the Tour Down Under, with two podiums and 12th place overall for Josie Nelson, but the Classics will be the place where the squad can really show their mettle. Pfeiffer Georgi had a quiet 2025, as she worked her way back from the concussion she suffered at the Tour de France Femmes a couple of years ago, and will be looking to show that she is still a contender.

SD Worx-Protime
Netherlands
2025 WorldTour wins: 27
Team leaders: Lotte Kopecky, Anna van der Breggen and Lorena Wiebes
Team boss: Erwin Janssen
Raison d’être: Retaking their number one ranking after a slight dip

This year represents a new challenge for the previously all-conquering SD Worx-Protime. Instead of coming into the season as the number one team, the one everyone wanted to beat, they are now number two, chasing FDJ United-SUEZ, and their former charge Vollering.

That’s not to say 2025 was a fallow year for the Dutch squad, with 48 wins across the year, including 25 wins for Lorena Wiebes, who appears unbeatable in sprints. Wiebes won through the year, from the UAE Tour onwards, taking two stage wins at both the Giro d’Italia Women and the Tour de France Femmes. Meanwhile, Lotte Kopecky won the Tour of Flanders, again, and Anna van der Breggen and Mischa Bredewold showed themselves in flashes.

However, Kopecky did have an off-year, due to knee and lower-back issues, and her tilt at Tour GC failed to materialise. Also, in the absence of Vollering, they only won one general classification title. This might be a continued trend, with a group of developing riders not quite there yet, although Van der Breggen did finish third at last year’s Vuelta España Femenina.

Expect Wiebes to keep winning, wherever she races, and Kopecky to go all in for the Classics, from Omloop Nieuwsblad onwards. Ultimately, SD Worx want to be the team that everyone watches in the peloton again, and be back to the space where they can bend races to their will. They do not have the same number of dominant riders as before, but they do have the right pieces for the right races. New signing Nienke Vinke could be the future for GC challenges, and Bredewold can continue to do her very good Vollering impression in hillier one-day races.

UAE Team ADQ
UAE
2025 WorldTour wins: 7
Team leader: Elisa Longo Borghini
Team boss: Yana Seel
Raison d'être: Defence of Elisa Longo Borghini's Giro title and a Tour de France Femmes podium finish

Building year on year, UAE Team ADQ are now among the most dangerous teams in the peloton. The addition of Elisa Longo Borghini last year has proved pivotal. Though they've only existed in their current form since 2022, the team dates all the way back to Nicole Cooke's Mcipollini-Giordana team of 2011. Last year's crop of 28 wins represented their most successful season, the winning shared among a remarkable 13 of their 19-woman roster.

2025 Tour de France Femmes revelation Maeva Squiban, along with Karlijn Swinkels, have already opened the team's account, winning in Mallorca last week. While they're one of the few teams to have increased the size of their roster, we can expect Longo Borghini to be most influential again.

Visma-Lease a Bike
Netherlands
2025 WorldTour wins: 7
Team leader: Pauline Ferrand-Prévot and Marianne Vos
Team boss: Rutger Tijssen
Raison d'être: Another Tour de France title for Pauline Ferrand Prévot and big Classics wins for Marianne Vos

Even without Pauline Ferrand-Prévot's Tour de France Femmes victory, Visma-Lease a Bike had a great 2025, winning more races than in any of their four previous seasons while relying less on their big names. Martina Fidanza stepped up with three wins, and Ninke Veenhoven bagged two. The future lies with two young riders: the hugely talented Brit Imogen Wolff, who began winning before her 19th birthday, and Marion Bunel, who is already among the best climbers in the bunch aged only 21.

Ferrand-Prévot has a freakish ability to successfully target races, so another Tour de France win is possible. Meanwhile, Marianne Vos always bags at least one big win a year. Add in Canadian all-rounder Sarah Van Dam and Dutch rouleur Daniek Hengeveld and Visma have a recipe for success.

Uno-X Mobility, Liv AlUla Jayco and Human Powered Health

Uno-X Mobility won just one WorldTour race last year, a stage of the Vuelta a Burgos Feminas through Mie Bjørndal Ottestad, who won four more races for the team. This year, they are likely to continue their aggressive underdog strategy, which has brought them success in the past. In Katrine Aalerud, they have an experienced GC leader.

2025 ended well for Liv AlUla Jayco, who won two stages at the Tour of Chongming Island; they also won stage two of the Tour de France Femmes through Mavi García. This year, they will hope that they can return to the front of races more often, through Letizia Paternoster and Ruby Roseman-Gannon, among others.

Human Powered Health will aim to be more than just the 14th WorldTour team, with a ProTour or WorldTour victory surely among their plans. In Thalita de Jong and Kathrin Schweinberger, they have experienced riders who could surprise.

Races

Spring Classics

From Omloop Het Nieuwsblad (28 Feb) until Liège-Bastogne-Liège Femmes (26 April), the women's Spring Classics season follows an almost identical rhythm to that of the men's, with female 'siblings' having been introduced for nearly all of the original major men's races. The inauguration of Milan-San Remo Donne (21 March) last season – won by Lorena Wiebes – leaves E3 Saxo Classic as the only men's WorldTour race with no equivalent. Omloop and Opening Weekend is followed in March by Italy's Strade Bianche, San Remo, and a pair of new names: In Flanders Fields. From Middelkerke to Wevelgem (formerly the more succinct Gent-Wevelgem) and the Tour of Bruges (formerly Brugge-De Panne).

There is also the Trofeo Alfredo Binda (15 March), one of the oldest Classics on the women's calendar with more than 50 years of history.

As with the men, the women's Classics tends to centre around the Tour of Flanders (5 April) and Paris-Roubaix (12 April), but some of the stronger climbers will target the hilly Ardennes races – Amstel Gold (19 April), Flèche Wallonne (22 April) and Liège.

Vuelta España Femenina by carrefour.es – 3-10 May

With the women's season rejigged to free the Giro d'Italia Women from its annual clash with the men's Tour de France, there is now a decent gap between the three Grand Tours, opening up the possibility of seeing all of the world's best riders in all three. The season is packed, though, especially in May when the Vuelta is the first of three Spanish WorldTour stage races, and with teams having such small rosters it's more likely teams will need to be very choosy when selecting their squads.

In its short history as a stage race, the Vuelta Femenina has always attracted the pick of the stage racing bunch, and that is unlikely to change this season. Not many riders have confirmed their programmes beyond the Classics and the Tour de France Femmes so far, but last year's runner-up Marlen Reusser is down to ride, and don't be surprised defending champion Demi Vollering here either.

Tour de France Femmes – 1-9 August

The 2026 Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift begins slowly with two flattish stages, before the temperature gradually rises. A series of hilly stages are punctuated by an individual time trial, before the pièce de resistance, Mont Ventoux. After Planche des Belles Filles, the Tourmalet, Alpe d’Huez and the Madeleine comes the Giant of Provence. The bald mountain will surely hint at the direction of the fifth yellow jersey, but there is still a hectic stage around Nice to come, like a turbo-charged final day of Paris-Nice. Four ascents of the Col d’Eze will sort out the wheat from the chaff.

Demi Vollering will be itching to take back the crown she lost in 2024, and prove that she really is the best rider in the world; FDJ United-SUEZ will also demand better from their star signing. However, Pauline Ferrand-Prévot has proved that she will go to huge lengths to win, and will have the French public on her side. It should be a clash for the ages. From Switzerland to the Mediterranean, the action will not stop.

Zoe Bäckstedt will make her cyclo-cross season debut on 28 December, less than two months after she fractured her wrist in a training crash, her Canyon-SRAM zondacrypto team has announced.

The 21-year-old, the reigning under-23 cyclo-cross world champion, said her helmet saved her life when she came off her bike on 1 November. Following the crash, she trained indoors for over a month, and has now been medically cleared to return to racing.

Bäckstedt was originally due to open her cyclo-cross season in mid-November, but will now do so at the UCI World Cup round in Dendermonde, Belgium, on 28 December. Her full calendar (published in full below) will count eight events, with her participation at the UCI Cyclo-cross World Championships on the final weekend of January still to be determined.

“For my first race back, my hopes and expectations are not super high – not in a bad way, but I don’t want to put pressure on myself to achieve something that’s not realistic,” Bäckstedt said in a statement released by Canyon-SRAM zondacrypto.

“It’s been a long six weeks watching everyone else racing and I just want to be racing with them. So maybe my first few races back are not great, but just give me some time.”

Last season, the Welshwoman competed in 16 cyclo-cross events, and finished inside the top 10 in every one. Her best results included second place in Zonhoven – her highest ever elite World Cup finish – and two victories at the UCI World Championships, in the mixed relay and under-23 race.

As she readies herself for her season opener in Dendermonde, the 21-year-old said she’s in “pretty okay shape, all things considered”.

“It feels so good to be back on the cross bike. I was a bit apprehensive about that first session, but in the end it was nothing to worry about,” she said.

“For sure, the strength around my wrist isn’t as good as it used to be, but that’s all part of coming back from injury.”

Earlier this month, Bäckstedt was named Cycling Weekly’s female Rider of the Year for 2025, thanks to her cyclo-cross and road performances; she also won five time trials this year, including the under-23 world title in Rwanda.

Asked about her love of cyclo-cross, Bäckstedt told Cycling Weekly: “Everyone thinks we must be a crazy bunch of people to enjoy racing in 2°C in the rain, when all the road riders are in the sun or on holiday. But that’s part of what I love about it, being in nature, among the trees.”

“In the summer, I always say, ‘Oh, I love the road, but I miss cyclo-cross.’ And in the winter, I always say the opposite. As long as I’m on a bike, I’m happy.”

Bäckstedt’s cyclo-cross calendar for 2025/2026 is below.

Zoe Bäckstedt's 2025/2026 cyclo-cross season

28 December: Round 8, UCI World Cup Dendermonde (BEL)

29 December: X²O Trofee Azencross - Loenhout (BEL)

1 January: X²O Trofee Baal - GP Sven Nys (BEL)

3 January: Superprestige Gullegem (BEL)

4 January: Round 9, UCI World Cup Zonhoven (BEL)

18 January: Round 10, UCI World Cup Benidorm (ESP)

24 January: Round 11, UCI World Cup Maasmechelen (BEL)

25 January: Round 12, UCI World Cup Hoogerheide (NED)

TBD, 30 January: UCI World Championships Hulst (NED)

TBD, 31 January: UCI World Championships Hulst (NED)

In three editions so far of the Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift, no rider has won the race twice. First, there was Annemiek van Vleuten, then Demi Vollering, and this year, Kasia Niewiadoma, who clung to the yellow jersey by a thread on Alpe d’Huez.

Should Niewiadoma defend her title next summer, she’ll make history as the first woman to do so since the race’s reboot. It’s her “big goal”, she said, and after Tuesday’s route announcement, one for which she is now particularly excited.

Next year’s fourth edition of the race will be its toughest and longest yet. Now taking place over nine stages, up from eight, the course stretches across 1,165km, rising to a crescendo in the Alps, with the climbs of the Col de la Madeleine and the Col de la Joux Plane.

“It’s a goal to bring the yellow jersey home again,” said Niewiadoma. “My big goal is to become a woman who wins the Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift twice in a row, and I’m in the best position right now to make that happen in 2025. The final general classification can unfold at any point but the final three stages will be decisive for the overall.”

For the 30-year-old’s Canyon-SRAM team, the desire to win again is the same.

“It’s something very special, something very unique,” team manager Ronny Lauke told Cycling Weekly. “To be honest, when you have experienced what this yellow jersey does to a team, and the attention it raises, the emotions all staff members go through, you want to have it again.

“It’s the biggest race, the biggest global brand in our sport. When you go away as a winner, you have the most prestigious colour on your shoulders. The yellow does something to the people involved in a team. Everybody would like to have it again. We are not shy of saying we aim for the highest and the best, so we’re going for this. I think we have a good group of talent that we can confidently say we want to win it again.”

Lauke’s first impressions of next year’s route are that it is “well balanced” and will “offer a very interesting bike race”.

“Kasia is very optimistic. She likes the route. So therefore I have confidence,” he said. “Now it’s up to us to do the necessary homework and identify the right group for this event, so we are competitive and an uncomfortable opponent, the most uncomfortable opponent that anyone can ask for.”

Niewiadoma’s winning margin this August was the narrowest in the race’s three-year history, just four seconds separating her and Vollering. The victory crowned the Polish rider’s biggest to date, coming after a long dry spell between 2019 and 2023.

“With the Gravel World Championships in 2023, she eventually won her rainbow jersey, which, in my opinion, she deserved a lot. That was a turning point for her that also helped her to approach the 2024 season in a different way,” Lauke said.

“Many doubts were erased that she carried within her, and she was more confident about herself, about what she can achieve. I got to know her when she was 24 years of age. Now, a few years later, I can say that she has definitely matured as a very mature woman, with a very mature approach to her goals.”

Between now and the end of winter, Niewiadoma and her Canyon-SRAM team-mates will rest, train on Zwift, and travel to team camps in December and January. Then the season will start, with the biggest mark on the calendar against the Tour de France Femmes, scheduled to begin on 26 July in Brittany.

“I think, overall, there’s a lot of curiosity around what a longer race will bring,” Lauke said. “I think it looks like it will offer some drama, some smiles, some tears, everything that a stage race can offer. We will try to be as prepared as best as possible, and the riders will enjoy it.”

Kasia Niewiadoma has inked a two-year contract extension with Canyon-SRAM Racing, the team announced today. Niewiadoma has been with the team since 2018 and will continue riding for the German squad through the 2026 season.  

Niewiadoma has had some standout performances as part of the team, including becoming the Gravel World Champion, winning the Amstel Gold Race and La Flèche Wallonne, and finishing on the GC podium at the Giro d'Italia Women and twice at Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift.

Her win at this year's La Flèche Wallonne put an end to an agonising five-year spell where she finished on a road race podium 30 times yet failed to reach that top step. Even so, Niewiadoma has been one of the team's most consistent performers, and Canyon-SRAM Racing was keen to have her sign on for two more years.

"Kasia has achieved the most significant results for the team. She has won hearts while racing with an open visor and her own heart on her sleeve. She comes to races always well prepared and with a never-give-up attitude. We love working with Kasia and are thrilled to continue supporting her," says team manager Ronny Lauke.

For her part, Niewiadoma says she's deeply happy on the team and has big goals for the near future.

"Of course, I considered other options, but it never felt entirely right, and I could not remain at peace with myself. I feel enormous support coming from the team of Canyon-SRAM when things go well and when they don't," the 29-year-old said in a statement.

"I can fully be myself; I feel accepted, understood and motivated to embrace my position as one of the team leaders and as a rider who can share my knowledge with the youngsters."

The reigning gravel world champion revealed that she and the team have ambitious goals for the near future, stating: "we want to bring a yellow jersey home, to win Strade Bianche and the Tour of Flanders. I want to wear a rainbow jersey, not only on the gravel. I believe with Canyon-SRAM Racing, it's all possible."

Zoe Bäckstedt is enjoying life on the bike right now, and it's easy to see why. In the last two years alone, the 19-year-old has held multiple junior time trial and road world titles, and followed that up with the under 23 European time trial title last autumn. 

If that wasn’t enough, she then stormed to victory - and yet another rainbow jersey - in the women’s under 23 race at the cyclo-cross world championships in February. 

She now finds herself at Canyon-SRAM - one of the biggest teams on the women’s WorldTour - and tells Cycling Weekly that her Grand Tour debut is on the horizon. 

On Sunday, the Welsh rider will line up for her first appearance at the Vuelta a España Feminina. 

"I've got this week in Spain now which is perfect training for it and for a little bit of prep," Bäckstedt says. "It's about getting used to the heat as well, because I can tell you, it's going to be a very warm week on the bike."

Her continued rise to cycling’s elite level will now be fuelled by a certain new sponsor displayed on her helmet which, she says, will definitely give her wings in the races to come. 

Bäckstedt recently inked a lucrative new deal to join the likes of Tom Pidcock, Pauline Ferrand-Prévot and Evie Richards and become a Red Bull-sponsored athlete. She tells Cycling Weekly that the deal had been in the works for several years. 

"They contacted my agent, after the Leuven Worlds (2021) I believe actually, then it's just kind of been in the process a bit since then," she says. "I never really knew when I would have the opportunity to sign. 

"Then suddenly, it started again, my agent suddenly said we were a week or so away from signing the contract, basically. And then I think most people have seen the video on my Instagram of when Tom Pidcock handed me over the helmet."

"The whole week my dad also was playing along with it," she adds as she reflects on the moment Pidcock himself rocked up in her hotel restaurant in Spain to welcome her to the club. "It had been so long that I'd been waiting for it, I'd been so excited to sign and officially become an athlete and that was that."

Bäckstedt hopes to carry the torch for Red Bull in women’s cycling moving forward. Prior to agreeing the deal, Kata Blanka Vas of SD Worx was the only other Red Bull sponsored athlete in the women’s peloton. 

"In women's cycling, there's not so many of us, especially on the road, that have got this helmet," she says. "And off road there's only only a few names. 

"So finally being in the world of a Red Bull athlete and having that title, it's super cool to be amongst so many great athletes that have all done so much, pushing limits in every way and pushing themselves to the max."

With the Vuelta firmly on her mind, she explains that her programme is largely decided on a race by race basis at Canyon. Bäckstedt has already ridden huge races like Paris-Roubaix Femmes this year, where she finished 16th, and now has one eye on the Paris Olympics this summer. 

"That's for sure something I'd love to go to," she says. "But there's so many good riders in the UK that could also be selected. So we have to fight for all of the slots, maybe it's my year, maybe it isn't. 

"In two, three years, I'm going to be wanting to go to the Giro [d'Italia Women], Tour [de France Femmes], Vuelta and want to do all of them… For now, it's just about making sure that I don't do every single race, because yeah, everyone knows I want to do that and is holding me back a little bit so that I don't burn out too quickly or something."

"Ride it like you own the road"

Bäckstedt explains that she is still in the process of discovering exactly what type of rider she is, but says that just maintaining enjoyment on the bike during her big experiences is enough for now. 

"You can go to a bike race and be nervous and feel a little bit a little bit scared in the bunch and then you can go to the next race and be like, 'I didn't enjoy the last one, I'm going to just completely change how I look at it, I'm going to just ride it as if as if it was an hour CX race' for me, that's how I look at it, just go full gas at every moment you and just ride your bike, ride it like you own the road, basically."

The 19-year-old wasn’t far behind the winning move at Roubaix and says she continues to watch the likes of Lotte Kopecky closely, ensuring she absorbs much of what the reigning road world champion is currently doing in the sport. 

"Everything she does is something I look at and think 'Oh, I'd love to do that'," she says. "But give me two years, maybe three, and that'll be there… There's a lot of riders that are just next level at the moment and something special on the bike. Even within our team, we've got so many riders that I look at and wish I could also be at that stage."

“What a machine!” shouts Kasia Niewiadoma as she warms down outside the Canyon-Sram bus. The Polish rider is elated. She looks around for her team-mates, anyone to celebrate with, desperate to share in the joy of what she just witnessed. She turns to a soigneur beside her, and holds her tight in a hug. 

What Niewiadoma had seen was a remarkable show of dominance. On the road into Albi, on day five of the Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift, her 23-year-old team-mate Ricarda Bauernfeind took the biggest win of her career to date. All the teams expected a sprint. Canyon-Sram had other ideas, before Plan A fell apart. 

“The start of the race was very fast and very hard,” Bauernfeind said afterwards. “We missed the first group, so it wasn’t the best moment for us. Then my team-mates chased back and the tricky part started and we were three in the group. Then I got the plan.” 

Plan B came from directeur sportif Magnus Bäckstedt. When he pulled into the team paddock after the stage, he stepped out of the car, looked up to the sky, and blew out a mouthful of air.

With around 36km to go, Bäckstedt made a call from the driver's seat. It was instinctive, forged from years of tactical prowess, the kind of thought that comes naturally to a storied Classics racer.

“I saw a moment,” he told Cycling Weekly. "I spoke to Rica on the radio, and said, ‘Look, try on this part. It flattens out and then kicks back up a kilometre and a half to the top. Try it and see what we can do with it.’

“Everyone looked tired in the bunch, and I thought, ‘Why not try with her?’ She’s, until now, maybe flying a little bit under the radar. I think we changed that today. I thought she was the perfect rider to try something like this with.”

Bauernfeind, of course, couldn’t say no. “I was already tired, and I thought, ‘Ok, if I go for this attack, then on the next climb, maybe I will get dropped’,” she said. “But I trusted in the DS, and I went.” 

The German rode solo up to the peak at Castelfadèze, claimed six bonus seconds over the top, and then descended alone towards Albi. Behind, her team-mates marshalled the peloton, and Bauernfeind’s gap grew to over a minute and a half. 

In her ear, Bäckstedt kept spurring her on. “I was just encouraging her to keep on believing, keep on pushing,” he said. “100% commitment to the line, and whatever will be, will be. That’s the only thing you can do at that point. There’s very little you can do apart from make sure you stay focused and concentrate, not coming off the power because your thoughts are starting to drift. That’s the key thing in these moments.”

As Bäckstedt spoke outside the bus, he was interrupted by the team’s manager, Ronny Lauke, who pulled him into a hearty hug. “We did it, man,” the Swede said, his eyes welling up. 

From the start of the day, Canyon-Sram had their eyes set on a stage win. Their hearts, too. When the moment came, it fell to Bauernfeind to deliver, and fending off the chasers, deliver she did.  

“She out time-trialled [Marlen] Reusser," smiled Bäckstedt. "You know, what can you say? I take my hat off to Ricarda. That’s one phenomenal ride.” 

Belgian cyclist Shari Bossuyt has pleaded her innocence after testing positive for a banned substance, and being made “non-active” by her Canyon-SRAM team. 

The 22-year-old returned a positive test for Letrozole in an anti-doping control during the Tour de Normandie Féminin in March. The substance, a hormone drug used more generally to treat breast cancer, is on the World Anti-Doping Agency’s (WADA) Prohibited List. 

In a press conference on Monday, Bossuyt said she has "never consciously used" the drug, and that she believes her sample was contaminated. 

"At the moment the procedure is still ongoing and I have to explain to the AFLD [the French Anti-Doping Agency] how the product ended up in my body," the Belgian is quoted in Het Laatste Nieuws. "This is turning out to be extremely difficult today because I have never come into contact with Letrozole and have never consciously used it.

"In fact, this was the first time I had heard of Letrozole. Fortunately, I am currently well supported. I hope we can clarify soon. But above all, that we can prove that we are not cheaters." 

In a statement released on Sunday, Bossuyt's Canyon-SRAM team outlined that it holds a "zero-tolerance stance towards any use of prohibited substances" and that it had made the rider "provisionally non-active", effectively suspending her. 

Bossuyt, too, confirmed that she will not take part in any events. "In consultation with the team, I have decided not to race in the coming weeks. Mainly because my head isn't in it," she said. 

"Everything indicates that we are dealing with a contamination. That is why I would like to appeal to all authorities that we may be dealing with an underlying problem. I will continue to train so that I can compete again soon.”

The news comes over a year after another Belgian cyclist, Toon Aerts, also tested positive for Letrozole. The cyclo-cross rider, who returned an out-of-competition sample containing the banned substance in January 2022, is yet to return to racing, and has said he is facing a two-year suspension. 

Aerts issued a statement on Sunday following the announcement of Bossuyt’s Letrozole positive. He said: “We are one year on, I’m still deep in misery, and unfortunately there is another case. I can imagine so well what Shari is going through now. This shouldn't happen. Another athlete, who is also human, who will go through a deep valley with her whole family. Without having done anything wrong, just like me and my family!

He added: “No two without three, as the saying goes, and I fear there will be more victims…” 

Bossuyt and her Canyon-SRAM team are currently awaiting the decision from the AFLD, which will come in due course. A suspension would rule the Belgian out of defending her Madison world title, which she holds with Lotte Kopecky, at the UCI Track World Championships this August.  

When Alex Morrice graduated from university this summer, she could’ve been anything she liked. She had excelled as one of the best students in her year, achieving top marks in her Natural Sciences degree. Add that to a clean sweep of A*s at A-Level, and the 22-year-old was stepping into the world with a rather enviable CV. 

Still, as her friends and classmates looked to London for office jobs, Morrice found herself in a bind. 

“I was doing all my exams and I was getting so anxious about the actual work,” she tells Cycling Weekly. “Thinking about job applications at the same time was impossible to balance alongside training for cycling.”

So she focused on the latter. To prop up her finances, Morrice took on a part-time job as a receptionist and joined British domestic outfit Brother UK - LDN. Little did she know that, come Christmas, she’d be signing a pro contract to join Canyon-Sram on the women’s WorldTour.  

It’s funny to think that Morrice only discovered cycling at university. “I played a lot of netball throughout school,” she says. “Then after one year doing that at uni, I kind of got a bit bored with getting injured, rolling ankles and everything.

“I picked up triathlon because there’s a lot of girls that do triathlon. Not many girls were in the cycling club, so I was a bit hesitant [to join].”

That didn’t deter her, though. Before long she was heading out into the Cotswolds, dressed in the club’s vibrant yellow and blue kit. “I was pretty much the only girl,” she says. “They all kind of picked me up, taught me everything and now I’m carrying on into the world of racing.” 

Competing was always high on the agenda for the 22-year-old. Growing up, she says, she and her twin sister would have fights over who was winning at various sports. This competitive childhood has proven a potent ingredient for life as an athlete. Alex has just won the Zwift Academy, while Tash is breaking into the GB rowing squad. 

Once she’d finished her exams, Morrice put all her energy into racing with Brother UK - LDN. 

“When I turned up at Lancaster [Grand Prix], no one was expecting me, this girl. It was actually like the only race I did that was live streamed and the commentators were like, ‘Not really sure who this girl is. Her name’s Alex Morrice. We’re trying to look up her results, she’s done a few races’,” she smiles. “That was quite funny.

“I kind of went in with no expectations. I was just really relaxed. Once all the pre-race nerves had gone, I just enjoyed the whole experience, and that’s why I think I did well.” 

Well is understatement. In what was only her third ever road race, Morrice finished a narrow second at Lancaster, one of the most prestigious events in the country. Her passion, she says, is for racing outdoors. So how did she end up on Zwift?

“I started Zwifting when I was working from home,” she explains, recalling her university placement year, spent working for a bank. “The company had a cycling club that ran Zwift rides every week. I thought of it as quite a nice way to meet more people at work.

“I wasn’t really sure at the time how Zwift worked. I was learning on the go. We were just doing a group ride and then suddenly there’d be this sprint segment. I was like ‘Is everyone meant to sprint?’ So sometimes I’d be panicking like, ‘I need to sprint! I need to sprint!’. So then I’d sprint and there’d be no-one around me. And then they’d just see my numbers and be like, ‘Whoa’.”

The Zwift Academy, an annual competition where two users of the app win a pro contract, had always been on her radar.

“I saw the episodes and I was like ‘That could be me, I’m sure. Maybe next year I could make it.’ I always had it in the back of my mind and at the end of the season, I got quite good form from racing, so I gave it my best shot.”

Morrice eased through the qualifying stages of the competition and was selected to travel to Denia, Spain for finals week, which she bluntly says was “intense”. 

“I was like ‘Oh my, these girls are really strong. I’ve got no idea if I’m any good compared to them.’” 

As it turned out, she fared very well. Morrice performed consistently across all challenges and was praised by Canyon-Sram’s lead sports director, Magnus Bäckstedt, for having “a real feeling for the race moment”.

She also showed great resolve, coming back from a dramatic crash and road rash to place second in a mountain time trial on the challenging Coll de Rates.

Asked how she’d describe her riding style, Morrice says she sees herself as an all-rounder. “I think I definitely believe that more from finals week,” she says. “I think I’ve got a really decent kick on me, but I’m still learning my best attributes as a rider. I think it takes time to figure out exactly which intervals you’re best at. I definitely have a good explosive power, which I’m wanting to work on and make even stronger.” 

Having just signed her new contract, the 22-year-old is now counting down the days until her first team camp in January. “Lots of races are already in the diary,” she says. “I feel like I’m ready.”

And so she should. Morrice has spent 2022 cutting her teeth in road and crit races, finding time in between for turbo sessions and exam revision. She’s excited by the new season, but finds it hard not to feel daunted by the prospect of joining the pro ranks. 

“Obviously you’re the Zwift Academy winner,” she says. “You’ve not had to fight your way into a professional team.

“It’s just this opportunity that no one else has had. The previous winners know what it feels like, but yeah, it’s just coming in and feeling like you deserve to be there. I don’t know, it might be a challenge.”

If the pro peloton proves to be anything like university, she’ll likely find it a breeze. 

British cyclist Alex Morrice and Italian Luca Vergallito have today been announced as the winners of the Zwift Academy and will join top-level cycling teams in 2023. 

The duo were among more than 160,000 riders who participated in this year’s competition, and have now won one-year contracts with Canyon-Sram and Alpecin-Deceuninck respectively. 

In a statement shared today, Zwift said: “Alex and Luca distinguished themselves for having exceptional athletic talent, impressive on-bike skills, and the necessary demeanour to learn what it takes to succeed at the highest levels of racing.”

This year, Zwift Academy contestants had to complete a baseline ride and eight workouts, testing their threshold power and VO2 max among other performance markers. Ten finalists were then selected, and travelled to Denia, Spain, where they met the team coaches and rode with their future team-mates. 

Morrice, 22, who competed this year for British team LDN - Brother, said: “It was such a privilege to get to go to Spain and spend a week with the incredible women on Canyon-Sram racing. 

“Everyone made me feel so welcome and I couldn’t be more excited to race alongside these ladies in 2023 and beyond.”

Canyon-Sram’s lead sports director Magnus Bäckstedt said he was “impressed during the whole week” by Morrice. 

“Alex impressed me with her current power numbers for the type of rider we were hoping to find for the team,” Bäckstedt said. “She also displayed a good understanding of tactics, with a real feeling for the race moment and she still has room to develop.”

Men's Academy winner Vergallito won the Italian junior road title in 2015, but cut back on his cycling in 2017 to concentrate on his studies. The 25-year-old will now join Alpecin-Deceuninck’s development team for the coming season. 

“Even for someone who lives so close to the heart of professional racing, it can be very hard to get noticed by the big teams,” Vergallito said. “I’m so grateful that Zwift gave me a way to get noticed.” 

Now in its seventh year, the Zwift Academy is an annual talent program, held on the indoor training and racing platform, that offers one male and one female rider the chance to win a pro contract. Previous winners include Tanja Erath, Neve Bradbury and Jay Vine, who won two stages at this year’s Vuelta a España. 

Paris-Roubaix winner Magnus Bäckstedt will join women’s WorldTour team Canyon-SRAM as lead sports director from 2023, meaning he’ll go up against his two daughters in the top tier of women’s road cycling. 

The 47-year-old's eldest child, Elynor Bäckstedt, recently signed a new two-year deal with Trek-Segafredo, who she has raced for since 2020. His youngest, Zoe Bäckstedt, is set to join the women’s WorldTour with EF Education-TIBCO-SVB from next season. 

The Paris-Roubaix winner said: “Once my two girls were out in the big world looking after themselves, I felt it was the right time for me to pursue my passion in the sport again and started to look for a role as a Sport Director actively.

“I’m excited to take on this role. It’s exciting times for women’s cycling, and being part of that makes me happy and proud.”

Under Bäckstedt’s tutelage at Canyon-SRAM will be the current British road champion, Alice Towers, who agreed a three-year contract with the team last month. Canyon-SRAM also boast former world time trial champion Chloé Dygert and Amstel Gold winner Kasia Niewiadoma on their roster. 

“The team has a really strong base of riders and an interesting way of racing," said Bäckstedt. "At the same time, I would like to improve some areas and put my stamp on them. Overall, it’s a great position to start from.

“I feel I will bring a calm, direct approach to the racing. I hope the riders will feel the passion that I bring as well as my keen eye for detail when it comes to how we approach the races. I want everyone to see that we are a team that backs each other 100%.” 

Since retiring, Bäckstedt has managed and coached riders for Sprocket Pro Cycling and Team UK Youth. He has also raced Ironman triathlons, including the World Championships in Kona, Hawaii. 

When asked about his goals with Canyon-SRAM, Bäckstedt said: “That is a pretty easy question to answer: win more bike races, and have fun whilst doing it. But the specifics you’ll have to wait for, lots of work is currently going into planning the next season right now.”

British road champion Alice Towers has signed a three-year contract with Canyon-SRAM and will step up to the highest tier of women’s road cycling. 

The 19-year-old, who currently rides for British outfit Le Col-Wahoo, will join the WorldTour team for the start of the 2023 season. 

In a statement shared by Canyon-SRAM on Wednesday, Towers said that she was “grateful for the security and the trust from the team” and that she hopes to be a “good friend” to her new teammates. 

“It’s been a team that I’ve looked up to and been inspired by for a long time.

“I’m looking forward to becoming teammates with riders I idolise and learning from them and developing as a rider myself. I would love to be part of successful team performances, especially wins,” she added. 

Towers took her first career victory in June, when she broke free from the peloton and soloed to the finish line in the national championships. Earlier this month, the 19-year-old was selected to represent Great Britain at the UCI Road World Championships in Wollongong, Australia, where she lined up against a field of elite WorldTour riders.  

“In 2022, I started to find my feet in the peloton, which has been a product of getting stronger and putting together everything I’ve learned over the season,” Towers said.

“I realised I wanted to become a full-time pro rider when I was a junior. I started to take the sport more seriously, and I learned about the women’s pro peloton. With each step I took, I knew I wanted it to be a part of my future.”

Among Towers’s new teammates at Canyon-SRAM will be former world time trial champion Chloé Dygert and Amstel Gold winner Kasia Niewiadoma. As it stands, she will be the only British rider on the team, after it was announced former national champion Alice Barnes would leave for Human Powered Health at the end of the season.

In the same statement shared by Canyon-SRAM, team manager Ronny Lauke said: “We see a lot of potential in Alice. She is a young but motivated rider we are happy to have in our team for the next three years. 

“We believe we can provide an environment that will support Alice’s further development and that she will play an important role in our team’s future successes.”

Tour de France Femmes riders have criticised the length of Thursday’s fifth stage of the Tour de France Femmes, saying it makes racing boring. 

At 175.6km the fifth stage of the race was the longest in modern day women’s racing, and certainly the longest race since the Women’s WorldTour was created in 2016. 

Unsurprisingly the race concluded in a bunch sprint, won by Lorena Wiebes (DSM) but the distance made for tedious viewing, as the race transitioned from Bar-le-Duc to St-Dié-des-Vosges, in eastern France.

“Boring,” was Kasia Niewiadoma’s single word answer when asked how the stage went. “Boring, but I’m happy that we all stayed safe on the bike. The final was fun but I wish the stage was shorter and we could do fun things more that just the final.”

That 119 of the 128 finishers crossed the line within 1-36 of the winner is proof women can easily ride the distance, but the women’s sport is known more for its dynamic, aggressive nature and that simply is not possible for four and a half hours.

“To be honest there’s nothing in my eyes good in long stages because they’re not exciting to watch and they are boring for us,” the Canyon-SRAM rider continued. “Also they are dangerous, people lose their concentration because after riding three or four hours very easy it’s hard to get the sharpness in your head so because of that we see quite a lot of unnecessary crashes,” she said referring to the huge pile up which happened with just over 40kms remaining.

“It’s not like we race 80km, we still race 130 for example which is very dynamic exciting and I feel like that’s more than enough.”

Niewiadoma also rebutted the argument longer stages are deliberately placed to increase fatigue head of the race’s key stages.

“But we go slow! The longer the slower, I’ve never done more than 140km of full action, maybe at Strade Bianche, but in a stage race whenever a stage is long everyone takes it as a recovery day.”

Even Strade Bianche is only 136km.

“I’m not so sure,” said former world champion Chantal van den Broek-Blaak (SDWorx) when asked about the accumulation of fatigue. “Today was just a boring race, of course it makes you tired but when you have an aggressive race of three hours then it makes you even more tired.

“It makes no sense to make it longer in my opinion. Yesterday was around 130 and the day before as well, I think that’s the perfect distance to race aggressive. Maybe for the classics it’s fine, but you see today it was a boring race and that happens when you make it longer. It’s the same for the men.”

None of the riders Cycling Week;y spoke with felt the race distance made for exciting racing.

"The crash made it more exciting, that's for sure," said Olivia Baril (Valcar Travel and Service).

Though women’s one day classics regularly exceed 150km, the 160 mark is rarely broken. The 2019 Ronde van Drenthe was 165.7km, while the previous WorldTour stage race record was the 165.1km fourth stage of the 2020 Giro Rosa between Assisi and Tivoli. Won by Lizzy Banks that stage was passive, two women getting up the road and Lizzy Banks (now riding with EF Education Tibco-SVB) taking the win.

While that day in Italy had a 10km neutral roll out it was still short of Thursday’s Tour stage, which totalled 179.6km with four kilometres of neutral.

UCI regulations allow for a maximum race length of 160km for both one day races individual stages, so race organisers, ASO were obliged to apply to the governing body for special dispensation to run such a long day.

Race lengths can often be a by-product of which towns are suitable to host the race, and both Bar-le-Duc and St Dié-les-Vosges are historic towns with a history in the men’s Tour de France and sufficient infrastructure to handle such an event.

Canyon-SRAM have released their new kit for the upcoming 2022 season.

It is lighter than the team's kits have been in recent years, with dark purple being dispensed in favour of pink, blue, red and even green on the sleeves. The jersey has been designed by Ultan Coyle, and will be made by Canyon itself, who replace Rapha as the team's outfitters.

It is still recognisably a Canyon-SRAM kit with its bold colours and eye-catching design. It features meteorological symbols, including a wind gauge around the chest.

The green triangles on the shoulders stand out, and will be sure to separate the German team from other pink/purple kits in the peloton. SD Worx, Human Powered Health and UAE Team ADQ attracted attention for announcing similarly coloured kits.

>>> Fashion forecasts, body shapes, or stereotypes: What's behind the convergence of women's pro team kits?

Coyle, who has designed the team's kits since it became Canyon-SRAM in 2016, said that the print was called "Astral Burn". It is the first kit that has not been designed by Rapha.

He said: "The print comprises nature’s meteorological displays and their associated human interpretations. The ambition of the print is to capture this phenomenal energy and imbue the athletes that wear it with this sense of power. 

"In addition to this, diamonds were added to specific parts of the design to provide a counter to the visual chaos and serve as flashes to catch the eye.”

Rapha continue to supply men's WorldTour team EF Education-Easypost, but don't currently outfit a team in the Women's WorldTour.

Canyon-SRAM's manager Ronny Lauke said that he was pleased with the commitment shown by Canyon to the team. "Creating such a meaningfully designed piece of cycling kit shows how serious it’s taken by the company."

The team will ride similarly-painted Canyon bikes this season, which incorporate the weather symbols and the green triangles across the distinctive frame.

Roman Arnold, the founder of Caynon, said: "This is a major step forward for us, and one we are excited to take with such a bold, fresh design. As with our bikes over the years, this is a technical partnership: learnings from the riders will have a big impact on future clothing products we bring to the market.

"We’re proud of our long-term commitment to CANYON//SRAM Racing and are now extra motivated to see what the season ahead brings.”

Alena Amialiusik, who has been with the team since Canyon came on board, said: "After seeing and wearing it, I love the jersey. The ideas behind the design, the colours, the energy it gives me. I feel fresh and light in the new kit. 

"I feel that I can be as strong as a storm, but if something unexpected happens, I am flexible, I can change my direction as fast as the wind and find a new plan. It’s special and unique, which is a lot like our team. I can’t wait to race in it."

The team have brought in Sarah Roy from Team BikeExchange over the winter, as well as Soraya Paladin from Liv Racing. They will be hoping that Kasia Niewiadoma continues to challenge at classics this season.

Being stuck outside in the Norwegian winter with no contact to the outside world and little food might not be everyone’s idea of fun, but it’s an excellent way to get to know someone.

At least that’s what Hannah Barnes found when she joined her new Uno-X squad for a recent team building exercise.

“We got a message about a month before and they told us to get a -20º sleeping bag,” the former British national road and time trial champion tells us. “We got there and within an hour we had to hand our phones in, which was actually really cool because no one had their heads in their phones. 

“We did a track day, which was really fun, had a nice three course meal and that was pretty much the last time we ate for the next 36 hours. I think we had an hour and a half of sleep in our sleeping bags next to a bonfire we’d made, but we all came away thinking that we’d known everyone for the last two or three years, so I’m looking forward to the next year.”

The bonding exercise certainly sounds unique, and extreme as it sounds, welfare was clearly maintained as a priority - we noticed new teammate Elinor Barker, who is currently pregnant, commented on Instagram that the event included: "A 24-hour hike with obstacles on limited food and sleep (except for me, pregnancy perks)."

Barnes’s move from Canyon-SRAM, where she has spent six seasons, came as a surprise, but while she is clearly looking forward with optimism, when we spoke she admitted it comes on the back of a difficult period. “I was ready for a change. I think I’m at the point in my career where it was either try something new or stop,” she explains a little ruefully. “When they approached me I really liked the sound of it, I liked the role they were going to give me. There’s a lot of young riders and they’ve brought me in to help them and to be a mentor, but also with some leadership roles.

“I’ve shown that I can do pretty well in the spring races, but I think it’s about me being happy and finding confidence again, because there was a point where I didn’t really feel like I belonged in the peloton, I just would be there and not be in it. What I really need to do is find my footing again.”

Barnes’s time with Canyon-SRAM has not been without success. She won both her national jerseys while in the German squad’s striking colours, took GC victory at Setmana Ciclista Valenciana, and in 2017 won a stage of the Giro Rosa.

There was squad success too, the team winning the final Team Time Trial world title in 2018. However, despite some podium finishes in top races, including notably finishing a close second to Marianne Vos in a stage of the 2020 Giro, 28 year-old Barnes has been feeling out of sorts.

“I have no idea [what happened] a lot of people have asked me. I have talent and I don’t seem to be able to do it,” she continues. “I’ve had an injury this year, but I think a lot of it was mental so I just really need work on that and find the Hannah that was in 2017, find her somewhere again.

“I really struggle with letting people down, I know I can do a good job when I’m a team player but not always when I’m trying to finish the job off. At the Giro last year I felt no pressure, the team said just try, there’s nothing to lose, and I don’t know why I don’t always think like that, not everyone can win the race so I need to think like that more.”

Aggressive racing from the men’s team means we’ve seen a lot of Uno-X’s bight yellow kit in recent seasons, but the women’s squad is new for 2022. A change in the UCI’s regulations allowed them to join the peloton as a top tier WorldTeam, one up from the men, but Barnes expects a similar style.

“When I signed everyone was saying how impressed they were with the way the men raced. Within the team they have their own values and one of those is sticking together and racing like you’re one, which when you’re watching them on the telly that’s not hard to miss.

“It’s the same management, the same staff, it’s like one huge family. All the races we do next year when the men are there we’ll be in the same hotel with the same chef and whatnot, we’ll use all the same resources. They’ve made that very clear, everything the men have we’ll have.”

Barnes won’t be the only Brit on the squad. Though Elinor Barker is currently pregnant and unlikely to race in 2022, we can expect Jos Lowden to continue the form that brought her victories and the hour record last season.

Like Barnes, Dane Julie Leth will also provide a huge amount of experience, but the Brit is expecting big things from 23 year-old sprinter, Susanne Andersen. 

“When she was at DSM she was leadout for Lorena [Wiebes] but I reckon when she’s got a full team behind her then she can win races next year. But I’ve realised over the years it’s not always the strongest team that wins, it’s about riders with the same ambition and ethos to look after each other.

“We got on really well, we pushed each other and supported each other, and we can be there.”

UCI Women's WorldTour team Canyon-SRAM have received 239 applications from 62 different countries to compete for their new development team, Canyon-SRAM Generation. 

Just eight places are available for the development squad though, with the German team now facing a tough task to finalise their roster ahead of the 2022 season. 

The application process aimed to promote diversity within cycling, with a focus placed on discovering talent from Africa, Asia and South America. While applicants could be from anywhere in the world, Canyon-SRAM were hoping to provide opportunities to riders who might not otherwise have the chance to race at a high level due to their circumstances.

Canyon-SRAM’s diversity and inclusion expert Christine Kalkschmid said: “We expected quite some applications as the possibility to join Canyon-SRAM Generation was a unique opportunity, but we were overwhelmed by the number of applications. 

"Not only by the sheer number but also the fact that we had applications from so many different nations, from all continents, through a wide variety of ages, and from all different backgrounds."

The team shared on Twitter a map outlining where applications in the world came from, with Europe, North America and Australia understandably providing the bulk of prospective riders. However, applications also arrived from nations such as Ethiopia, Namibia and Bangladesh, proving that the aim of the project was a success. 

Canyon-SRAM team manager Ronny Lauke expressed the learning experience creating this new team has provided him with, helping him to understand how difficult it is for some riders to make it professional around the world.

He said: “Each application had its own story that was worth listening to. They also helped us understand much better how big the gap for athletes in certain parts of the world is between starting in the sport and having the chance to get an opportunity to train and race full time as a professional cyclist.

“I had no expectation really on a specific number of applications but I was very curious to see how many athletes were interested to become part of this team. The number indicates there is a high demand, and it shows there are many athletes all over the world that don’t get the opportunity to show their willpower and talent.”