Demi Vollering's FDJ United-SUEZ team have announced the roster which will support the Dutch woman at the Tour de France Femmes avec Ziwft next week.

Vollering won the Tour when riding with SD Worx in 2023, and has finished second in each of the two editions since and both and the team will be desperate for her to win in Nice on August 9th.

Vollering will look to Juliette Berthet and Évits Muzic as her chief support riders for the hilly and mountainous days, while the increasingly versatile Paris-Roubaix winner, Franziska Koch will provide a steely backbone for the team.

Recently crowned French champion, 20-year-old Célia Gery is fast improving and adaptable enough to help out on all terrains too, while Amber Kraak and Marie Le Net form the rest of the seven woman squad and are both certain to be seen on the front controlling.

The team has been around for 20 years but was little more than an also ran for many of those years. However, since Muzic won the team's first World Tour race at the 2020 Giro Rosa, they have been on a tear and are now the best team in the women's peloton.

However, they are yet to win their home race, the Tour de France Femmes, something manager Stephen Delcourt told Cycling Weekly before the first edition of the modern race in 2022 was their chief ambition. As the best rider in the world, Vollering is a huge part of making that ambition a reality and Delcourt has built the team around the 29-year-old Dutch woman.

"It's really hard to choose the roster because we have a really, really amazing team, and we have only one goal, which is the yellow," Delcourt told Cyclingnews earlier this month.

"For that, we want the best riders around Demi, and not just the seven best riders, because especially with this Tour de France, there are a lot of stages where we need to be really careful if we want to put pressure on the others."

The team already has 19 wins this season, with Vollering bagging 10 of those, including two stages and the GC at the Giro d'Italia last month, and she is certain to be brimming with confidence on the start line in Lausanne next week. However, if she's to win she will need to overcome last year's victor, Pauline Ferrand-Prévot who will lead a strong Visma-Lease a Bike team. Ferrand-Prévot hasn't had the best of seasons and hasn't raced since early May, though she is notoriously brilliant at peaking for goals, as she did last year.

Other rivals include Movistar's time trial world champion, Marlen Reusser, who is sure to challenge, especially with the inclusion of a 21km TT on stage 4, and a resurgent Anna van der Breggen leading the SD Worx-Protime team.

The Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift starts in Lausanne on August 1st with two stages in Switzerland, moving into south-east France for the seven remaining stagesrest of the race. A summit finish on Mont Ventoux is the queen stage of the event, which concludes in Nice on August 9th.

FDJ-Suez have bolstered their team with the addition, announced today, of American multi-discipline champion Kate Courtney. An all-rounder with an incredible pedalling pedigree, Courtney is the current US National road race Champion and has been UCI Mountain Bike Cross-Country World Champion (2018), a UCI Cross-Country World Cup winner (2019) and UCI Marathon Mountain Bike World Champion (2025).

This year, Courtney made an incredibly successful switch to road. In May, she entered her first road race since she was 16, having a crack at the Tour de Feminin in the Czech Republic, and took victory on Stage Four. The following month she won her first US National Road Race title in Charleston. Soon she will be riding alongside Demi Vollering in the FDJ-Suez squad.

According to the release put out by FDJ-Suez today, Courtney will be in action for the team within the week, taking part in La Périgord Ladies on 18 July, Picto-Charentaise the next day, and the Lloyds Tour of Britain Women from the 19–23 August.

"Kate is a magnificient athlete whose profile shows great potential on short to mid-range climbs and demanding efforts," says Stephen Delcourt, FDJ-Suez General Manager. "We are excited to support her as she discovers European road racing. FDJ United Suez has always embraced athletes who have thrived in disciplines beyond road cycling. This diversity of backgrounds and cultures will continue to elevate our team as we pursue the highest levels of performance in women's sport."

“It is hard to put into words what this opportunity means to me," said Courtney after the deal was announced. "I never expected to be able to make the jump to the World Tour level so quickly and I am so motivated to rise to this huge challenge and really find out what I am capable of as an athlete and person in this final chapter of my career. I am so grateful to Stephen and the entire team for seeing the potential and giving me this chance to chase a huge dream.

"It is not hard to see from the outside that FDJ United Suez is building something really special. The way the team races - aggressively, fearlessly and with complete belief in one another - has been inspiring to me as a fan. And now it is even more inspiring to me as a rider. It feels like the team environment I have been searching for my entire career - and I could not be more excited to start learning and chasing one of the biggest and most challenging goals I have ever spoken out loud.”

Courtney, who comes from Marin County, California - literally the birthplace of mountain biking - is also a prominent advocate for women's sport through cycling, and founded the NGO She Sends Foundation in 2023.

On the eve of her Giro d’Italia Women bid, Demi Vollering announced she has extended her contract with French WorldTour team FDJ United-SUEZ.

The Dutchwoman, the top-ranked rider in the world, initially joined the team in advance of the 2025 season on a two-year deal, which was due to finish at the end of this season. She has now signed a “multi-year contract”, FDJ-United SUEZ said in a press release, with the duration reported to be two years by The Athletic.

Team manager Stephen Delcourt also hinted at the lucrative value of the deal to The Athletic, saying it marks the “best contract in the sport”.

“For me, everything starts with a dream,” Vollering said. “And right now, that dream feels bigger than ever – on the bike, and beyond it. I can’t wait for what lies ahead, and to keep building, together.”

Already a winner of the Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift during her four years with SD Worx-Protime, Vollering brought FDJ United-Suez’s first Grand Tour title last spring at the Vuelta Femenina, where she won by over a minute. It’s one of 18 victories she has collected since joining the team, a tally that has helped her become the best UCI-ranked rider in the women's peloton.

This season, the 29-year-old has won more than half of her 11 race days, including Omloop Nieuwsblad, the Tour of Flanders, Flèche Wallonne and Liège-Bastogne-Liège. She will start on Saturday as the favourite for victory at the Giro d’Italia Women – the only Grand Tour she is yet to win.

“Over the last year and a half I have been part of an environment where everybody can truly grow – not just as an athlete, but also as a person – and I am very proud of that. This environment has become home. I was more motivated to keep writing the next chapters of our story together,” Vollering said.

“I am driven to keep building something far bigger than just victories. We want to inspire a whole generation of girls and boys, and move our sport forward as a whole.

“I think about the young girls watching races today who might become the champions of tomorrow. That responsibility matters to me. I want to show them that you can compete at the highest level and still lead with your values.”

Also commenting in a press release, FDJ United-SUEZ team manager Delcourt described Vollering as an “extraordinary athlete at the peak of her game”.

“Demi is a woman who is changing our sport. Through her high standards, her sensitivity, her authenticity, and her way of bringing others along with her, she redefines what a modern leader is… She doesn’t just win races: she shows the way.”

The disparity in television coverage between the men's and women's races is unfair, Demi Vollering has said, in comments made after her Liège-Bastogne-Liège triumph.

“We used to start very early but the live broadcast was longer,” the FDJ United-SUEZ explained in the post-race press conference. “Now we only get short coverage on TV, because the stream only begins after the men's race. But it really doesn't have to be that hard. If the timings stay as they are now, you could either show both races at the same time or switch between them.

"To me, that should be entirely doable, especially when Pogačar is solo up the road again and you already know what's going to happen," she laughed. "Why can't they switch between the two races?”

Vollering's comments came after Tadej Pogačar finished as the fastest Liège-Bastogne-Liège winner of all time in the men's race, clocking in at an average speed of 44.42 km/h. Despite the race ending, there remained a forty minute break between the end of the men's coverage and the beginning of the women's.

“The most important thing is that we keep speaking up,” Vollering said in the press conference. “I hear from a lot of people that they're really disappointed with the short broadcasts. I hope that changes."

In an Instagram post before Liège-Bastogne-Liège, Vollering reminisced on 11 years of development in women’s cycling. Back then, there was no women’s version of the Belgian race and Vollering was yet to turn pro. “Now I am lining up for the seventh time,” she wrote.

While important steps have been taken to move women’s cycling forward, the shortened TV coverage of the women’s races represents the opposite, the 29-year-old wrote.

“We have come a long way, but it shows we are still not there yet,” she said. “Only the last 30 km of a race is not enough. It’s not fair and we need to keep highlighting this. We’ve come a long way, but moments like this remind me that our sport still deserves to be seen in full, not just the final part.

“This is not about comparison,” she finished, ”it’s about giving our sport the visibility it deserves.”

The FDJ United-SUEZ rider stormed to a record third win at Liège-Bastogne-Liège after going alone for the final 35 kilometres of the race.

It is not the first time TV broadcasts have been controversial this year – at Paris-Roubaix Femmes, the decision to show less than an hour and a half of the race while the whole men's race was shown drew criticism.

When Franziska Koch won Germany’s junior omnium title in 2017, she wouldn’t have imagined that those same track skills would carry her to an improbable Paris-Roubaix Femmes victory almost a decade later.

The 25-year-old outfoxed two of the greatest riders of this generation, Marianne Vos and Pauline Ferrand-Prévot, a Visma-Lease a Bike pairing with 29 world titles between them, to bag her biggest career win to date on Sunday.

The crowd, huddled around the outdoor velodrome, let out a collective gasp on the bike throw. Koch wasn’t supposed to win, this wasn’t in the script – how could a rider with only one previous WorldTour scalp beat the world’s best, all by herself?

“This is a victory for a hard-working underdog,” said Stephen Delcourt, Koch’s FDJ United-SUEZ manager, who watched with his hands on his head as she roared around the velodrome.

“We knew she was capable of winning, but she still found herself up against the two GOATs of our sport,” Delcourt said. “She was eager to give it a shot; she was quite vocal on the radio, saying, ‘I'm not afraid to hurt them. I feel strong.’”

So who is Franziska Koch? And why, as unexpected as it may seem, was she destined to win in Roubaix?

“I come from a cycling family,” Koch said in her winner’s press conference, “even my grandparents raced their bikes themselves. My parents met at a race as well, so cycling was always a big thing in my family.”

Born in the northwest German town of Mettmann, an hour’s drive from the Dutch border, Koch rode her first bike race when she was nine years old.

“I grew up really multi-disciplined. I did everything. I did mountain biking, and track in the winter a little bit,” she said, leaving out the fact she was national champion in both as a junior. “I think that helped me have good bike skills, and those are definitely needed here.”

Two years after her junior success, Koch joined Team Sunweb, and in her fifth race with the squad, took a shock stage win at the Boels Ladies Tour, aged 19 – the second youngest rider in the race.

Over the next six years, however, as the team morphed into Team DSM and Picnic PostNL, Koch found her chances limited, her role focused on domestique duties. She left the roster at the end of last season, and has since found renewed form at FDJ United-SUEZ – “I think a happy athlete is a good athlete, and the whole team is working really well together," she said.

The evidence is in the results. In the last few months alone, Koch has finished fifth at Omloop Het Nieuwsblad, third at Strade Bianche, and tenth at the Tour of Flanders, each time while riding in support of Demi Vollering. Her own opportunity, and a big win, seemed only a matter of time.

“She’s such a strong rider,” said Ferrand-Prévot, last year’s Paris-Roubaix winner, and this year’s third-place finisher. “To see what she did in Flanders for Demi, she pulled so much at the front in the cobblestones. She’s a monster, she’s really, really strong. I know how strong she was. I was not sure about her sprint, but now I know.”

Koch herself acknowledged that she’s not a “pure sprinter – but I can still have a good punch at the end of a hard race”. It’s a kick that has carried her to two German national road titles, in 2024 and 2025, and now her first Monument.

“It’s unbelievable. I was always dreaming of winning this race,” she said. “The team was really believing in me, that I was in a great shape, and to finish it off today was just amazing.”

Amazing, too, was the sight of Koch on the podium. As the German national anthem played over the loud speakers, she stood tall and smiled to the crowds, a step higher than the two yellow jerseys – both with rainbow piping – flanking her either side. Koch had beaten the world’s best. Now the world knows who she is.

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.

While the working week might be wrapping up, the Tour Down Under is in full swing, with the final stage on Sunday. For those not racing on the other side of the world, training season is underway. It's flat whites and workouts for Lorena Wiebes and a new kind of training for Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe.

This week on Cycling Weekly, we've covered how Mattie Dodd bagged a place on the Ineos Grenadiers new development team, compiled a list of our soundest winter riding advice and interviewed Pete Tong?! But without further ado, here is a week in cycling's social media.

1. XDS Astana who? These three are the season’s latest rockstars. One word: dapper.

2. FDJ United-SUEZ are working hard. So hard, their bodies have gone awry. “We really surfed so hard today that even our bodies turned its back on us…” wrote Demi Vollering under the post.

3. Lorena Wiebes’ January is off to a great start: freshly made flat whites and home workouts galore.

4. It’s ten years since Vic Williamson fractured her neck and back, dislocated her pelvis and slipped a disc before the Rio Olympics in 2016. The 32-year-old is now retiring from cycling and her second love, bobsleigh.

5. Alison Jackson is missing something for her maple leaf bike…

6. Floortje Mackaij has picked up more than a tan at the Tour Down Under after coming 32nd in the Australian race.

7. It’s a whole new world for Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe as they adapt to life down under: left-side rules, kangaroos and lots of marmite.

8. Matt Stephens returns to his policing roots on the lanes of Cheshire, with a tour of Dame Laura Kenny’s life in the latest Sigma Sports Cafe Ride.

9. This sends a shiver down my spine. Riding in the mud is the best fun? Though that pizza does look delicious.

In the final kilometre of stage three of the 2026 Tour Down Under, everything was still on the line. Noemi Rüegg of EF Education-Oatly, the defending champion, was present, but vastly outnumbered. She had fought to stay with three UAE Team ADQ riders – Mavi García, Dominika Włodarczyk, and Paula Blasi – over the final ascent of the Corkscrew climb, but there was still an imbalance.

Rüegg, thanks to bonus seconds, only needed to finish with the group to win the race overall, but it was not an easy assignment, especially after a testing time in the kilometres leading up to this point.

She had been distanced on the first time up the climb after Garcia and Włodarczyk went clear, along with Sarah Van Dam (Visma-Lease a Bike), but thanks to the work of her team, especially world champion Magdeleine Vallieres, Rüegg got back to the front of the race. Now it was just a question of timing.

With the three UAE riders looking spent after their afternoon of attacking riding, Rüegg was able to sprint to a clear victory in Campbelltown, looking every inch the deserving winner.

That was the climax, but there was more that occurred on the other side of the world this weekend that you should know about.

Rüegg and EF Education-Oatly mean business

There isn't much of a better way to announce your arrival as a Women's WorldTour team as winning a race at the first opportunity, but that's what EF Education-Oatly did, through Noemi Rüegg.

The Swiss rider timed her sprint to perfection in the end to defend the ochre jersey, but her being there was thanks to the stellar work of her teammates in Australia: Henrietta Christie, Magdeleine Vallieres, Stina Kagevi and Alice Towers. Vallieres, the world champion, put the team in front of any ambitions she had to star on stage three, and it paid off handsomely.

The American team is young, and full of talent, and their year is off to a flyer. Expect them to continue with their aggressive riding through the season, and keep your eyes on them – they're hard to miss anyway, in that pink.

Canadian cycling is in rude health

Vallieres is world champion and helped her teammate to victory, but there was another Canadian who impressed on stage three: Visma-Lease a Bike's Sarah Van Dam, who, in her first race for her new Dutch team, finished fifth overall after briefly looking like a potential winner.

The 24-year-old raced for CERATIZIT last year, and hardly went beneath the radar, finishing third overall at Itzulia Women and fifth at the Tour of Britain Women. However, Van Dam showed how she is one to watch in 2026 Down Under, at the front of the race on the Corkscrew.

While Visma remain led by Marianne Vos and Pauline Ferrand-Prévot, Van Dam will offer another option for the Dutch squad this season.

Wollaston continues to be more than a pure sprinter

Stage one played out exactly how FDJ United-SUEZ wanted it, with Ally Wollaston dominantly sprinting to victory after a flat day. However, the Kiwi's win on stage two reminded all that she is more than a pure sprinter, with a stage win after 2,000m of climbing.

The 25-year-old has form, winning the Tour of Britain Women last year, but with two victories to kickstart her 2026, expect her to challenge at a variety of races this season. Wollaston seems strong on tough days, so could well be an option when the Classics come around.

FDJ United-SUEZ, meanwhile, look to have real strength in depth across the team.

Australia left empty-handed again

For the second successive year, there was no Australian winner at the Tour Down Under. In fact, the second successive year that there was no Australian in the top-three on any stage either.

Amanda Spratt (Lidl-Trek), in her retirement year, finished seventh overall, but the next best Australian was Ruby Roseman-Gannon (Liv AlUla Jayco) in 20th.

For Liv AlUla Jayco in particular, the lack of success at their home race must sting. Australian riders should have the advantage, given the TDU comes in their summer, on their roads, and after their National Championships.

The nation that produced Spratt, Grace Brown and Chloe Hosking, and more recently Neve Bradbury and Sarah Gigante, will have to wait another year for a win.

Josie Nelson points way forward for Picnic

Picnic PostNL had a major reshuffle ahead of 2026, losing Marta Cavalli to retirement, and Charlotte Kool, Franzi Koch, Megan Jastrab, Francesco Barale and Nienke Vinke to other teams.

However, they left their first race of the season reasonably happy, with two podium finishes through Josie Nelson, and 12th overall too. The 23-year-old is already into her third season with the Dutch team, but showed signs last year that she was close to a big result, which has continued this year.

The rider from Lichfield is something of an all-rounder, and will work well alongside fellow Brit Pfeiffer Georgi. As a relatively inexperienced team, Picnic PostNL will use the early-season success to keep them rolling on, and hope that Nelson will break through to victory.

As we hit January, it is more than the time for pro cycling teams to release their new kits for 2026. For some, this is the best part of the year, before the reality of racing gets involved, when we can just imagine how good the jerseys will look on the road.

Rather than writing up each team individually, we thought it would work better if we collated them together, unless someone does something mad. When all the kits are out, we can do our usual arbitrary evaluation of them too, so do look out for that. In this guide, we will cover all the WorldTour teams, and notable other squads, but not all, otherwise it will get a bit overwhelming, apart from particular exceptions.

If you would rather find out which team riders will be appearing for next year, rather than what they will be wearing, you can find that on our comprehensive transfer guide for 2026 too.

Teams have also changed names – Israel-Premier Tech to NSN Cycling, Alpecin-Deceuninck to Alpecin-Premier Tech, and Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale to Decathlon CMA CGM and more – so that will have an impact on the kits too.

While teams will have tried to keep the fresh designs under wraps, a few have leaked into the public domain. However, this list will only have confirmed designs. So far, those who are fans of garish outfits should be pleased.

So far, we are only certain of a few kits for next season, but more will appear in the coming weeks or days. We'll update this as we go!

Picnic PostNL

If I were to play spot the difference, I would be hard pushed with the 2026 Picnic PostNL kit. It remains navy and orange, with the 'Keep Challenging' stripes, and the name is the same too. There are a couple of new sponsors on there, and this is apparently different, but that's it.

As the press release says: "Clear and vibrant amongst the colourful peloton: fans, commentators and pundits alike won’t have to re-adjust for the 2026 campaign as they can expect to see the two orange stripes from those helicopter shots on even the foggiest of days."

Pinarello-Q36.5

It's a continuation of navy for the renamed Pinarello-Q36.5, but no white sleeves this year. Instead, this smart jersey is fully navy, with fancy gold accents. The bikes don't look bad either...

According to Q36.5's founder, Luigi Bergamo: "The new jersey design evolves the visual language we began developing last season to reflect the Italian values of premium, daring, design that we share with Pinarello.

"The result is a kit that allows our riders to feel, from the very first moment they pull on the kit, that they are part of something special and unique: the only team in the professional peloton founded and powered by Italian technical partners. We can’t wait to see this jersey (and our iconic Dottore bib shorts!) racing sharp at the front of the bunch."

Jayco AlUla and Liv AlUla Jayco

MAAP entered WorldTour cycling with their Jayco AlUla and Liv AlUla Jayco kits, and have stuck to their theme from 2025 with this purple – sorry, "Aurora" – jersey, paired with dark grey shorts.

The new addition is the flame motif, which stretches to the socks, which is a bit of fun.

MAAP's creative director, Misha Glisovic, said: "MAAP has always been driven to push the boundaries. It’s core to who we are and how we see our place in the sport. We want to use design to broaden the appeal of pro cycling, nudging the sport towards something more stylish and aspirational. Ultimately, we want to be true to our values at MAAP, and GreenEDGE shares this vision."

Human Powered Health

Women's WorldTour squad Human Powered Health have partnered with Verge Sport for their new kit. The new design keeps the orange/red/purple that we have become used to for the team, but in a new pattern, which is called 'Tailwind'. It's designed "to embody speed, motion, and momentum".

The press release says the jersey has a "rich, sweeping warm-to-cool colour gradient that represents Human Powered Health’s Pillars of Performance". It'll be paired with black shorts.

Lotto-Intermarché

The newly merged Lotto-Intemarché go with the red of Lotto for 2026. The kit is a dark-ish red, paired with black shorts, and there isn't really too much more to say about it. It's smart!

According to the statement: "In terms of colour, both main sponsors, Intermarché and Lotto, were already allies: their brand colours red and black dominate the design. The meaningful, subtle fingerprint pattern further strengthens the bold look."

Bahrain Victorious

Bahrain Victorious have been red, orange, purple, and white, but never blue. That changes in 2026, when the team, now riding Bianchi bikes, will be in navy blue with teal sleeves.

The press release reveals deeper meanings: "At the heart of the kit sits a deep navy, a colour that has been part of the team’s identity since its foundation. Subtly woven into the design is a faint “X” that crosses the jersey, the Roman numeral representing ten years in the sport.

"On the sleeves of the jersey, Bianchi’s iconic Celeste is distinctly featured, perfectly matching the shallow blue waters and teal tones that represent Bahrain’s two seas."

Visma-Lease a Bike

The men and women of Visma-Lease a Bike will continue in yellow for 2026, wearing a kit made by Nimbl, who are more known for their cycling shoes.

According to Francesco Matrone, graphic designer at Nimbl: "In a WorldTour context, design must be essential, intentional, and instantly recognizable. One of our key goals was to create a visual identity that's identifiable at speed and reflects performance and clarity. It must be unmistakably Visma-Lease a Bike. Every graphic element is functional, integrated, and designed to perform under pressure.”

EF Pro Cycling

EF Education–EasyPost and EF Education–Oatly will remain pink next year, but have switched kit suppliers from Rapha to Assos.

Assos says the 2026 kit reflects a "forward-looking mindset" with a "bold colour palette" that evolves EF Pro Cycling’s unmistakable visual identity while introducing "a new, almost other-worldly energy to the peloton."

The silver bits are fun, and pink is always good to me – I just wonder what's going to happen when the Giro d'Italia comes around.

Alpecin-Premier Tech and Fenix-Premier Tech

It's a brand new name for Alpecin-Premier Tech and Fenix-Premier Tech – no more Deceuninck – but not a completely new kit, with similar vibes for the WorldTour and Women's WorldTour teams. The men's team has a kit made by Kalas, which is the same blue as before, more or less, but with a bit more of a light grading across the chest.

The women's team, meanwhile, wear a kit made by Alé, which is pretty similar to the orange of 2025, and there doesn't seem to be the green and blue options from before.

Canyon-SRAM zondacrypto

Canyon-SRAM zondacrypto are usually found in a bold, colourful kit, and next season is no different. This is Luminous, designed by Mckenzie Sampson and made by Canyon. It takes a dark purple base and merges it with turquoise, pink, coral and red.

Sampson said: "I’ve always found Canyon-SRAM zondacrypto to be an aspiring light within the peloton. They’re a team that gives a unique platform to a diverse set of riders across the globe to get their big break in cycling. To visually illustrate that sense of light and hope, we wanted the kit design to be bold yet convey the right balance of contrasting light, unique patterns, and rich saturated moments of colour."

AG Insurance-Soudal

AG Insurance-Soudal have mostly the same kit as their brother team Soudal Quick-Step, just with different sponsors. There is a new logo, too: Datashift, a Belgian leader in data solutions and strategy.

It's a blue base, with green accents across, with a white band across the chest for AG Insurance.

Ineos Grenadiers

There was rumour and speculation that it might happen, but now it is official... Ineos Grenadiers will be wearing WHITE yes WHITE shorts next season. Well, it's technically 'light grey', but come on.

Orange is the main colour on the jersey for the first time, after various blues and reds, but it is the white that stands out. It's as striking, if not more so, as AG2R's famous brown shorts, and we wonder how the riders are feeling about it...

The press release says: "The design was created with a clear purpose: immediate recognition. The exclusive use of this orange ensures a striking presence in the peloton, while the white panels on the lower sections add balance and clarity, allowing the leading colour to shine with harmonious strength. The result is a sophisticated, functional and memorable kit."

Apparently: "Orange is the new uniqueness. Orange is the new icon." Read our opinion on it here.

Soudal Quick-Step

It's evolution not revolution for Soudal Quick-Step in 2026, who have a similar kit to this season, but green rather than white as the accent colour, along with the classic blue.

According to the team: "The new design incorporates a vivid electric-lime element, a deliberate move inspired by the Shine for Safety visibility campaign launched during this year’s Ardennes Classics."

There is a lot more green on the back, which will help them stand out, apparently. It's a nice wavy pattern. The kit is designed and made by Castelli.

FDJ United-SUEZ

If you're thinking "I've seen this kit before", you would be right. FDJ United-SUEZ will be wearing their 2025 Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift kit full-time next year. It's largely black, with an explosion of red and blue on the chest.

The press release says about the Gobik kit: "The jersey reflects the unseen hours of the sport: training sessions before dawn, rides in the rain, the fear and doubts of a jour sans. In contrast, a vivid halo of light rises on the chest, symbolising the inner spark that transforms sacrifice into brilliance at the moment of victory.

Demi Vollering won't be in this kit, given the Dutchwoman is European champion.

UAE Team Emirates-XRG

UAE Team Emirates-XRG rarely mix the colour palette up too much, and 2026 will be no different – it's largely white, with black and red trim, but it definitely has changed since last season.

The Pissei kit, handcrafted at the brand's Italian Custom Lab, has some fun geometric patterns on the stormach of the jersey, with black on the arms too. Don't expect to see Tadej Pogačar in this one, however, considering he is world champion.

Movistar

It's a second year in a row in white for Movistar, who have ditched the navy box across the chest for this cleaner offering. There is the classic M on the front, and some accents across the rest of the front.

Apparently: "Gobik sought a futuristic aesthetic, an evolution that projects innovation and performance on a white base. Technological textures, iridescent graphics and subtle transparencies were combined to create a striking design that reflects the identity and avant-garde spirit of the team." Avant-garde. Right.

Lidl-Trek

Lidl-Trek's kit is different. Definitely. There's less red on the front, more blue, and there's a new sponsor on the front, but it is, essentially, the same as last year. There's nothing wrong with that! It's a good kit! "Our favourite colours" is what the team said. Keep it simple. The men and women use the same kit, which is good.

The team say: "With a fresh twist on a fan-favorite design, Santini have delivered again with the 2026 Lidl-Trek kit. Pairing the ultimate fabrics with playful colours, the latest design delivers looks as well as performance."

Decathlon CMA CGM

Sadly, there's no exciting bumf to go with the new Decathlon CMA CGM kit, but with a new name comes a new colour - red. The brown shorts are sadly still in the dustbin of history, with new sponsors CMA CGM bringing the new colour. One sleeve is still teal (?) while the other is a lot darker, rather than the dark blue it was before.

Red Bull-Bora-hansgrohe

Now, Red Bull-Bora-hansgrohe's kit is yet to be officially announced, but seeing as all the riders in the plane stunt were wearing a new kit, let's assume this is the new one for 2026. It's a lot whiter than before, with royal blue sleeves, and less navy. It is similar to the special kit they used at the Tour de France this season.

SD Worx-Protime

SD Worx-Protime have veered away from the purple and pinks of recent years, and instead will race in this primary colour-heavy jersey which is called "New Dawn"

It's designed by Specialized, and is paired with black shorts. Notably, Lotte Kopecky will be racing in it, no longer being world, European, or Belgian champion, for once.

According to the press release: "The new jersey reflects the team’s and sponsors’ ongoing drive for innovation. Standing still is not an option – continuously reinventing ourselves in every aspect is a core value at SD Worx-Protime. The new design symbolises our rich history through the spark, now multiplied and displayed in various shades. This emphasises the team’s slogan: we spark success."

NSN Cycling

The team formerly known as Israel-Premier Tech have become NSN Cycling, and will be wearing a busy kit next season, with a base of sky blue and orange. The jury is out over whether this will be easy to notice or to lose in the peloton. They're also riding Scott bikes now.

If you want to know why it looks like this, the press release says: "It's designed by Stijn Dossche of stycle.design, is inspired by the Mediterranean city from which the team’s new identity has been forged.

"Its design blends geometry, colour blocks, and patterns reminiscent of contemporary Barcelona - a city that never stands still, where tradition meets modernity, where Mediterranean light becomes art, and movement becomes identity."

Just in time for the Tour de France Grand Départ in July, then – that's in Barça.

Groupama-FDJ United

Another new name, though less dramatic, is Groupama-FDJ United. The French stalwarts are slow to change their kits, normally, and the same is true next year. It's the fetching number they wore at this year's Tour, although it's now made by Bioracer rather than Alé. Essentially, it's royal blue with a red accent sleeve.

Cofidis

Cofidis are another French team barely changing their kit for 2026. The men's and women's teams, now both ProTeams, will use the same red and yellow jersey as this season, although the shades might have been slightly altered, and the sponsors have moved around a bit.

The JGCC road race, a regional event in the west of Scotland, doesn’t tend to make headlines. Starting at a bowling club outside Kilmarnock, it loops eight times around a circuit, and costs £25 to enter. You won't find any elite riders on the start list. Instead, the field consists of amateurs representing their local clubs, open to those with cat-two licenses down to cat-four. It was here that Lauren Dickson made her racing debut last year.

A former triathlete, the Scot turned up a total stranger to cycling events. She chose to enter the ‘open’ race, not realising it would be primarily male. “In triathlon, you’re never in a bunch of like 80 people travelling at 40kph. It was a big shock,” she says. “But the actual racing side of it I loved.”

She didn’t know it at the time, but her 44th place – out of 50 finishers – would mark the beginning of a meteoric trajectory through the ranks.

This August, just 16 months after her maiden race, Dickson announced she had signed a two-year contract with FDJ-SUEZ – the number-one ranked Women's WorldTour squad, led by Demi Vollering – joining from 2026. At 25 years old, she will become a professional athlete for the first time in her life.

“The team’s style of racing and ambition really drew my attention, obviously as well as their impressive results on the world stage,” Dickson tells Cycling Weekly. “It’s really nice to know that people believe in you and see a purpose and development pathway for your strengths.”

Dickson’s strengths lay in other sports as a child. Raised in Edinburgh in an active family, she represented Great Britain in duathlon and mountain running as a junior. Her friends then turned her onto triathlon when she was 14, and two years later she began competing, dedicating herself to the sport while at university.

Her introduction to road cycling, she says, came courtesy of her partner, Picnic PostNL’s Sean Flynn, who she started dating in high school. “I think the first time I rode with him I would have been 17, and I couldn’t take a bottle out of the bottle cage,” Dickson laughs.

“There’s quite a famous climb [near where we live], and I did like the seventh best time on the all-time list. My boyfriend’s housemates asked what kind of power I’d done and how much I weighed. Then they worked it out, and they were like, ‘You should try some bike racing.’ I’d always been kind of nervous to try.”

After her debut at the JGCC road race in April 2024, Dickson went searching for more. She signed up for four regional races the following month, winning two of them, and jumping from cat-four to cat-three, which allowed her to enter National A races. Come July, she was on the podium of a National Road Series round in Lancaster, her second place turning the heads of Britain’s Continental teams. She joined Handsling Alba Development Road Team three days later.

“Once Bob [Lyons, team boss] took me on after Lancaster GP – I’d tried to persuade him before to no avail – Alba took me straight to the Continent to give me an experience of European racing and see how I fared in a peloton of 150 riders,” Dickson says.

“Jumping in at the deep end straight away meant I knew what to expect this year and could focus my training appropriately over winter.”

2025 would end up being a breakthrough season for the Scot. She rode against WorldTour teams in Belgium in the spring, finished runner-up in a French one-day race, and then went to the Rapha Lincoln Grand Prix, the UK scene’s flagship race, as her team’s leader.

“I was really lucky in that we had Kate Richardson on our team, and she'd won last year, so she told me where she'd attacked,” she remembers. This time, Dickson launched her own move on the steep finishing climb, and soloed to her first National Road Series win.

FDJ-SUEZ had already been monitoring Dickson by Lincoln, with team boss Stephen Delcourt “impressed right from the start of the season”. “She doesn’t fit the traditional profile,” Delcourt said, “and that’s what makes this challenge all the more exciting and inspiring.”

After Lincoln, Dickson’s form rolled on. Third at June’s Tour of Norway brought a milestone stage race podium. She then made her WorldTour event debut at the Tour of Britain, before going on to finish fifth at the British National Championships, as the highest placed Continental-level rider.

“If I think about how nervous I was to race abroad in Belgium for my first UCI race last year, and how much calmer I am now on the start line, it’s been pretty crazy to get so much experience in a short time,” Dickson says.

As she now reflects on the speed of that 16-month journey, she says it’s “hard to describe – it feels natural yet exciting.”

Announcing her FDJ-SUEZ contract last week, Dickson was met with a flood of messages saying how deserved the move is. Already, she has met one of her future team-mates, Ally Wollaston, for coffee, and has received a race programme for her first season. “Getting experience in different WorldTour races will be important,” she says.

What’s she looking forward to the most? “Everything,” she replies. “It’s tough to choose one aspect. I think just being part of an ambitious and supportive team where I can learn from riders with a lot of experience and push myself to step up further.”

The WorldTour, she knows, will be a far cry from the JGCC road race. But that bowling club outside Kilmarnock, the race HQ where she picked up her first bib numbers, will always be where it all started.

Demi Vollering is one of women's cycling's A-list stars, with a palmarès containing everything from major Classics to the Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift.

A superb all-round rider in the mould of the great Annemiek van Vleuten, Vollering excels in the hilly stage races and Classics. She spent much of her career at the high-achieving SD Worx team, before switching to French set-up FDJ-Suez for 2025.

She has also been open about her mental health difficulties, which on occasion have come to the fore in high-pressure race scenarios.

But she remains super popular with fans and continues to compete at the highest level – there are almost certainly many more victories to come for the Dutch rider.

1. Demi is not her full name – she was born Adriana Geertruida Vollering.

2. Vollering has always ridden bikes, but also has a speed skating background. She used cycling as part of her skating training, before ditching the ice to concentrate on bike racing.

3. Her sisters Bodine and Nena are also bike racers, with Bodine having just signed a pro contract with the VolkerWessels team.

4. She took her first victory the year she turned pro, winning the very short and sweet prologue at the Festival Elsy Jacobs. She also placed third at Liège-Bastogne-Liège and fifth at Flèche Wallonne. Not a bad start.

5. Vollering is an animal lover and has a dog called Flo, one of the rare stabyhoun breed. Flo often appears on her social media posts – sometimes in a backpack as she rides.

6. She is an avid practitioner of yoga and uses it regularly as part of her cycling preparation and recovery, both mental and physical.

7. Her family has a background in the flower industry selling hydrangeas, and Vollering herself is qualified in flower design and worked as a florist before turning pro.

8. One of Vollering's personal creeds is 'Move to Dream'. "When we move… we shake off the noise. We feel strong, alive and inspired," she says on her personal website.

9. She has spoken openly about her mental health, specifically her struggles with anxiety during last year's Tour de France Femmes, where she felt overwhelmed by pressure.

10. After an emotional victory on stage five of this year's Vuelta España Femenina, she dedicated the win to "all the people out there who are finding it tough mentally", in a nod to her own struggles.

11. Vollering excels in stage races, and her GC win tally in smaller such events stretches into double figures.

12. She has won both the Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift and the Vuelta Femenina, but has not ridden the Giro d'Italia Women since 2021, when she took her best result – third overall.

13. Switzerland has become her home. She moved there early in her career and finds the mountains perfect for training. "I'm loving the Swiss life," she has said.

14. She is probably best known for the time she spent at the SD Worx team, and more recently FDJ-Suez. But her first pro contract was with the Dutch Parkhotel-Valkenberg outfit, with whom she rode in 2019 and 2020, notching up two wins.

15. Vollering has been known to venture off road, and as well as being spotted riding a mountain bike on her social media, has ridden the Gravel World Championships – she was third in 2023 behind winner Kasia Niewiadoma and runner-up Silvia Persico.

16. At the 2023 Strade Bianche, during a solo break, a horse ran on to the course in front of Vollering, who could be heard to scream. However, she eventually passed the errant animal without incident, and went on to win at, um, a canter.

17. She is engaged to long-term partner Jan de Voogd, who is also her manager.

18. Vollering has won numerous races more than once, but she is perhaps most successful at the Itzulia Basque Country stage race. In four editions she has won seven of 12 available stages and won three times.

19. Her professional win tally reached the half-century mark this year (2025) when she won the Vuelta Femenina in May.

20. She loves the outdoors – not just cycling but also cross-country skiing and hiking too. Beyond the physical challenge, she says it helps balance her mentally.

21. An Olympic veteran, Vollering competed on the road at both the Tokyo 2021 and Paris 2024 Games, with her best result fifth in the Paris time trial.

Demi Vollering’s continuation in th oTour de France Femmes avec Zwift hangs in the balance after a heavy crash in the final kilometres of Stage 3 left the race favourite battered, and awaiting medical clearance to stay in the fight for yellow.

Late on Monday evening, her team revealed that Vollering had not been taken to a hospital but that further medical tests, including a second concussion protocol, will be conducted on Tuesday morning.

“These [test] results will enable Demi and the team to confirm whether or not she will be at the start line tomorrow,” FDJ-SUEZ announced.

Stage 3 saw the peloton tackle the second-longest stage of this year's Tour with a relatively flat 163 kilometres between La Gacilly and Angers. After a four-rider breakaway was caught within the final 8 kilometres, a full peloton headed into the finishing town preparing for a sprint showdown.

As reported earlier, the crash happened just 3.7km from the finish line, as the peloton surged through a fast, narrowing bend en route to a sprint finale.

A large number of riders hit the deck in the pile-up, including Puck Pieterse (Fenix-Deceuninck), Chloe Dygert (Canyon-SRAM), and Elisa Balsamo (Lidl-Trek). But it was last year’s runner-up, Vollering, who was among the last to rise from the tangle, visibly shaken and slow to get to her feet.

With a torn kit and evident pain, Vollering remounted with the help of her teammates, who surrounded and supported her all the way to the finish line, even pushing her along at times.

The 5km safety zone was in effect for the sprint stage, which means that Vollering hasn't lost any time in the General Classification, but the physical toll was apparent.

“She has pain in her knee, pain in her glutes, and pain in her back," FDJ-SUEZ manager Stephen Delcourt tallied up.

Initial assessments by the team doctor revealed multiple contusions but ruled out the need for a hospital visit. Vollering also underwent an evaluation for a suspected concussion.

“She’s really positive and wants to continue, but we just need time,” said Delcourt.

As evening fell, the team issued a statement confirming that follow-up tests scheduled for Tuesday morning will determine whether Vollering is able to continue in the race.

Stage 4 is another sprint day for the peloton. The pack will traverse the 130 kilometres between Saumur and Poitiers.

There is just one categorised climb, the Côte de Marigny (0.9km at 5.4%), which comes at 29km from the finish. But unless a breakaway manages to stay away, another sprint finish is likely.

18 teams are set to participate in the second edition of the Tour of Britain Women in June, with 12 Women's WorldTour squads set to headline the start list, British Cycling announced on Thursday afternoon.

According to a release from the national governing body, 108 riders will take part in what is set to be the largest field in the event’s history. SD Worx-Protime - the team of last year’s winner, Lotte Kopecky - are one of the 12 WorldTour teams set to race, along with FDJ-Suez and a host of other major teams.

As well as SD Worx and FDJ-Suez, the other teams from the top level of women’s professional cycling on the startlist are AG Insurance-Soudal, Canyon-SRAM zondacrypto, Ceratizit, Lidl-Trek, Movistar, Picnic PostNL, Visma-Lease a Bike, UAE Team ADQ and Uno-X Mobility. All five of the British registered UCI Continental teams - Smurfit Westrock, Hess Cycling, Das Hutchinson, Handsling Alba Development and CJ O'Shea Racing are set to compete, along with EF Education-Oatly, and a Great Britain squad.

After racing in the last two editions of the race, UAE Team ADQ's Elynor Bäckstedt said she would relish the opportunity to race in front of the British crowds once more: "The UK crowds are incredible, seeing all the kids come out from schools to watch are so special.

"For us as a team it’ll be super important, the course is varied so there is an opportunity for everyone and it will be a great race for us to do and showcase to the world what the UK has to offer."

Taking place between 5 and 8 June, the race will take place in northern England and Scotland, with the southernmost point on the course being North Yorkshire. The final stage will be held in Glasgow on a city centre circuit.

"We are delighted to be bringing some of the world’s best teams and riders to our communities this June as a part of the UCI Women's WorldTour and to showcase the very best of their character and terrain on what will be four challenging stages," Jonathan Day, managing director of British Cycling Events, previously said.

"On behalf of British Cycling Events I would like to pay thanks to our partners across the four stages for supporting the hosting and delivery of this summer's race and enabling us to bring another memorable and action packed four days of world class racing to their communities."

Demi Vollering has played down talk of a rivalry with her old team, SD Worx-Protime, as she prepares to face them in her first races with FDJ-Suez.

The 28-year-old signed for the French squad last October, amid rumours of tension between her and co-leader Lotte Kopecky.

Speaking at a team press conference on Tuesday morning, Vollering said she will not be out for revenge when she meets her former teammates on the road.

“First of all, I don’t see it as a battle between the two teams. I think it’s a battle between the whole peloton,” she said. “I think a lot of teams are stepping up with strong riders, so it’s a very nice spread this coming season. I think we will have competitors in all kinds of teams in the peloton at the moment.

“It doesn’t feel for me like I want to take revenge on [SD Worx-Protime] or something, because I left there with good feelings. It’s not that I want to take revenge on them. Of course, we want to win from them, but that’s another thing.”

The Dutchwoman will begin her season this Thursday at the four-stage Setmana Ciclista Valenciana. There, she is expected to ride against SD Worx-Protime’s Anna van der Breggen, her former coach, who is returning to racing after three years of retirement.

Her first meeting with Kopecky is scheduled to be Milan-San Remo, the inaugural edition for women, on 22 March.

“All the public want a big fight,” said FDJ-Suez manager Stephen Delcourt about the prospect of facing SD Worx-Protime. “As Demi says, it’s not a fight between SD Worx and us, because if we think about that, for sure the two teams will lose a lot.

“Everyone says, ‘FDJ-Suez is a smart team. They’re a French team. They’re not a killer team.’ But we don’t want to kill the others, we just want to win and create something together.”

Riding for SD Worx-Protime last year, Vollering collected 15 wins – all at WorldTour level – including the overall at the Vuelta Femenina, Itzulia Women and the Tour de Suisse. She also won two stages of the Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift, eventually missing out on retaining her yellow jersey by just four seconds.

Now, as she heads into her FDJ-Suez debut, Vollering said she feels “much more ready than what I felt last year”.

“This winter was way more relaxed, way more calm. Last winter, I had so many decisions I needed to make, so much stress I had in that period,” she said.

“I already feel very much at home in the team. It was of course really scary to join a new team with so many new people around me, but the first camps made it easy because I felt fast in my place. Everybody was really nice and it’s just a very relaxed atmosphere, nothing to prove.

"Of course, the Tour de France is always a very big goal of mine, and also the team now, of course. It's a really nice goal to work together towards, but there will be other goals also on the road already. First the other goals, and then of course, the big goal."

Specialized has announced a new partnership with women’s WorldTour team FDJ-Suez which will start in 2025.

With relationships with SD Worx-Protime and AG Insurance-Soudal in place, the American brand will now supply bikes to three teams on the WorldTour at the top level of women’s professional cycling.

The move also means that Dutch superstar Demi Vollering, winner of the Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift in 2023, will also remain on S-Works bikes after moving to the French team from SD Worx in October.

According to a press release from Specialized, the likes of Vollering and Juliette Labous will “benefit from top-tier cycling technology as well as Specialized’s expertise and support in developing high-performance bikes” next year.

"We are extremely proud to enter into this collaboration with Specialized, an undisputed leader in the cycling world," said FDJ team boss Stephen Delcourt. "This partnership represents a tremendous opportunity for our team to reach new heights by combining our strengths and expertise to achieve our ambitious goals.

"This is a relationship built on trust, driven by innovation, and dedicated to supporting the ambitions of our athletes and the sport of cycling as a whole."

In October, the team announced the end of an eight-year partnership with bike brand Lapierre. The switch came as the men's team, Groupama-FDJ, swapped from Lapierre to Wilier after 22 years with the French manufacturer.

Specialized's Scott Jackson said: "FDJ-SUEZ immediately impressed us with their dynamic international approach to racing, bold vision for the future and rich history in French cycling.

"Together, we look forward to elevating the future of women’s sport, driving innovation, and sharing our passion to pedal the planet forward."

The acquisition of Vollering in the autumn represented a massive coup for FDJ after SD Worx boss Danny Stam revealed in March that the Dutchwoman’s contract would not be extended.

"This is a great day and a new step for the team. Demi is an immense champion and we can't wait to work on her development and see her compete in the team's blue white and red jersey," Delcourt said in October when the signing of Vollering was confirmed.

"With our sponsors, FDJ and SUEZ, as well as our historical partners, we have been working for several years to build a competitive world team on a healthy and stable foundation. Let's ride."

After months of speculation, the 2023 Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift winner Demi Vollering has joined FDJ-Suez, the team has confirmed.

The Dutchwoman, who spent the past four seasons with SD Worx-Protime, will begin riding for the French team from 2025 onwards. She will join her new teammates on a training camp this autumn, and will remain with the team for two years, until the end of 2026.

In a press release shared on Monday, Vollering said she “immediately had a good feeling” after her first meeting with FDJ-Suez.

“I couldn't get the smile off my face,” she said. “I'm happy to be embarking on this adventure, to experience something new and to rediscover myself in this team. I've always liked the collective fighting spirit of FDJ-SUEZ and its attacking mentality during races. We're going to have a great team and I'm convinced that great things await us.”

Vollering’s departure from SD Worx-Protime was first rumoured in March this year, when team manager Danny Stam told GCN that the rider’s contract would not be extended.

The Dutchwoman finished this year as the second best cyclist in the UCI world rankings, behind her current teammate Lotte Kopecky.

She recently finished second in the time trial at the UCI Road World Championships, having won the Vuelta Femenina and finished second at the Tour de France Femmes this year.

In 2023, Vollering completed a historic treble at the Ardennes Classics, winning Amstel Gold Race, La Flèche Wallonne and Liège-Bastogne-Liège.

Commenting on the team’s new signing, FDJ-Suez general manager Stephen Delcourt said: “This is a great day and a new step for the team. Demi is an immense champion and we can't wait to work on her development and see her compete in the team's blue white and red jersey.

“With our sponsors, FDJ and SUEZ, as well as our historical partners, we have been working for several years to build a competitive world team on a healthy and stable foundation. Let's ride.”

Vollering is one of six new signings for FDJ-Suez for 2025, alongside Juliette Labous, Elise Chabbey, Ally Wollaston, Eglantine Rayer and Célia Gery.

At the end of this season, the team will lose three of its most successful riders in the retiring Olympic and world time trial champion Grace Brown, Marta Cavalli, and Cecilie Uttrup Ludwig, who is joining Canyon-SRAM.

It's quite a luxury, when you think about it, to have two of the best riders on one team at the first race of the year. To have not just the defending champion of a race on your team, but the rider who was the seventh-best in the world last year, according to the UCI's rankings anyway.

FDJ-Suez did not come to this year's Women's Tour Down Under to win with Cecilie Uttrup Ludwig. In fact, before the race the Dane was talking down her appearance at this race, suggesting that she was here to help Grace Brown win, and to prepare for bigger goals down the line. 

Therefore, when Brown, the defending champion, faltered on stage two of the Australian race, it could have been all over for FDJ-Suez. However, the presence of Uttrup Ludwig, a Tour de France Femmes stage winner, meant that there was no need to panic.

As Nicolas Maire, FDJ-Suez's directeur sportif put it post-stage: "Plan B was also good."

It was good for him and the team, and puts Uttrup Ludwig in pole position ahead of Sunday's final stage up Willunga Hill. It was quite simple in the end, for the Dane, as she waited until 150m to go of the race's longest ever stage and sprinted to the win. Soraya Paladin (Canyon-SRAM) came in second and Sofia Bertizzolo (UAE Team ADQ) followed in third.

"We had a plan for some time. It didn't go exactly as we wanted," Maire explained. "We wanted to support Grace, she was the winner in the same place in 2019. However, with one lap to go, she told us that she didn't feel so good, so we switched our plan, as we had Cecilie, who is good on a finish like this. 

"Plan B was also good. It's a bit sad for Grace as we are in Australia for her, and we were up for her to defend the title, but we have Cecilie in a good position now, so it's nice as well."

"In the beginning, Grace felt good, which is why we went for the intermediate sprint, where she got third," Uttrup Ludwig said. "After that, she said she wasn't feeling good when we came into the circuit, so with one lap to go she told me to go for it. We changed the plan, and I was happy to execute it."

With the ochre leader's jersey on her shoulders, the 28-year-old will hope to win the race overall. All that's in her way is a final stage and the ominous presence of Willunga Hill, a first for the event.

"I don't know what she is able to do, she is able [to win] when she is at her top shape," Maire said. "So the Australian riders have an advantage, but she looks good, and we will fight for this."

The two favourites for tomorrow, and therefore the overall, are the Australians Sarah Gigante (AG Insurance-Soudal) and Amanda Spratt (Lidl-Trek), with the latter being a three-time winner of the Tour Down Under.

"I think those two are the two to follow, they will be super strong," Uttrup Ludwig said. "I think there will be a few surprises actually, and I think it will be a super hard race, especially with the wind. It will be hard before the climb.

"She has good legs at the moment, good enough to do a good sprint anyway," Maire added. "For Willunga, and to fight with Amanda [Spratt], we'll see."

It is a good omen for the Dane's season that she has won already, especially if she is not at her top level yet; a solid Classics campaign beckons, with Uttrup Ludwig seeking to better her regular podium finishes at the top races, from Strade Bianche to the Tour of Flanders.

On Sunday, in Denmark, the Australian-born Princess Mary will become the Queen Consort of Denmark. On Sunday, in Australia, Danish-born Cecilie Uttrup Ludwig might well be crowned queen at the Tour Down Under. It's just unlikely to be a procession.