Women’s teams will struggle to fill race rosters under new rules, teams fear

“That’s not getting the level of cycling higher,” a move to seven woman squads could put too much pressure on teams and riders

The four woman Team SDWorx celebrate Ashleigh Moolman-Pasio's Tour de Romandie Féminin GC victory
The four woman Team SDWorx celebrate Ashleigh Moolman-Pasio's Tour de Romandie Féminin GC victory
(Image credit: Bas Czerwinski/Getty Images)

Even the world's top teams will struggle to fill rosters for top stage races under new rules introduced by the UCI they fear.

Teams are to be expanded to seven riders on WorldTour stage races of six stages or more from next year but staff on multiple teams have told Cycling Weekly they will struggle to meet that requirement and that it may, counter-intuitively, harm the quality of the racing.

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