Was 2025 the best year for women’s cycling yet? It’s a question with an answer which is hard to quantify, but it certainly felt like it.
It was a season that had something for everyone. There were several surprise winners and plenty of break-through performances, historical wins, record viewing figures, and, in modest amounts at least, dominant rides.
There was also a more equitable feel to the peloton after a series of big transfers over the winter, with big star riders now more evenly spread around rather than clustering among several teams – as is the case in men’s cycling.
The dispersal of talent from SD Worx-Protime (Demi Vollering to FDJ-SUEZ, Marlen Reusser to Movistar and Niamh Fisher-Black to Lidl-Trek) played a major part in ensuring that, while Elisa Longo Borghini switched to UAE Team ADQ and two big names – Pauline Ferrand-Prévot and Anna van der Breggen – made their returns.
Early season surprises and Classics tension
The season got off to a strong start with new faces atop the podium, rather than domination by the same list of strong riders.
At the curtain-raising Tour Down Under, there were breakthrough performances during the week in Australia as Noemi Rüegg (EF Education-Oatly) and Silke Smulders (Liv AlUla Jayco) topped the podium, the best Women’s WorldTour results of their young careers.
The opening of the European top-level cycling season also saw new names taking the honours as the day-long breakaway triumphed over the Classics favourites at Omloop Het Nieuwsblad, with Lotte Claes (Arkéa-B&B Hotels Women) beating Aurela Nerlo (Winspace Orange Seal) to take a shock victory.
At the biggest Classics of the spring, there was a different winner in almost every race, with no single rider laying her claim to be the outright queen of the spring.
Pauline Ferrand-Prévot (Visma-Lease a Bike) put in the standout performance of the season with her 19km solo ride to take her first major road victory in a decade at Paris-Roubaix. It was – finally – a home winner for France to savour, and there would be much more to come for both her and her home fans.