2025 marked the 10th year of the Women’s WorldTour, first introduced in 2016 as a cohesive, elite-level calendar division, with WorldTour team status introduced in 2020.
When the WorldTour team system was launched – bringing in things like a minimum wage, proper insurance, and maternity rights – the UCI announced their intention to expand the licences to 15 teams in the first three years, to ensure a good portion of the peloton were operating at a professional level, and raise the standard of the sport.
That was until this autumn, with the revelation that – even with the introduction of ProTeams and a healthy promotion and relegation system – the Women’s WorldTour is going to shrink back down to 14 squads, because not enough teams made the cut.
This is the same number of teams we had in 2022, before the first Tour de France Femmes had taken place, a time when – we’re led to believe – women’s cycling was much different, whereas the last three years have ostensibly accelerated the sport to new heights.
But if that’s true, why is the WorldTour taking a backwards step in 2026? Is one fewer team in the WorldTour something to worry about, or just a minor thing? Well, while it might only be one team, and it’s certainly not catastrophic – especially as ProTeams mean we actually have more teams at a professional level – it is something significant and symbolic of some of the concerns rippling under the surface of women’s sport.
The issue facing the Women’s WorldTour
In case you weren’t aware, 2025 marked the end of the current promotion and relegation system for both the men’s and women’s peloton, meaning the licences were going to be renewed and only teams ranked in the top 15 (on the women’s side) would be eligible for a WorldTour license, alongside all the other financial and ethical criteria they have to meet.
On the…
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