The 2025 women’s peloton delivered a season for the ages — Grand Tours decided by seconds, a first-time French Tour champion, landmark Classics victories, and rising stars transforming into genuine headliners. From dominant sprinting to all-terrain mastery and epoch-making GC performances, these six riders defined the campaign.
We’ve shortlisted six standout talents who shaped the narrative of 2025 at the very highest level. Now it’s over to you: who deserves the crown of Women’s Rider of the Season in the CyclingUpToDate End of Year Awards?
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Demi Vollering (FDJ - Suez): 11 wins
Few riders hit the podium so relentlessly in 2025. Vollering’s year was a masterclass in consistency across the full calendar, anchored by a statement win at Strade Bianche — delivered with trademark control and timing on the final climb into Siena and another Grand Tour success at La Vuelta. She later added the European road race title, closing the season as the top-ranked rider in the UCI standings.
Vollering was ever-present at the front of major races, blending tactical sharpness with the strongest all-round engine in the peloton. A complete campaign from one of modern cycling’s defining riders.
A complete rider at the peak of her powers — and one who reminded the world exactly why she remains the woman to beat.
Vollering took the European Championship title in 2025
Marlen Reusser (Movistar Team): 11 wins
A long-awaited world title defined Marlen Reusser’s 2025 season, as she claimed the rainbow jersey in the time trial in Kigali. Having spent years as cycling’s most consistent time trial specialists without the stripes to show for it, the Swiss powerhouse finally seized the moment on the biggest stage.
But her campaign was far more than a single breakthrough. Reusser finished runner-up at the Giro d’Italia Women after opening with a statement time trial victory, and across the year she matched Vollering for versatility — excelling in TTs, stage races, and support roles when required. When the terrain tilted toward pure power, nobody looked stronger.
A season of vindication for one of the most respected riders in the peloton.
Elisa Longo Borghini (UAE Team ADQ): 9 wins
Elisa Longo Borghini’s reign at the Giro d’Italia Women continued in style, as she repeated her 2024 success to retain the maglia rosa after another fiercely fought GC battle. The Italian champion repelled challenges from the world’s best climbers across high mountains, tricky descents and tense time trials, asserting herself as the most reliable Grand Tour performer in women’s cycling.
Consistency was the hallmark — rarely off the podium in stage races and always present when the pace soared. For a rider already regarded as a legend of her generation, 2025 was a reminder that longevity and brilliance can coexist at the very top level.
Longo Borghini took her second successive Giro title in 2025
Lorena Wiebes (Team SD Worx – Protime): 25 wins
The fastest finisher in the women’s peloton only strengthened her grip on the sprinting throne. Lorena Wiebes collected a haul of wins across the calendar, with her statement moment coming at Milano–Sanremo Women — where she sprinted to victory in the return of one of cycling’s most historic races to the women’s calendar.
She backed that up with multiple stage wins and the points classification at the Giro d’Italia Women and the Tour de France Femmes, proving once again that while GC dynasties may ebb and flow, raw speed remains its own form of dominance. In another era she might have had the award locked up.
Pauline Ferrand-Prévot (Team Visma | Lease a Bike): 4 wins
A year that felt like destiny fulfilled. Returning fully to the road calendar, Ferrand-Prévot stormed to victory at Paris–Roubaix Femmes — solo, on the cobbles, in a fashion only champions can — before converting her return into a Tour de France Femmes overall title, etching her name into history as the first French winner of the race since its modern rebirth.
Her season carried both narrative weight and pure sporting brilliance: a multi-discipline legend delivering on the biggest stages of all.
Ferrand-Prévot took a historic Maillot Jaune win at the Tour de France Femmes
Maeva Squiban (UAE Team ADQ): 2 wins
The breakthrough star who went from quiet talent to Tour de France sensation. Squiban’s attacking brilliance lit up July, as she soared to consecutive mountain-top stage wins against elite opposition, transforming herself into France’s newest GC hope.
While her palmares is still building, her performances on the steepest roads and under the brightest lights made her one of the defining riders of 2025 — a rider who changed her level and forced the peloton to take notice.
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Who gets your vote?
From rainbow stripes to historic monuments, the 2025 women’s season delivered heroes everywhere you looked. Now it’s your turn to decide: Who is your Women’s Rider of the Year?
Cast your vote below and let us know who defined the season.
Kieran WoodDeputy Editor-in-Chief
Kieran Wood is a sports journalist based in Wales and has been active in journalism since 2022. He regularly contributes to DartsNews.com and CyclingUpToDate.com, where he covers professional cycling and darts. In cycling, his work includes liveblogs from major races, including the Tour de France, the Giro d’Italia, and La Vuelta a España, alongside race reports and analysis. He has also conducted interviews with professional riders.
His reporting spans the full racing calendar, from one-day classics to stage races, with a focus on accurate, real-time coverage and clear contextual analysis. For statistics, results, and historical context, he regularly uses resources such as ProCyclingStats. To support reporting on rider activity and training context where relevant, he also references Strava.
In his work, Kieran places strong emphasis on careful sourcing, editorial accuracy, and updating articles as new, verified information becomes available.
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- I get the point totally. We live in the snowflake society where some riders forget they are getting paid to ride and get results. When they have a few issues they try to look outside of the real issue instead of themselves. It odd so many of the team are making no complaints and getting on with their job. If you do not like what you do find another job simples. Tough love as my mum would say.paultryan200207-11-2026
- many people advise him to grow slowly and rather do giro and/or vuelta instead of tdf. but i can totally understand that he is not satisfied with taking over once pogi declines, but instead beat him in his prime. so if he goes for tdf again, i‘m all for it. let‘s hope that pogi recovers soon!Ketterechts07-11-2026
- So gracious to offer something no-one would be prepared to pay for. The Giro is not the Tour and doesn’t command the same interest or attract the same “elite” (those willing to pay to be a part of something they consider has ego boosting potential). Roadside viewing will always largely remain free for everyone outside circuits. Introduction of a symbolic entrance to mountain climbs is worthy of exploration. Asking 1-2€ isn’t going to repulse real fans (most will spend 50-100€ on their outing that day all things included) but will prevent a portion of the total knobhead thrillseekers who will join in any large gathering as long as it’s free, just because they’re attracted to crowds, without which it it difficult for them to work up their anti-social behaviour.Jumpyjohn07-11-2026
- How is radio going to help when someone went over a cliff or bridge or off the roadside into a forest unnoticed and is laying there unconscious?Jumpyjohn07-11-2026
- Yep, next we’ll be accusing F1 drivers of avoiding Le Mans.Jumpyjohn07-11-2026
- But on what is that opinion based? Are you holding him to a different standard than others? Are you saying he should do learn to like something he doesn’t Are you saying he hasn’t achieved enough Are you saying he pretends to be better than his results? It’s actually a really strange opinion to oust if you consider it objectively or rationally. Try applying it to others or yourself by asking if not EVERYONE should then be doing more? Nobody in athletics or swimming gets criticism for not expanding their repertoire when a rival or someone else does. In fact, most who move to another event get accused of running from their rival. Opinions are boring, the reasons behind them are what count.Jumpyjohn07-11-2026
- for a medical chief to throw things like is just bad. There are already radios which were banned for spectacle. allow radios. Gps trackers are not a complete solutionabstractengineer07-11-2026
- any rider less than 25 whether they are really ready for the position of leadership of GT is probably not the case. I think Pogi himself suffered when he was defeated by Jonas in the TDF twice. But that would be the team's job to ensure support so that they can bounce back. It requires a team and time to get back up and win after getting knocked down.abstractengineer07-11-2026
- I'm very glad he got the big late Quickstep Vuelta win and I hope he has a few left for Euskaltel-Euskadi.flyer07-11-2026
- My memories of Ivan Basso aren't good but I liked his sister Elisa ok.flyer07-11-2026
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