"WorldTour could implode at some point": Elisa Longo Borghini sounds alarm not to over-rush growth of women's cycling

Women's cycling enjoyed a rapid boom in the last few years. The ladies were long overshadowed by their male counterparts who have been in the spotlight for a century. But that started to quickly shift, also thanks to a new generation of star riders Demi Vollering, Lorena Wiebes and Lotte Kopecky who fight fierce battles with long-standing leaders of the sport in Marianne Vos, Kasia Niewiadoma and Elisa Longo Borghini. But the question is; wasn't the "sudden rise" over-rushed, sacrificing something in the progress?

In an interview with Cyclingnews, the Italian champion Longo Borghini expresses her fear that the foundations of the sport could collapse, undercutting the biggest races, causing the WorldTour races to collpase alongside. Or as she says starkly, "I'm afraid that the WorldTour could implode at some point - but let's see."

That it's not just a conspiracy Longo Borghini made up on a whim is evidenced by a number of examples. Among them the concerning amount of smaller/mid-sized teams and races ceasing to exist under the financial and structural pressures that are required to keep up with the rapid pace of women cycling's development recently.

"I would love that the small squads will not disappear because that's the main issue we have," the UAE Team ADQ rider claims. "The WorldTour is growing, drastically, but then the small teams are collapsing and disappearing, and this means that amongst the young riders, not so many can survive."

That in itself is not a critical issue which cannot be solved. WWT teams, and also other stakeholders need to begin to invest back down into maintenance of development structures. Not just the popular development teams as we know them from male peloton, but also into organizing smaller races. The under-23 scene is also still being overlooked to an extent. Longo Borghini points out that not every talented rider is ready to take a step up to WorldTour directly from juniors.

"Maybe you risk losing some talent just because from junior to elite is a big step, and you never know, maybe somebody is already ready after the second year in juniors to step into the elite category, but someone else is a little bit behind, and they need some years to adapt."

"So you are in a small team, and you have the possibility to do like a nice calendar, then you can develop. Otherwise," she states categorically, "you lose a lot of talent."

"I don't want to be misinterpreted, because it's absolutely stunning that more teams are investing in a women's squad, for example AG Insurance or Fenix. A lot of teams have a strong roster and are putting more effort into women's cycling and stuff like that. So that's definitely a good trend."

Not only that, but there is an equally troublesome issue with races. "It's exactly the same as the small teams. They are disappearing a lot," Longo Borghini says, which creates a vicious circle of fewer opportunities to race and fewer sponsors as a result.