Preview World Cycling Championship - women 2025 | Vollering still chasing World Championship gold, but rivals lurking
Women's CyclingMonday, 22 September 2025 at 16:45
From a Dutch perspective, it is perhaps the ultimate race of this World Championship: the elite women's road race on Saturday. With Demi Vollering, the orange jerseys have one of the absolute favorites, who is also supported by a great team. IDLProCycling.com provides you with a detailed preview!
One thing is sure: we will have a new world champion in Kigali. Lotte Kopecky, winner in both 2023 (Glasgow) and 2024 (Zurich), decided on behalf of Belgium at an earlier stage not to travel to the African continent. It is only because Anna van der Breggen is cycling again that there will be any former winners at the start.
Of the last eight World Championships, five have been won by the Netherlands, with two victories for Annemiek van Vleuten, two for Van der Breggen, and one for Chantal van den Broek-Blaak. Will there be another victory in Rwanda?
Practical information 2025 Women's Cycling World Championship
- Saturday, Sept. 27, Kigali (Rwanda)
- Participants
- Classification: World Championship
In this article
- Latest winners
- Parcous, weather and times
- Favorites
- TV information
Latest winners Women's World Cycling Championships
2024 Lotte Kopecky
2023 Lotte Kopecky
2022 Annemiek van Vleuten
2021 Elisa Balsamo
2020 Anna van der Breggen
2019 Annemiek van Vleuten
2018 Anna van der Breggen
2017 Chantal van den Broek-Blaak
2016 Amalie Dideriksen
2015 Elizabeth Deignan
2023 Lotte Kopecky
2022 Annemiek van Vleuten
2021 Elisa Balsamo
2020 Anna van der Breggen
2019 Annemiek van Vleuten
2018 Anna van der Breggen
2017 Chantal van den Broek-Blaak
2016 Amalie Dideriksen
2015 Elizabeth Deignan
2025 Women's Cycling World Championship: Course, weather and times
The women can also prepare themselves for 2025. With 164.6 kilometers and 3,350 meters of climbing, the World Championships may well be the most challenging one-day race ever organized for women. Unlike the men, the women will not be doing a middle loop with the tough Mount Kigali on Sunday, but only eleven laps of 15.1 kilometers on the final circuit.
Continue reading below the photo
The 15.1-kilometer lap will be ridden eleven times first and then six more times in the final after the middle loop. The Côte de Kimihurura (1.3 kilometers at 6.3 percent) and Côte de Kigali Golf (800 meters at 8.1 percent) are the decisive climbs in that loop, the former of which is also littered with rocks. The last kilometer is also quite steep.
All in all, it is a very selective course, as noted by Dutch national coach Laurens ten Dam. The level of the Dutch riders is high; we could have several teams at the start. This means that you also have to disappoint some riders. This 180-kilometer course with 3,000 meters of climbing has to suit you,' he said, explaining his choice of the necessary climbers.
Weather
The weather in Kigali has remained consistent throughout the week and is expected to persist over the weekend, with temperatures of 27 degrees Celsius, occasional sunshine, and a minimal chance of precipitation. The wind will also play virtually no role.
The weather in Kigali has remained consistent throughout the week and is expected to persist over the weekend, with temperatures of 27 degrees Celsius, occasional sunshine, and a minimal chance of precipitation. The wind will also play virtually no role.
Times
Start: 12:05 PM
Finish: 4:45 PM
Start: 12:05 PM
Finish: 4:45 PM
Favorites 2025 Women's Cycling World Championship
The list of participants is not yet official, so this section is subject to change.
In recent years, the Dutch team was initially considered the favorite, but in 2025, that mantle may well be passed on to the French team. With Pauline Ferrand-Prévot, they have the woman who proved to be the best climber in the Tour de France Femmes, and a fantastic selection of teammates also backs her.
With Cedrine Kerbaol, Juliette Labous, Maeva Squiban, and Evita Muzic, the French team's so-called second line is equally impressive. Team leader Ferrand-Prévot is still on cloud nine after Dylan van Baarle proposed to her in the week leading up to the World Championships. However, she was briefly knocked off her cloud again when her flight from Paris to Kigali was canceled.
Anyway, we should now quickly turn our attention to the Dutch women. When announcing his team, Ten Dam did not immediately choose one person. “Our goal is clear: we are going for victory in orange. The race situation will determine who ultimately gets to the front,” he said. Meanwhile, two changes were made due to the withdrawal of Puck Pieterse and Marianne Vos, who Riejanne Markus and Femke de Vries replaced.
If we take a guess, logic dictates that Demi Vollering theoretically has the best chance of the Dutch women. At the same time, Anna van der Breggen, Yara Kastelijn, Femke de Vries, and Pauliena Rooijakkers could benefit from the challenging race situations that arise on the circuit in Rwanda.
When it comes to form, we arrive at the winner of the time trial: Marlen Reusser from Switzerland has nothing to lose and is also very dangerous with her climbing ability, with her compatriot Elise Chabbey at her side. The same applies to established names such as Kasia Niewiadoma (Poland), Elisa Longo Borghini (Italy), and Liane Lippert from Germany. Longo Borghini and Lippert are also supported by Silvia Persico, Monica Trinca, Colonel, and Antonia Niedermaier, respectively.
From an African perspective, all eyes will be on Kimberly Le Court Pienaar, this year's winner of Liège-Bastogne-Liège and a Tour stage. She has focused her entire autumn on this World Championship and seems determined to do the African continent proud. This also applies to a lesser extent to South African Aisleigh Moolman, who we rank on the same level as Blanka Vas (Hungary), Urska Zigart (Slovenia), Mavi Garcia (Spain), and Niamh Fisher-Black (New Zealand).
Who are the favorites for the 2025 Women's Cycling World Championship, according to IDLProCycling.com?
Top favorites: Pauline Ferrand-Prévot (France) and Demi Vollering (Netherlands)
Outsiders: Marlen Reusser (Switzerland), Anna van der Breggen (Netherlands), Kasia Niewiadoma (Poland) and Kimberly Le Court-Pienaar (Mauritius)
Long shots: Monica Trinca Colonel, Elisa Longo Borghini (Italy), Liane Lippert, Antonia Niedermaier (Germany), Cedrine Kerbaol, Juliette Labous, Maeva Squiban (France) and Aisleigh Moolman (South Africa)
Outsiders: Marlen Reusser (Switzerland), Anna van der Breggen (Netherlands), Kasia Niewiadoma (Poland) and Kimberly Le Court-Pienaar (Mauritius)
Long shots: Monica Trinca Colonel, Elisa Longo Borghini (Italy), Liane Lippert, Antonia Niedermaier (Germany), Cedrine Kerbaol, Juliette Labous, Maeva Squiban (France) and Aisleigh Moolman (South Africa)
TV broadcast 2025 Women's Cycling World Championship
Anyone who wants to spend the whole afternoon on Saturday watching cycling will have that option. Sporza will be there on VRT 1 from 1:30 PM, while Eurosport will start broadcasting at 11:45 AM on its main channel and HBO Max. NOS will do the same on NOS.nl and NPO 1 simultaneously.
IDL-productions
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Latest Comments
- Agreed! As we all know now, Juan Ayuso will be on another team. But it was sweet to see him win the stages at La Vuelta. I do love the drama of cycling admittedly but its clear to see the talent of winners of stages in a Grand Tourryhw2814fq921-09-2025
- Pogacar has no competition he has won everything, I cant imagine even being him in that position!! Crazy. I am sure he has some back up plan for how he wants to spend his retirement years at age 30 onward. Does he like beer? Plenty of innovation in brewing. And you don't have to be super social. Chapeau/Cheers whatever you like Tadej you will do.ryhw2814fq921-09-2025
- Plus its confirmed that the Philadelphia Cycling Classic up the Manayunk Wall is back for 2026! hooray for thatryhw2814fq918-09-2025
- This is a dumb question but still why doesn't the UCI consider a grand tour in the USA in the future. We have the desolate/scary back roads in Pennsylvania and Virginia, just like in France with loads of rural land and hills. Plus the Rocky Mountains in Colorado and the Cascade/Olympic Mountains in Washington State. I'm sure it'll never happen but honestly people in PA/NJ/NY/VT/NH would love it. We are already sports fans, what is another sport to learn. I am forever optimistic about cycling in the US.ryhw2814fq918-09-2025
- Zonneveld makes some excellent points.The sponsorship model is broken and companies like Verizon who have multi billion dollar with a B ad budgets need to be involved again.
Brucegel17-09-2025 - Roger Vlaeminck says Mads is not a good rider? Where is the headline saying you don't even have to be a good rider to win the World Road Championship says Roger Vlaeminck, who never won it!!? Perhaps his aging mind needs to think about what the heck he's saying.packfiller7103-09-2025
- Wow, there is so much criticism of the UAE XRG riders. Why so much criticism is being leveled solely at the riders is baffling. The UAE XRG management deserves a good amount of the criticism aimed at the team, as a whole. They have not managed the talent they have at all. They failed miserably to properly handle young Isaac del Toro on that penultimate day of the Giro. And they have not handled Juan Ayuso well either. If they didn't have Tadej Pogacar in their roster, we might not be talking about them as winners, at all. So many think that Ayuso has shown that he is not a "team" player at all. Does anybody think that he might be thinking about his own future at this point? That he might want to feel like the team has his back, when they load the pressure onto him? And Joao is not a team leader. That burden might be laid on him by the management, but they need to properly support that assignment, not make it a contentious situation, within the team. And then how management has conducted themselves throughout this parting of ways between themselves and Ayuso has been totally indiscreet. And yet people want to pile onto Ayuso when he tells the truth about the manner that this is all soap opera is developing. He wants out. He shouldn't be getting so much negative criticism for that. It's a situation that has soured. Yes he has a contract, but he is not the first, nor will he be the last that wants to get out of a relationship that just isn't working anymore. And DeCauwer seems to have very vague reasons for criticizing Almeida. He does realize that Jonas is the second best Grand Tour rider of this current generation, so it should be no shame that Joao is behind him in the standings. Riders are giving their all in an extremely difficult sport that stretches them, often beyond their limits. Now many are wanting to send them to Behavioral School as well? The criticism ought to mellow out, or it ought to simply be ignored, as nothing more than blah, blah, blah, not worth the headlines it gets
reemmo002-09-2025 - In 5yrs, Pogi will be a top Twitch streamer living on baked goods while Urska is still racing.Veganpotter11-08-2025
- All they learned is that at the end of a 3 week race, Wout can beat him on a slightly bumpy stage. Obviously, this is very much thanks to Wout not racing for GC every day. This doesn't teach them a thing for Jonas beating Pogi. Not saying Jonas will never beat him again. But this absolutely won't have anything to do with it if he does beat him.Veganpotter28-07-2025
- Well, he eventually Pogacar pays the price for his insane spring campaign which was really crazyRosenkohl196125-07-2025
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