The 2025 Tour de France Femmes got under way on Saturday with the 22 teams and 154 riders setting out on the first of nine stages – expanded from eight in 2024.
Demi Vollering is out to regain her crown, having lost out to Katarzyna Niewiadoma in 2024. Vollering has switched from SD Worx-Protime to FDJ-Suez.
Anna van der Breggen returns from retirement to ride for Vollering's old team, while 2014 road world champion Pauline Ferrand-Prévot is also back in the Tour, having left in 2018 to focus on mountain biking.
Ferrand-Prévot finished third in the opening stage from Vannes to Plumelec, won by Visma-Lease a Bike teammate Marianne Vos.
There have been other changes since the 2004 race, so read on for our full round-up of the teams fighting it out in the 2025 Tour de France Femmes.
More on the 2025 Tour de France Femmes
AG Insurance-Soudal
- Highest GC 2024: 7
- TDFF stage wins: 1
- 2024 UCI ranking: 14
Belgium’s Justine Ghekiere was called up from the reserves list last year, and won the mountain stage to Le Grand Bornand.
Since it was the team’s first victory in the race, she can count on being in the 2025 line-up.
Australian Sarah Gigante finished seventh on GC last year and the longer, more mountainous course this year will suit this flyweight climber, assuming she’s recovered from iliac artery surgery.
Slovenian road and TT national champion Urska Zigart joins from Liv AlUla Jayco.
Arkéa B&B Hotels Women
- Highest GC 2024: 16
- TDFF stage wins: 0
- 2024 UCI ranking: 23
One of seven wildcard selections for the race, the French team are a regular pick of the organisers, for obvious reasons.
Belgian Lotte Claes finished a creditable 16th on GC at the Tour last year and, at 31, is in only year five as a pro cyclist, after switching from duathlon and a career as a nurse.
She had a surprise win at Spring Classic race Omloop Het Nieuwsblad, where she was the last survivor of a break whose lead was misjudged by the peloton.
It was her team’s biggest ever win.
Canyon//SRAM zondacrypto
- Highest GC 2024: 1
- TDFF stage wins: 1
- 2024 UCI ranking: 3
Kasia Niewiadoma’s yellow jersey win last summer was the closest finish in Tour de France history – just four seconds separated her and Demi Vollering at the Alpe d’Huez finish line after Niewiadoma benefited from favourite Vollering’s heavy crash earlier in the race.
The Pole will be a favourite again this year, with such a mountainous route and no time trial (her weaker discipline).
She’ll also have Cecilie Uttrup Ludwig, who has two top 10 finishes in the race, to help.
Ceratizit Pro Cycling Team
- Highest GC 2024: 6
- TDFF stage wins: 1
- 2024 UCI ranking: 8
Cédrine Kerbaol netted the team their highest general classification finish (sixth) and first Tour de France Femmes stage win (the first by a Frenchwoman in the three years of the race), after escaping the peloton on a descent 15km from the end of stage six and fending them off.
She left the team at the end of the season to head to EF Education-Oatly.
Losing another top rider, Marta Lach, to super-team SD Worx-Protime will impact the German team’s fortunes for this year.
Cofidis Women Team
- Highest GC 2024: 23
- TDFF stage wins: 0
- 2024 UCI ranking: 19
A season after moving to EF Education-Oatly, German rider Clara Koppenburg has returned to the French squad.
Her single appearance at the TdFF to date saw her finish 15th overall.
Amalie Dideriksen also joins from Uno-X Mobility. It’s almost a decade since the Dane was a surprise winner of the World Championships road race as a 20-year-old.
Julie Bego, 20, junior world champion in 2023, will likely start the Tour after finishing fifth at last year’s Tour de l’Avenir Femmes.
EF Education-Oatly
- Highest GC 2024: 38
- TDFF stage wins: 0
- 2024 UCI ranking: 12
This American team with the ProTeam licence continue to look every inch the WorldTour force.
Qualification was automatic, after Kristen Faulkner’s victory at the Olympics road race in Paris last year collected 600 ranking points for the team.
A 2025 goal is to win a stage at the Tour de France Femmes, and they’ll be joined in that endeavour by new signing Cedrine Kerbaol, of France, who achieved that goal herself last season with her old team Ceratizit-WNT.
FDJ-Suez
- Highest GC 2024: 4
- TDFF stage wins: 1
- 2024 UCI ranking: 7
The French team can expect a fillip to their fortunes after recruiting the world’s best stage racer, Demi Vollering.
Instant success came at this year’s Strade Bianche, where she dropped former team-mate Anna van der Breggen and looked revitalised after a tough final season at SD Worx-Protime.
A second yellow jersey for Vollering will be the team’s primary objective, and she’ll have supreme support from Evita Muzic (a close fourth in 2024) and fellow new signing Juliette Labous, who finished fourth in 2022.
Fenix-Deceuninck
- Highest GC 2024: 3
- TDFF stage wins: 2
- 2024 UCI ranking: 11
Puck Pieterse’s breakout season on the road in 2024 continued throughout the spring of 2025, as several top-10s in major one-day races established her as one of the world’s top riders.
Like Tom Pidcock, she’s a formidable multi-sport rider, and is the current cross-country mountain bike world champion.
On her debut in 2024, she took her first TdFF stage and finished in the white jersey of best young rider.
She’ll be joined by Pauliena Rooijakkers, who took third overall last year.
Human Powered Health
- Highest GC 2024: 92
- TDFF stage wins: 0
- 2024 UCI ranking: 13
The American squad’s top rider over the past two seasons, sprinter Daria Pikulik, missed much of the spring with a shoulder injury.
She’ll be looking to build on her Tour debut last year, which started promisingly before she pulled out on stage 4.
New signing Thalita de Jong, 10th overall at the 2024 Tour after a series of top-10 stage finishes, was also on the sidelines through the spring, after breaking her collarbone.
Sprinter Kathrin Schweinberger can dream of a stage win after a great 2024 season.
Laboral Kutxa–Fundación Euskadi
- Highest GC 2024: 24
- TDFF stage wins: 0
- 2024 UCI ranking: 18
This Basque team jumped 10 places up the UCI rankings in 2024, helped by their debut appearance in the TdFF.
Usoa Ostolaza has been their best performer over the past two seasons, finishing the Tour as her team’s top rider (24th) plus notching up a stage win and the overall at the Tour Feminin International des Pyrenees.
Ane Santesteban, 34, is a three-time Spanish road race champion, finished eighth overall at the 2023 TdFF and has the experience to go well again this summer.
Lidl-Trek
- Highest GC 2024: 5
- TDFF stage wins: 0
- 2024 UCI ranking: 2
Gaia Realini had an impressive debut last year, competitive in the mountains and finishing fifth overall.
At just 4ft 11in and 40kg, she’s one of the most diminutive riders in the peloton.
Without any flat time trials and with many more mountains, the Italian is tipped to go even better this year.
You’d expect the second-best team in the world to be packed with talent below her and that’s the case – Lucinda Brand, Elisa Balsamo and Shirin van Anrooij are likely starters, while Lizzie Deignan will ride it for the final time.
Liv AlUla Jayco
- Highest GC 2024: 21
- TDFF stage wins: 0
- 2024 UCI ranking: 9
The Australian team batted above their average in 2024, finishing ranked ninth.
The biggest single contributor to that was the ageless Mavi Garcia, 41, who collected some impressive GC finishes, even if she wasn’t at her best come the Tour.
Silke Smulders, who finished the Tour above Garcia, came second at this year’s Tour Down Under and, aged 24, has plenty of time to develop.
For 2025, Alex Manly and Urska Zigart moved to AG Insurance-Soudal, and the team is thinner for it.
Movistar Team
- Highest GC 2024: 15
- TDFF stage wins: 4
- 2024 UCI ranking: 10
Liane Lippert stepped into the huge shoes of retired Annemiek van Vleuten in 2024, but a stress fracture in her hip kept her out of action until the Vuelta in late April.
She started 2025 early, however, and a podium at the Tour of Flanders showed she was back to her best.
This TdFF could perhaps come too soon for British prodigy Cat Ferguson, 19, but as one of the youngest-ever riders at Paris-Roubaix and with a clutch of starts at other Classics, it wouldn’t be a surprise to see her there.
Roland Cycling Team
- Highest GC 2024: 102
- TDFF stage wins: 0
- 2024 UCI ranking: 17
Only Tashkent City, the team from Uzbekistan, who only received a wildcard because of the quirks of the UCI system, finished last year’s Tour with fewer riders than Roland.
Even Russian Tamara Dronova, their most reliable rider over the past three seasons, didn’t make it to the finish at Alpe d’Huez.
With only 11 riders on their roster, the team are stretched thin and they’ll have to manage without one of their better 2024 performers, Elena Hartmann, who secured a move to Ceratizit after a solid season of points scoring.
St Michel - Preference Home - Auber93 WE
- Highest GC 2024: 17
- TDFF stage wins: 0
- 2024 UCI ranking: 21
As one of the higher-ranked French ProTeams, this youth-orientated outfit have been awarded wildcard entry to all four editions of the TdFF.
They’ll be hamstrung this season by the loss of several key riders to WorldTour teams, particularly Marion Bunel, 20, now with Visma-Lease a Bike.
She was responsible for their highest place finish in the Tour (17th) and would go on to dominate the Tour de l’Avenir Femmes.
The team will hope to unearth another gem in their ranks this summer.
Team Picnic PostNL
- Highest GC 2024: 9
- TDFF stage wins: 4
- 2024 UCI ranking: 4
After a brace of podiums at the 2023 race, the Netherlands’ Charlotte Kool secured her seat at the top table of sprinters with a brace of victories last year.
Up to that point, she’d endured countless second-place finishes. Juliette Labous, fourth previously in this race, has left for FDJ-Suez, with Marta Cavalli coming in the opposite direction.
Britain’s Pfeiffer Georgi, a leader in the team, is bidding to return to the race for the fourth time after a severe neck injury last year.
Team SD Worx-Protime
- Highest GC 2024: 2
- TDFF stage wins: 8
- 2024 UCI ranking: 1
Demi Vollering left for FDJ-Suez at the end of her contract, so without that tumult, the team will have a clean slate to pursue their objectives this year – double world champion Lotte Kopecky aiming for the yellow jersey.
The best one-day rider in the world has a best of second (2023) in the Tour, albeit distant behind Vollering.
She’ll have four-time Giro winner Anna van der Breggen in support, who came out of retirement, with top sprinter Lorena Wiebes for the flat stages.
Team Visma-Lease a Bike
- Highest GC 2024: 31
- TDFF stage wins: 2
- 2024 UCI ranking: 6
Living legend Marianne Vos is still riding strongly at 38, in her 20th year.
The three-time road world champion was resurgent last year, back to fifth in the rankings.
It’ll be a busy summer, with all three Grand Tours on her schedule, but she’ll be supported strongly by the returning Pauline Ferrand-Prévot, who’s back on the road tour for the first time since 2018, since leaving to pursue her mountain biking ambitions.
The Frenchwoman’s explicit goal is to win the Tour de France Femmes.
UAE Team ADQ
- Highest GC 2024: 12
- TDFF stage wins: 0
- 2024 UCI ranking: 5
Following her best season yet at the age of 32, Italian national champion and Giro winner Elisa Longo Borghini made the move from Lidl-Trek, her team since 2019, to UAE Team ADQ.
She’s had a glittering career, but says she has unfulfilled goals at the Tour.
She abandoned 2023’s race with a skin infection, while last year she didn’t make the start line because of a training accident.
A big crash at the Tour of Flanders put paid to ambitions of defending her title, but she’s had a strong spring.
Uno-X Mobility
- Highest GC 2024: 25
- TDFF stage wins: 0
- 2024 UCI ranking: 16
For many teams at the lower end of the Women’s WorldTour and beyond, it’s tough to make an impact at the TdFF.
The best riders are stacked in depth in an elite group of teams, and outfits such as Uno-X have their eyes further down the calendar.
Swiss sprinter Linda Zanetti, 23, a new signing from Human Powered Health, got off to a flyer with her new team, including running Lorena Wiebes close at Le Samyn des Dames.
She’s shaping up to break the team’s stage-win duck at the race.
VolkerWessels Cycling Team
- Highest GC 2024: N/A
- TDFF stage wins: 0
- 2024 UCI ranking: 15
The team formerly known as Parkhotel Valkenburg, where Demi Vollering and Lorena Wiebes both started their careers, received a wildcard invite on account of their UCI ranking.
Vollering’s younger sister, Bodine, signed her first pro contract with the team this year. Sprinter Lonneke Uneken joined for 2025 from SD Worx-Protime, delivering solid placings in the flatter Spring Classics.
This squad has a young average age, but opportunity abounds on the TdFF stage.
Winspace Orange Seal
- Highest GC 2024: N/A
- TDFF stage wins: 0
- 2024 UCI ranking: 32
As the race’s joint-smallest team (they and Roland have just 11 riders on their 2025 rosters), Winspace Orange Seal will be hoping for similar scenarios at the Tour this summer as at Omloop Het Nieuwsblad in February, where Poland’s Aurela Nerlo took a surprise second when the break outmanoeuvred the peloton.
Breakaways are the biggest opportunities for the minnows of the Tour.
By far the lowest-ranked outfit in the race, Winspace benefit from being a French team.
