A new era of women's racing? Demi Vollering and Lotte Kopecky split as Anna van der Breggen returns

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With Opening Weekend and the year's first major one-day race approaching, it's time to look at what to expect from women's Classics and Grand Tour racing in 2025. Who are the big favourites? Who could spring a surprise? And which of perma-rivals Lotte Kopecky and Demi Vollering, now racing for different teams, will come out on top? With three prestigious jerseys at stake, it's all to play for.

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Last year served up some incredible racing as the top female riders battled for Grand Tour supremacy.

After Dutch great Annemiek van Vleuten's retirement at the end of 2023, the Grand Tour queen's baton seemed to pass to her compatriot Demi Vollering.

But 2024 proved to be no cakewalk for the SD Worx-Protime leader. Instead, the ever-increasing professionalisation and strength in depth of women's racing translated into ever-tougher competition for the sport's greatest honours.

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Italy's Elisa Longo Borghini became the first home winner of the Giro d'Italia Women since 2008, edging out a high-quality field to pick up her first Grand Tour title.

World champion Lotte Kopecky demonstrated her credentials as a serious GC rider, not just a one-day specialist, as she pushed Longo Borghini to the limit at the corsa rosa.

And Kopecky's team-mate and rival Vollering, previously thought to be invincible in stage racing, fell agonisingly short of defending her Tour de France Femmes title, missing out by just four seconds to Kasia Niewiadoma.

But it's not just the Grand Tours on the line - as ever, the top names will also fight for wins in the calendar's most prestigious one-day races, the Classics.

With Omloop het Nieuwsblad - the traditional start of the cycling season - on Saturday, live on TNT Sports and discovery+, it's time to take a look at the big contenders for glory this year.

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Will Kopecky or Vollering win the battle for supremacy?

One of the major storylines of the 2024 season revolved around two of the sport's biggest names, Kopecky and Vollering, and 2025 is unlikely to be any different.

The major difference this year is that the pair are now on competing teams after Vollering's high-profile move to FDJ-Suez in the off-season.

While the pair were both dominant last season, there were clear signs of friction within the SD Worx-Protime camp, with Vollering's impending exit badly handled by the team management, and obvious difficulties emerging when trying to balance the interests of the sport's two best riders.

With the pair now racing against each other and the might of a unified team behind them both, we're likely to see even more all-out battles in 2025.

But who is likely to come out on top? Vollering has always been a bona fide stage racer, running away with the Vuelta Femenina title in 2024, while Kopecky went some way to prove that she can contest the toughest, most mountainous GC stages with her second place in the Giro d'Italia.

The margins between the pair have never been smaller. The terrain at the sport's biggest race, the Tour de France Femmes, is - possibly by design - unlikely to significantly favour one or the other, although Vollering will be the favourite on the tougher final two stages and the summit finish atop the 2,000m-plus Col de la Madeleine.

At the Giro d'Italia Women, Stage 1's time trial will mean the top GC contenders will be in action from the gun, with both women exceptional against the clock - Kopecky won the European title this year, while Vollering was second in the Worlds. Two difficult mountain stages will again likely favour Vollering, but a tricky, bumpy final day finishing at the Imola racing circuit may tilt the balance back towards Kopecky, who thrives in scenarios similar to a one-day race.

Vollering outsprints team-mate Kopecky to win Stage 2 of Tour of Romandie

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Who can match Vollering and Kopecky?

However, 2025 is by no means expected to be the Vollering and Kopecky show.

The pair were defeated in 2024 by Italian veteran Elisa Longho Borghini at the Giro d'Italia Women) and Polish fan favourite Kasia Niewiadoma (at the Tour de France Femmes).

Both riders have the pedigree to continue to challenge at the very top, and Niewiadoma in particular will be buoyed by an excellent season after a frustrating five-year drought of wins.

Longo Borghini moved to UAE Team ADQ in the off-season, bringing an end to a long and successful stint at Lidl-Trek, so how she adapts to a new team will be one storyline to watch. So far, so good, as she picked up her second overall win at the UAE Tour Women.

Meanwhile, Niewiadoma stayed on at Canyon-SRAM-Zondacrypto, and has already laid her cards on the table, confirming she will aim to defend her yellow jersey in 2025. She will continue to be supported by the likes of U23 world time trial champion Antonia Niedermaier and climbing specialist Neve Bradbury, who won the queen stage at the Giro last year. Both riders are ones to watch in their own right.

Vollering's new team-mates at FDJ-Suez, the French pair of Evita Muzic and Juliette Labous, may also come into contention at the Grand Tours. Muzic was the only rider to seriously challenge Vollering on the toughest mountain stages at the Vuelta Femenina, besting her on the summit finish at La Leguna Negra en route to fifth place overall, while Labous is a perennial top-10 rider in stage races.

Another Dutchwoman, Pauliena Rooijakkers, enjoyed an excellent Grand Tour season in 2024, climbing magnificently and finishing fourth overall at the corsa rosa and third overall at the Tour de France Femmes, just 10 seconds off Niewiadoma.

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What about in the Classics?

While Kopecky and Vollering may not race each of the Grand Tour equivalents, we'll definitely see them head-to-head throughout the season as they target the sport's biggest prizes.

In terms of the Classics, Kopecky has traditionally had the edge, although only marginally. She won both Strade Bianche Donne and Paris-Roubaix Femmes last year, in the rainbow jersey no less, while Vollering didn't win a single one-day race.

In 2023 it was more even: Vollering won a dramatic two-up sprint between the pair at Strade Bianche and won Amstel Gold, while Kopecky opened her Classics account at Omloop Het Nieuwsblad and also won the Tour of Flanders.

As for the other top riders, expect them to be in the mix in the Classics too. Last year Longo Borghini won the Tour of Flanders while Niewiadoma ended a five-year win drought with a stunning victory in La Fleche Wallonne Feminine. Versatile sprinters Marianne Vos and Lorena Wiebes are also ones to watch, as is Swiss rider Marlen Reusser, who had a torrid 2024 hampered by injury and illness but won Gent-Wevelgem in 2023.

Beyond the Classics, there are European and world titles on the line once again. Kopecky could become only the second woman ever - after French great Jeannie Longo - to win a hat-trick of consecutive world road titles, while Vollering - who has never worn rainbow stripes - will surely feel she's overdue a victory in the biggest one-day race on the calendar. The 2025 World Championships are held at high altitude in mountainous Rwanda, which seems prime territory for the FDJ-Suez leader.

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Can Van der Breggen spring a surprise?

One more Dutchwoman could also be in with a shout at Grand Tour glory: Anna van der Breggen.

The 34-year-old retired in 2021 with a glittering palmares: Olympic road race gold, rainbow jerseys (three of them, including the road race-time trial double in 2020) and four Giro overall wins, not to mention a plethora of Classics wins (she was called the Queen of the Ardennes for a reason).

After retiring she joined SD Worx-Protime, the team she had raced for since 2017, as a directeur sportif, but clearly decided watching from the sidelines wasn't for her.

She announced in June 2024 that she would be returning to racing in SD Worx colours (no doubt complicating internal politics further).

Whether she can return to her former winning ways is another story, but on the basis of the season so far, she looks good. She finished third overall at the Volta Femenina de la Comunitat Valenciana, although she was dropped by Vollering going uphill on Stage 1, in what felt like a major declaration of war.

Grand Tour victories might be more of a project for 2026 than this year, but it'll be fascinating to see if Van der Breggen can pick up where she left off in the Classics and other one-day races. As other ex-retirees are proving in other sports - Lindsey Vonn for one - it's possible to hang up your spurs and still make it back to the big time.

Could we see the return of fellow legend Annemiek van Vleuten next? Who knows what 2025 has in store...

Stream the 2025 cycling season, including the Tour de France and Tour de France Femmes, live on TNT Sports and discovery+

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