Wheel Talk Newsletter: The 2025 WorldTour season is right around the corner

by Abby Mickey 14.01.2025 More from Abby +

G’day and thank you for opening this week’s Wheel Talk Newsletter! The Australian National Championships are done, and we have two new elite national champions to congratulate. Even more exciting: the Tour Down Under is this coming weekend, the first WorldTour event of the 2025 season!

The race is normally not an indicator of riders to watch for later in the season, although sometimes there are a couple that sneak in a good performance at TDU and go on to have a stellar season in Europe (like Neve Bradbury, for example). Because it’s so early in the season, TDU offers some of the smaller WorldTeams and other non-WorldTeams a chance at some points and bragging rights, and turns the attention of professional cycling to somewhere outside of Europe, for a change. Plus, it’s super warm, which is nice for anyone travelling over to Adelaide from, say, the Netherlands.

Congratulations Brodie Chapman, Amber Pate and Lucinda Stewart!

The first women’s elite national champion’s jersey to be handed out was in the time trial on Thursday. UAE Team ADQ’s Brodie Chapman, after finishing second behind Grace Brown in 2024 and third in 2023, took her second elite title, her first in the individual event (she won the road race in 2023). Chapman bested Amber Pate (Liv AlUla Jayco), who would go on to win the criterium the next day, by 32 seconds, and Anya Louw (AG Insurance-Soudal) by one minute flat.

“It shows where the level’s at and it shows the commitment that teams and riders are putting in to excel in the time trial,” Chapman said of the turnout. “It’s an awesome discipline in that sense.

“You’re against others, but you’re against yourself.”

Pate made up for the miss with a dominant performance in the criterium on Friday, her second title in the event.

“To pull it off today, I knew I could go long but I didn’t know how long I could go for,” Pate said of her move. “I’m a bit tired from the time trial, but I knew I had long in me, so I just thought let’s keep fighting.

“I’m really proud to pull it off for the team, hey. The team were really awesome. We all went in with the mindset any one of us could win today.”

Going into the road race on a new course after 20 years of the same the outcome was a complete unknown. The win came from Lucinda Stewart on Liv AlUla Jayco’s Development team. Stewart was part of the first move of the day, a breakaway of five riders, none from WorldTour outfits, that caught the peloton off guard and was able to gain enough of an advantage that no one could bring them back, even though Amanda Spratt and Pate tried.

Matt de Neef wrote a proper report on Lucinda Stewart’s surprise victory, so definitely check that out to learn about the road race.

“To be the only one in the break for my team, I knew I had to pull it off, there was no other option,” Stewart said. “I am so happy.”

Racing Continues …

… At the Tour Down Under!!

It’s here! The first WorldTour race of the 2025 season. Last year’s race was spectacular, with stage wins from Ally Wollaston (then AG Insurance-Soudal, now FDJ-Suez), Cecilie Uttrup Ludwig (then FDJ-Suez, now Canyon-SRAM), and Sarah Gigante (AG Insurance-Soudal).

With Gigante’s stage 3 win on Willunga Hill, the Australian rider was able to take the overall title ahead of DSM-Firmanich PostNL’s Nienke Vinke and Canyon-SRAM’s Neve Bradbury. It was a storming comeback for Gigante who spent much of 2023 and 2022 out of the professional peloton.

SARAH GIGANTE AND MOVISTAR PART WAYS PREMATURELY

SARAH GIGANTE IS DUE SOME GOOD LUCK

SARAH GIGANTE’S COMEBACK IS COMPLETE

Unfortunately, Gigante will not line up to defend her orange jersey. She also sat out the National Championships in order to recover from an iliac artery surgery that took place in early December. No doubt we will see her come good in the European races later this season.

With Gigante out of contention, there are a few Australian riders that will be eyeing the title, but there are also a number of European teams that have made the trek to Australia in the hopes of a strong start to the season.

READ: NOW THAT’S HOW YOU START YOUR FIRST WORLDTOUR SEASON

The Stages

The Tour Down Under is only three stages, but it’s three potentially very exciting stages. Last year, the race wrapped up on Willunga Hill, which gave pure climbers like Gigante the advantage. This year, the riders will tackle Willunga (twice) during the second stage and finish the race with a challenging circuit instead. Sprinters will still have a chance to take a stage on Friday, but the route isn’t exactly easy, so there’s a chance we will once again see the jersey change hands every day of the race.

Stage 1 (Friday, 17 January): Brighton to Aldinga – 101.9 km

The opening stage, starting in Brighton, will finish in the familiar town of Aldinga. The first stage of the 2023 TDU finished there as well, won by Human Powered Health’s Daria Pikulik. Unlike when Pikulik won from a complete bunch, this year the stage includes two climbs that will break up the peloton before they return to the beach for the finale. There is also some potential for crosswinds, which could split the peloton before they reach the finale and make things a bit more spicy.

Without wind, the most likely finale is a reduced bunch sprint, more than a complete peloton. There is also a chance a small breakaway of ambitious riders slips away on the uncategorised climb to Myponga within 20 km of the finish line.

Stage 2 (Saturday, 18 January): Unley to Willunga Hill – 115 km

Last year was the first time Willunga Hill made an appearance in the women’s Tour Down Under. The 3 km ascent packed enough of a punch to decimate the peloton on the early slopes, and it’s likely we will see similar scenes this year. Gigante made her move only 400 meters into the climb and was solo a few hundred meters later, which speaks to just how hard the climb is, especially if it’s a hot day.

The run-in to Willunga last year was relatively flat, with only some small climbs early in the stage. This year, the peloton will take on the iconic climb twice, back-to-back, before the stage is done. The peloton will start their first ascent of Wilunga with just under 20 km to go on the stage. After 3 km of climbing they will drop down the backside of the road and circle around to take on the climb a second and final time.

The double ascents will hurt, so the peloton will likely not go full gas until the final climb to the finish. Still, the first time up Willunga will shred the peloton, leaving only the strongest climbers to descend together. Any team that came to Australia with multiple strong climbers will have a huge advantage in the short reprieve between the two ascents, and on the initial slopes of the second climb.

It’s possible, should someone stomp on the peloton Gigante-style, that the race will be wrapped up after Saturday, but there is also a chance we see a fight for second on Sunday if a few climbers manage to stay together to the line.

Stage 3 (Sunday, 19 January): Stirling to Stirling – 105.9 km

Stirling, home to the start and finish of the third and final stage, is one of the TDU’s favourite locations. It’s where Cecilie Uttrup Ludwig took her stage victory last year and where Ruth Edwards won the TDU outright in 2020. Grace Brown also claimed victory there in 2019. The area is full of small winding roads that will make for an exciting stage altogether, especially because the course is a fun little circuit with some categorized and some bonus climbing.

It’s a great stage for any non-WorldTour Aussies to make a move, get up the road, and try to surprise the bigger teams with a win. Doubly so if there are a few WT riders looking at each other in the overall.

Bonus event! (Sunday, 26 January): Schwalbe Women’s Classic – 20 laps x 4.5 km

The Schwalbe Classic takes place a week after the TDU wraps up but was added to this year’s edition. It takes place on the same day the men’s race ends, before the entire peloton boards a flight to Melbourne for Cadel Evans Great Ocean Road Race, the next WT event.

The Schwalbe Classic is a 1.Pro event, so there are UCI points on the line, and for any teams that travelled all the way to Australia from Europe, it’s a bonus event to get the legs moving in between coffee rides.

The race is basically a big criterium, a kermesse if you will. The peloton will race a 4.5 km lap 20 times before the race ends in what will probably be a bunch sprint. Watch for any moves that go, but if none of the three TDU stages go to the sprinters they will want some opportunity to take a win while in Adelaide.

Top Contenders

The top top contender for this year’s TDU title is probably the rider who got third in last year’s edition: Neve Bradbury. After her podium finish last January, Bradbury went on to win stages of the Tour de Suisse and the Giro d’Italia Women. She was the Best Young Rider (and second overall) at the UAE Tour, shortly after the Australian block, and at Tour de Suisse plus BYR at the Giro and third overall. It was a breakthrough season for the Zwift Academy graduate.

What may hold Bradbury back is bigger goals still to come later in the season. A peak in form in January can derail the rest of the year and Canyon-SRAM-Zondacrypto (sidenote: I am going to hate writing that all year) has bigger fish to fry than TDU, namely the Tour de France Femmes. Bradbury will be one of Kasia Niewiadoma’s key climbers this summer, and the team will want her to deliver more results in Europe. Even if she isn’t in top form, Bradbury is one of the best riders on the start list with a strong team around her that includes veteran rider Tiffany Cromwell and former ITT world champion Chloe Dygert.

Gigante may not be racing but AG Insurance-Soudal still has a promising contender for a podium finish in Justine Ghekiere. The Tour de France Femmes stage winner proved herself to be one of the better climbers in the peloton last year, winning the mountains jersey at both the Tour and the Giro.

Ghekiere decked head to toe in the Tour's signature polka dots

Home country favourites Liv AlUla Jayco come into the race with a lot of pressure to perform. They have two good options to fight for the overall, depending on how the race shakes out. If Ruby Roseman-Gannon can take the opening stage and scoop up some bonus seconds she will have a head start before the second stage and Willunga. It would take a lot for her to hold the jersey over the climbs but she can try to retake the lead on Sunday during the circuit. Ella Wyllie is worth watching for the Australian team. She’s a decent climber in the bunch but also the best on the team’s TDU roster, so they will want to save her for that second stage to see what she can do. Amber Pate showed herself to be in top form during the nationals, so if Roseman-Gannon isn’t feeling up for it, Pate can try her shot at the third stage especially.

Giro stage winner Niamh Fisher-Black will be debuting her new Lidl-Trek jersey alongside multi-time TDU champion Amanda Spratt. Both are incredible climbers and unlike the other contenders, they have each other. Spratty showed some decent form in the road race at nationals and will want to start the season strong after some disappointments/bad luck/real-life stuff last year.

Spratty takes a corner on a climb during a race

Elise Chabbey will have her first appearance with FDJ-Suez at TDU. The Swiss rider is a strong climber, although might not be able to rival Bradbury. Her form this early on is a big unknown, coming over from Europe, as is her ambition at a race like the TDU. She is still one of the stronger climbers on FDJ-Suez’s roster for the race.

Last year’s Cadel Evans Great Ocean Road Race winner Dominika Wlodarczyk is one of the possible standouts for UAE Team ADQ, as is Karlijn Swinkels, who had a fantastic season last year.

2020 TDU winner Ruth Edwards leads Human Powered Health, with new signing Kathrin Schweinberger making her debut with the team.

For EF-Oatly-Cannondale, Kim Cadzow and Noemi Rüegg are two strong contenders for results – Cadzow for the overall and Rüegg for a stage. Plus, the American team has a new captain in Sarah Roy, who will no doubt bring a ton of knowledge to the team as they hunt for WorldTour status in 2026. They’ll be after points, so they’ll be fighting for any result they can get.

Emily Watts, who just finished second at Nationals, will be racing with her trade team St Michel-Preference Home-Auber 93. And finally, the Australian national team has a few familiar faces to the pro peloton in Nicole Frain (former national champ), Maeve Plouffe (spent two seasons with DSM Firmanich-PostNL), and Alyssa Polites (was on Liv AlUla Jayco for 2023 and 2024).

Like last year, nine WorldTeams have made the trip to Australia to compete at TDU, and Cadel’s race a few weeks later. It’s a good sign for the fledgling WT race that only gained the status in 2023 after 10 years running (not counting 2021 and 2022 when the race was suspended due to the global pandemic).

Wheel Talk Podcast

Fresh from the commentary booth, Gracie Elvin leads the podcast this week with special guest Georgie Howe and me. We chat about Nationals and the upcoming Tour Down Under, where both Elvin and Howe will be over the weekend!

We mentioned ways to help those affected by the fires in LA, Feisty Media put together a good list here:

Obsessions: Georgie – being home in Melbourne with friends and family, and Zero 7, Gracie – swimming!, Abby – The Frozen River by Ariel Lawhon.

Let’s Discuss

The 2025 Giro d’Italia route.

On Monday RCS announced the 2025 Giro route for both the men and the women. Joe Lindsey wrote a little news bit about it, but I wanted to try to dive into the particulars of the course and what we might expect.

The race will take place July 6-13, during the first week of the men’s Tour de France. Throughout the eight stages, the women will race over 930 km and 14,000 meters of elevation gain with four (ish) mountaintop finishes, a few sprinty stages, and an opening time trial. The old cliche can be applied – there’s a little bit for everyone.

The General Classification will likely be hotly contested this year; we might see more GC riders marking critical stages where the race can be won or lost. While there are a few stages that end with the road tilting up, there are two major mountain stages that will likely determine who wears the pink jersey on the final podium. Those stages include the third and fourth stages, plus stage 7 (the queen stage), which ends atop Monte Nerone.

There will be no easing into the GC battle. The race kicks off with a 13.6 km time trial that is pretty flat and not all that technical, much “flatter and easier” than last year’s opening stage. There may be a few GC hopefuls, like defending champion Elisa Longo Borghini, who are strong in the time trial and can gain an advantage over their climbing rivals from the go. There will also be some ITT specialists who will see this as a stage they can win. Marlen Reusser, if she should race the Giro, would see this as an opportunity to take the lead from the first stage and be in a winning position before the climbing on stage 2. Remember, Reusser had wanted to target the Giro in 2024 but was unable to race due to illness.

Already on stage 2, we have some decent climbing. The final ascent to Aprica isn’t like a high mountain pass, but the a gradual climb to the finish basically starts with 45 km to go. The climb undulates, with some steeper sections towards the top. It’s not a climb where the race will be won outright, but a team with some strong numbers could do some serious damage. It’s also so early in the race, there will be a lot of riders still feeling fresh at this point.

This stage is also only 99 km, so it will be raced full gas from start to finish.

The third stage looks like a sprint, but boy is it a weird one. The peloton starts climbing from km zero, for the first 19 km, then descends for more than half the stage.

Stage 4 is the next GC test, with at Cat 3 and two Cat 4s before one final ascent to Pianezze. The stage is constantly rolling, so the legs will be tired before the riders even reach the real test. The 11.2 km long climb at the end will see some GC hopefuls crack and others gain an advantage.

Stage 5 is another really … weird stage. It’s only 108 km long and flat as a pancake. Great for the sprinters, but just an odd length for such a flat stage.

The next stage, stage 6, includes a Cat 2 early in the stage, two Cat 3s back-to-back and a Cat 4 to finish things off. Coming before the pivotal stage 7, it’s a fantastic potential breakaway stage.

Stage 7, the longest of the race at 157 km, and the queen stage finishes atop Monte Nerone. There are some minor climbs thrown in at the midway point, but the real racing will happen on the slopes of the final ascent. The last 8 km of the stage averages 8%, making it a critical moment for anyone hoping to take the GC.

The final stage into Imola, where Anna van der Breggen won her second Road World Championship title in 2020, is a great breakaway course. It has a series of Cat 3 and Cat 4 climbs throughout the 138 km route and a fast run-in to the line. The GC will probably be wrapped by this point, given the multiple hilltop/mountaintop finishes throughout the week, so the final stage is one teams who missed out on results earlier on can really play with.

Overall, the 2025 edition has a few throwaway stages, a few super exciting stages, and a healthy dose of climbing (it is the Giro, after all). The big question is who will target the race, given the Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift starts less than two weeks later. Last year’s Giro had a decent turnout, but the riders who flourished at the Italian stage race then saw a dip of form for the Olympic Games and Tour. It’s likely the riders who go for the GC at the Giro are those who will be riding a support role at the Tour. For example, Juliette Labous of FDJ-Suez, who will go to the Tour in support of Demi Vollering and Évita Muzic.

Van der Breggen might want to take a stab at the Giro since her SD Worx-Protime teammate Lotte Kopecky has already voiced her interest in targeting the Tour. She also might want a lower-pressure environment for one of her first stage races back in the peloton.

Longo Borghini, the defending champion, will want to retain her pink jersey but UAE Team ADQ will also want her to target the Tour, they will have expectations for the biggest stage race in the world and the Giro might not fit into their plan.

The puzzle for teams is figuring out how to get their top riders to race both, but don’t expect to see Kasia Niewiadoma and Vollering rolling up to the Giro.

A picture worth a couple of words

Given Perth (the home of nationals) is also his home, it was only right to ask Zac Williams for some of his favorite shots from the weekend to feature in the newsletter.