CyclistThe 10 best moments in the 2026 Womens WorldTour seasonIt feels like just yesterday the 2026 season was about to get underway and riders lined up for the first races with bright eyes and big dreams. Much has happened since we were awoken from our offseason slumber, and Robyn recaps ten of the best moments this year in the womens WorldTour peloton.10. Lara Gillespie shines at Le SamynRhode Van Elsen/Getty ImagesIrishwoman Lara Gillespie enjoyed a brilliant Classics campaign. The sprinter shone in the one-day races, securing top ten finishes at Ronde van Brugge, In Flanders Fields, Scheldeprijs and Paris-Roubaix, and during a three-race stretch in March she occupied all three spots on the podium with victory sandwiched between second place at Omloop van het Hageland and third at Nokere Koerse.Gillespie lined up at the hilly Le Samyn where she had finished third in 2025. With their breakaway coming into the finish with daylight, Gillespies UAE teammate Elynor Bckstedt worked her way to the front, and following an attack from Liv AlUla Jaycos Quinty Ton, Gillespie then opened up her sprint, creating a huge gap to take the biggest win of her career.She would go on to double up at the Irish National Championships in the summer, win the Argenta Classic-Deurne and become World Champion in the Points Race on the track. Lorena Wiebes has been a thorn in Gillespies side, however the 25-year-old came incredibly close to turning the tables on Stages 2 and 3 at the Tour of Chongming Island. Could she turn the tide in 2027?9. Get Caryls Lloyd her LegoLuc Claessen/Getty ImagesTypically, Wiebes wins every sprint finish shes a part of. One glance at her palmars this season shows an insane ferocity that has lasted from her three consecutive stages at the UAE Tour, through two back-to-back days to kick off the Tour de France Femmes, and the most recent dominating tear of victory in all stages of the Tour of Chongming Island. Yet on one day in March, things were different.The Ronde van Brugge was expected to end in a bunch sprint, and defending champion Wiebes lined up at the start line as favourite. But when the business end of the race came, a crash disrupted proceedings. Wiebes found herself boxed in. Emerging from the chaos would be Movistars Carys Lloyd, who just last year had been the youngest rider in the Womens WorldTour. The 19-year-old Brit claimed her first professional victory in quite some style by finishing ahead of huge names in Wiebes, Elisa Balsamo and Chiara Consonni.Lloyd later revealed the team had been speaking about winning as a joke before the race and her mechanic had promised her anything from the Lego Store should she claim victory. I hope she got her trip.8. Noemi Regg prevails in a 3 vs 1Con Chronis/Getty ImagesThe odds might not have been in Noemi Reggs favour at the Tour Down Under, but the defending champion didnt care. UAE Team ADQ riders were particularly active during the final stage of the race and when the final ascent of Corkscrew Road came around, they had Dominika Wodarczyk in the lead. EF Education-Oatlys Regg bridged the gap and brought along two of Wodarczyks teammates in Paula Blasi and Mavi Garca. It would be three vs one to decide the race as the quartet made their way to the finish. Regg launched her sprint to the line in Campbelltown and blew the UAE riders out of the water to win the stage and retain her overall title. It was a remarkable display, mirroring her EF teammate Neilson Powless against Visma-Lease a Bike the year prior.7. Isabella Holmgren vs the FinestreTommaso Berardi/NurPhoto via Getty ImagesLidl-Treks Isabella Holmgren enjoyed a fruitful 2025 that saw the young Canadian finish seventh overall at the Giro dItalia and win the Tour de lAvenir. Upon her return to the Giro this May, just after her 21st birthday, she rocketed into fourth place overall after Stage 5 and led the youth classification.The Colle delle Finestre was the races headline act on Stage 7 a climb familiar to Holmgren, who had ridden it at the 2024 Tour de lAvenir, racing to second on the day behind Frances Marion Bunel. Now, she had worked her way into a group of contenders that housed Demi Vollering, Antonia Niedermaier and Anna van der Breggen.As they ascended the Finestre, it was announced the stage would be shortened due to an unstable sheet of ice at the summit, taking off the top kilometre of the climb as well as the descent and final climb to Sestriere. The four would battle it out for the stage, not quite sure where the makeshift finish line would be. Vollering crossed the line first as Holmgren came through in second, a huge result for the young rider especially considering the season Vollering had.Holmgren would go on to finish the race seventh overall, winning the white jersey, and back that up with eighth at the Tour de France Femmes as well as second in the U23 Worlds Road Race. Dont look away, she is destined for big things.6. Elise Chabbey wins Strade BiancheFDJ United-SUEZTwo FDJ United-Suez riders made the podium of Strade Bianche. If you hadnt watched the race, you might have assumed one of these was Demi Vollering, right?Wrong.With 33km to go, a chasing group including pre-race favourites Vollering, Pauline Ferrand-Prvot and Lotte Kopecky found themselves led down the wrong gravel road that ended their chances of coming back into contention.Into the finale and the leading group thinned up the Via Santa Caterina to leave a quartet vying for victory: German Road Race Champion FranziskaKoch, Polish Road Race Champion Kasia Niewiadoma-Phinney, Italian Road Race Champion Elisa Longo Borghini and former Olympic canoer Elise Chabbey. At the top of the climb the riders were still together, but Koch, Niewiadoma-Phinney and Longo Borghini all tookthe same wide line into a corner. Chabbey came out ahead and never relented, claiming her sixth professional victory ahead of Niewiadoma-Phinney with teammate Koch finishing in third.Chabbey would end her season after finishing seventh at Lige-Bastogne-Lige as the Swiss rider announced she was pregnant with her first child.5. Paula Blasis rapid rise to redUnipublic / Cxcling / Angel CamarenaFormer duathlete Paula Blasi only began racing bikes seriously in 2024 and joined the WorldTour level in 2025 with UAE Team ADQ. She has been rapidly rising ever since.The 23-year-old Catalonian had tremendous season, claiming her maiden Classics victory at Amstel Gold Race in April before lining up at La Vuelta Femenina to ride her first Grand Tour.Turns out she only needed the one to make her mark. Bursting into life when the mountains came calling, Blasi notched second behind Anna van der Breggen on the first summit finish to Les Praeres to rise from outside the top ten overall into second. The final stage was a summit finish on the brutal Alto de lAngliru, and it was on those steep slopes that Blasi would overhaul an 18 second deficit to Van der Breggen. Even though she lost out on the stage win to Petra Stiasny of Human Powered Health, Blasi carved out almost 40 seconds of an advantage to take the overall victory.4. Sigrid Ytterhus Haugset lights up the road to PolignyA.S.O./Billy CeustersThe Tour de France Femmes gave us plenty of brilliant moments, and Sigrid Ytterhus Haugset coming in at number four isnt the only entrant on this list. In what can only be described as the most impressive solo breakaway in the womens peloton this year, Uno-X Mobilitys Norwegian National Champion went off the front with 88km to go. The peloton never saw her again. Only Lotte Kopecky could manage a glimpse, at one point cutting the deficit down to just ten seconds after an enormous solo chase, but even the mighty Belgian could not reel in Haugset, and the gap swelled back out once more in the closing kilometres. Not only was Haugset on her way to a stage win for just her second professional victory, but she was on her way to pulling on the maillot jaune too.The 27-year-old lifted yellow from the shoulders of Lorena Wiebes to pull off one of the most daring and entertaining feats this season. It just goes to show: always believe in the breakaway.3. FranziskaKoch prevails over the cobblesXavier PereyronParis-Roubaix Femmes always delivers the goods. There has yet to be a repeat winner, and in 2026 it was one frequent domestiques time to shine on the bigest stage. Ferrand-Prvot arrived as defending champion but had the aim of supporting Visma-Lease a Bike teammate Marianne Vos, who returned to racing after the death of her father. Initially a quartet that formed with 45km to go, SD Worxs Blanka Vas was dropped with 23km remaining leaving the pair of Visma riders and FDJ United-Suezs Franziska Koch, who was fresh off leading out Demi Vollering to Tour of Flanders victory the week before.The cobbled sectors ticked down, Vos couldnt get clear, and it was clear that this would be the group heading into the famed velodrome for a sprint. The odds were not in Kochs favour. She had not won on the WorldTour since the Boels Ladies Tour in 2019, and she had to overcome one of the greatest cyclists to ever live. It would be a tough ask.Ferrand-Prvot led them out onto the track. It would be Koch against Vos in the sprint. The pair were closely matched coming around the final bend and the bike throw was tight but Koch just had enough to edge out Vos and take a famous victory.2. Demi Vollering wins Tour de France FemmesA.S.O./Billy CeustersSince its inception in 2022, there had never been a repeat winner of the Tour de France Femmes. Going into this years race, Ferrand-Prevot, Niewiadoma-Phinney and Vollering were all looking to change that.On an enthralling trip around Switzerland and France that saw the yellow jersey change hands from Wiebes to Haugset to Marlen Reusser to Niewiadoma-Phinney, Vollering brought her characteristic flair in the final two stages to become the races first two-time winner. Vollering had been caught out by an attack from Niewiadoma-Phinney on Mont Ventoux, meaning she sat 15 seconds in arrears to the 2024 winner before Stage 8. On the final steep ramp of the stage, a controversial move by FDJs Celia Gery saw Niewiadoma-Phinney get boxed into the barriers, giving Vollering an early advantage, and after the Polish rider clawed back on, Vollering was able to solo away with 6km to go to take the win and precious time to take the overall lead.Multiple ascents of the Col dEze were on the cards for the last day of racing. Only eight seconds separated Vollering and Niewiadoma-Phinney a time gap just larger than Niewiadoma-Phinneys winning margin two years prior. The pair battled ferociously until Vollering rode away into the distance with 16km remaining.The Dutch rider extended her advantage to become the first woman to win the Tour de France Femmes twice. A truly incredible accomplishment. She wasnt done there either, ending the season by becoming World Champion, one of the major races she had yet to win, and it really makes you wonder what could be next for such a galactico of the sport. Milan-San Remo and Paris-Roubaix are yet to appear on her stacked palmars she has never even started the latter. Then theres the prospect of a hilly Olympics course in 2028. Can anyone stop Demi domination?1. A dramatic day atop Mont VentouxTim de Waele/Getty ImagesKasia Niewiadoma-Phinney does not win often. When she does, she wins big. Speaking to Cyclist before the Tour de France Femmes, she laid down her goal of wanting to beat the QoM on Mont Ventoux, a climb carved in cycling folklore and one that would be the headline act of the race for the first time in its short history.In a tactically delightful game of cat-and-mouse, Niewiadoma-Phinney seized her chance with just under 10km remaining, jumping away from the duo of Vollering and race leader Reusser. Neither of the two behind responded. Vollering was waiting on Reusser to defend her top spot. Reusser was watching Vollering knowing the Dutchwoman couldnt let Niewiadoma-Phinney slip away. A stalemate threatened to end both of their challenges.Onwards the lone leader persisted; the summit beckoned. At the start of the day she possessed a deficit of over a minute to Reusser and Vollering. By late afternoon, in the sweltering Provence sun, she had overhauled the standings to pull on the maillot jaune.As we now know, this would not be the end of things and Vollering would fight back with a vengeance to reclaim the top step of the podium. However this moment one in which Niewiadoma-Phinney did demolish the climbing record by almost two minutes will stick in the memory for years to come. It was so quintessentially Niewiadoma-Phinney. Daring, emotional and glorious.The post The 10 best moments in the 2026 Womens WorldTour season appeared first on Cyclist.