2023 Women’s WorldTour transfers summary

Mathew Mitchell

Published on December 23, 2022
in Women's Cycling

With only a week to go until the transfer window shuts for Women’s WorldTour teams, it’s safe to say that all but the latest of deals are still to be completed. We’ve seen some monster transfers take place and whilst some teams have had a bunch of riders move on there are a few teams who are relatively happy with their lot already. The contrast between say Israel-Premier Tech Roland with 10 new riders and say Movistar or FDJ-Suez with just 2 new riders is pretty stark. With a couple of Continental level teams not going ahead into the 2023 season, there’s also been a bit of late transfer business with teams spotting opportunities to sign riders that weren’t going to be available too.

2023 Women’s WorldTour winners and losers

The big consideration for some teams this year is scoring enough points to stay in the WWT at the end of the year. The likes of Fenix-Deceuninck, Liv Racing TeqFind and Israel Premier-Tech Roland are on the bubble and Uno-X and Human Powered Health both have a mountain to climb. Fenix-Decueninck looks a points machine in certain types of races and should be ok, Liv Racing TeqFind is banking on Mavi Garcia leading them to safety. Israel-Premier Tech Roland may yet be fine if Tamara Dronova can repeat her 2022. Their signings should add more points behind her but not a boatload.

Human Powered Health looks stronger with some finishers on the team like Barnes, Van ‘t Geloof and Pikulik but I worry that it won’t be enough for them after their 2022 season. Uno-X may look at the likes of AG Insurance-Soudal Quick-Step and Israel-Premier Tech Roland as their direct competition with only a 360 and 380 points deficit to them at the start of 2023. It’s doable and with Confalonieri and Koster they will score more but they need everyone to stay fit and healthy.

At the top end of the standings, Canyon SRAM looks improved after a refresh of their squad. A mix of some young talents and the likes of Bauernfeind, Van der Duin and Skalniak-Sójka who are ready to go really should see score more than 1 victory in 2023. Movistar didn’t do much business but by signing Lippert and Mackaij they are looking past the impending retirement of Van Vleuten and add some really top-drawer support for her too. It will certainly give the team more cards to play going forward too.

We’re going to get used to seeing SD Worx win even more after they matched a clause in Lorena Wiebes’ contract. By signing Bredewold, Markus and Guarischi at the same time, that’s a decent-looking sprint train and one-day race-winning line-up. They only lost Moolman-Pasio and Fournier, so will definitely be stronger. Trek Segafredo lost some big names but has done a good job of replacing them. The likes of Amanda Spratt, Lisa Klein and Brodie Chapman are pretty much like-for-like replacements and we shouldn’t see much drop-off.

UAE Team ADQ are probably the biggest winner this off-season. They’ve borderline absorbed Valcar-Travel & Service, taking 5 riders and a DS from that team. They lost Mavi Garcia in the process which is a shame as she could have really helped them push on into the top 3 conversation. Signing Silvia Persico and Chiara Consonni feels like a good way to ensure success though.

For me, the biggest loser this off-season is Team DSM. Losing Lippert, Mackaij and Wiebes is going to hurt any team but so much of their racing identity has been around Wiebes in the last couple of seasons. We are going to see a lot less of the team than we’ve been used to. They do have Charlotte Kool to step up so it’s not all doom and gloom and Juliette Labous will continue to fight GC battles. The team has been stacking a massive amount of youth talent, so whilst 2023 might be quiet, the future does still look good for the Dutch team.