The Women’s Cycling Grand Prix Region Stuttgart 2026 takes place on Sunday 13 September, bringing one of Germany’s most important professional women’s one-day races back to Baden-Württemberg.
It will be only the fourth edition of the race, but the event has developed quickly. Launched in 2023 as a UCI 1.2 race, it was promoted to the UCI Women’s ProSeries after just one year and remains at 1.Pro level for 2026.
There is also a substantial change for this year’s edition. The race was previously known as the Women’s Cycling Grand Prix Stuttgart & Region, with the route traditionally finishing in Stuttgart itself. For 2026, Stuttgart drops out of the title and Tamm will host both the start and finish, beginning a new phase in the race’s short history.
For anyone discovering the event for the first time, here is what you need to know about its history, route, importance and the type of rider likely to succeed.
Photo Credit: GettyWomen’s Cycling Grand Prix Region Stuttgart 2026 at a glance
Date: Sunday 13 September 2026
Country: Germany
Region: Baden-Württemberg
Start: Tamm
Finish: Tamm
Race type: Women’s one-day road race
UCI classification: 1.Pro
Series: UCI Women’s ProSeries
Expected distance: Around 120km
First edition: 2023
2025 winner: Eleonora Gasparrini
Most successful rider: Eleonora Gasparrini, two victories
The race sits immediately below Women’s WorldTour level and has already attracted strong WorldTour representation during its brief existence.
ProCyclingUK’s 2025 Grand Prix Stuttgart & Region preview gives a useful picture of how quickly the event had developed by its third edition, when a strong WorldTour field lined up.
What is the Women’s Cycling Grand Prix Region Stuttgart?
The Women’s Cycling Grand Prix Region Stuttgart is a professional women’s one-day race held on the rolling roads around the wider Stuttgart region.
It was introduced in 2023 and has been paired with the Brezel Race, a large mass-participation cycling event held during the same weekend.
That gives the event a slightly different identity from many conventional standalone professional races. Amateur riders get the opportunity to ride closed roads around the region before the elite women’s race becomes the main sporting attraction.
The professional course itself has also been designed as a regional event rather than a race tied permanently to one fixed parcours.
That has meant significant route changes from one edition to another, with different starting points and roads used around Baden-Württemberg.
Why has the race changed its name for 2026?
The difference between Women’s Cycling Grand Prix Stuttgart & Region and Women’s Cycling Grand Prix Region Stuttgart looks minor, but it reflects a significant change to the event.
Previous editions involved both the wider Stuttgart region and the city of Stuttgart itself, with the professional race finishing in the city.
That changes in 2026.
The new format centres the race on a host municipality elsewhere in the region, with Tamm hosting both the departure and the finish.
That removes the familiar city-centre Stuttgart finale and means the 2026 edition should not simply be viewed as another version of the course used in 2024 or 2025.
It is effectively the beginning of a new route concept.
What is the route for the 2026 Women’s Cycling Grand Prix Region Stuttgart?
The final detailed professional route is still to be published, but the broad structure is already clear.
The race is expected to cover approximately 120 kilometres, with Tamm serving as the central start-and-finish location.
The wider event uses roads through municipalities including Tamm, Asperg, Markgröningen, Möglingen, Ditzingen, Eberdingen, Korntal-Münchingen and Vaihingen an der Enz.
The important characteristic is the terrain.
This part of Baden-Württemberg is rolling rather than mountainous.
There are frequent changes of gradient and opportunities to attack, but there is no long Alpine ascent likely to turn the race into a straightforward contest between pure climbers.
That generally makes the race best suited to riders who sit somewhere between sprinter and climber.
What type of race is it?
The first three editions have already established a fairly clear pattern.
This is not normally a race for the heaviest pure sprinters, but neither is it difficult enough to guarantee that only the strongest climbers remain.
Instead, the repeated rolling terrain gradually reduces the field and encourages attacks.
That tends to favour Classics riders, puncheurs and fast finishers who can climb.
The 2024 Grand Prix Stuttgart & Region preview highlighted exactly that balance, with riders such as Eleonora Gasparrini and Dominika Włodarczyk among the leading contenders.
Gasparrini has subsequently become the clearest example of the ideal rider for the event.
She is fast enough to win from a small group but strong enough over repeated climbs to reach that sprint in the first place.
Who has won the Women’s Cycling Grand Prix Stuttgart?
There have only been three editions so far:
2025 – Eleonora Gasparrini
2024 – Eleonora Gasparrini
2023 – Elena Pirrone
That already gives Gasparrini a distinctive place in the history of the race.
2023: Elena Pirrone wins the first edition
Italian rider Elena Pirrone became the inaugural winner in 2023.
The race was then classified at UCI 1.2 level and started in Tamm before heading towards Stuttgart.
Pirrone escaped to win alone, finishing ahead of Kathrin Schweinberger and Linda Riedmann.
Her victory immediately showed that the race could reward aggression rather than simply waiting for a sprint.
More on her career can be found in ProCyclingUK’s Elena Pirrone rider profile.
2024: Eleonora Gasparrini takes over
The race moved up to UCI 1.Pro level for its second edition in 2024.
That promotion brought a significantly stronger field and established the event as part of the Women’s ProSeries calendar.
The 118.2km route from Böblingen to Stuttgart produced an aggressive race, with several riders attempting to break the race apart before the finish.
Eventually, Gasparrini reached the final kilometres in a three-rider group with Lieke Nooijen and Mareille Meijering before using her sprint to take victory.
ProCyclingUK’s 2024 Grand Prix Stuttgart race report covers how the Italian converted that selective finale into her first win at the event.
2025: Gasparrini wins again
Gasparrini returned in 2025 and successfully defended her title.
The route ran from Filderstadt into Stuttgart and again produced an aggressive race rather than a conventional full bunch sprint.
Kasia Niewiadoma-Phinney repeatedly attacked on the climbs, Karlijn Swinkels went clear late and the race remained reduced deep into the finale.
Gasparrini then made the decisive move inside the final kilometre and held off a fast-closing Cat Ferguson, with Linda Riedmann taking third.
That second victory showed just how well suited Gasparrini is to this race.
In 2024 she waited for a small-group sprint.
In 2025 she attacked late.
Two editions, two different winning methods.
Why is the race already ProSeries level?
Its rapid rise through the UCI hierarchy is one of the most notable things about the event.
The first edition in 2023 was a UCI 1.2 race.
For 2024, it jumped directly to 1.Pro, where it has remained.
In simple terms, the women’s road-racing hierarchy looks like this:
Women’s WorldTour
⬇
Women’s ProSeries
⬇
UCI 1.1
⬇
UCI 1.2
ProSeries status therefore puts the Women’s Cycling Grand Prix Region Stuttgart one level below the Women’s WorldTour.
That allows it to attract strong WorldTour teams while also remaining accessible to ProTeams, Continental teams and development squads.
The quality of the 2025 field showed the effect of that promotion, with a number of established WorldTour names contesting the race.
What type of rider should you watch in 2026?
The final start list is still too far away to build a definitive favourites section.
The rider profile is much easier to predict.
The strongest contenders are likely to need three qualities.
They must climb well enough to survive repeated short rises. A pure sprinter who requires flat roads and a controlled peloton may struggle.
They need finishing speed. The terrain is selective, but it does not necessarily produce one rider alone at the finish.
They need to be tactically aggressive. Every previous edition has shown that waiting passively can be dangerous.
That combination strongly favours Classics-style riders.
Why does Eleonora Gasparrini suit this race so well?
Gasparrini’s two victories are not simply coincidence.
She is almost perfectly matched to the demands of the race.
She has enough sprint speed to win from a reduced group but enough endurance and climbing ability to survive the rolling terrain that removes many conventional sprinters.
Her full Eleonora Gasparrini rider profile shows a career increasingly built around exactly this type of one-day racing.
More importantly, her two Stuttgart victories have come through different tactical approaches.
In 2024, she waited for a three-rider sprint.
In 2025, she attacked inside the final kilometre and held off the chase.
That makes her difficult to control because rivals cannot simply choose between preventing an attack and marking her for a sprint.
She can do both.
If Gasparrini returns in 2026, the obvious question will be whether anyone can stop her completing a hat-trick.
Where is Tamm?
Tamm is a town in Baden-Württemberg, north of Stuttgart and close to Ludwigsburg.
It already has an important connection with the race.
The inaugural Women’s Cycling Grand Prix started there in 2023 before travelling towards Stuttgart.
Three years later, Tamm becomes the centre of the entire event.
Both the start and finish move there for 2026, giving the race a very different shape from the point-to-point editions that ended in Stuttgart.
That change could have a significant tactical impact.
A circuit or loop-based race around the same part of the region gives riders more opportunities to learn the decisive roads during the event and could make late attacks easier to plan.
What happened to the Stuttgart city-centre finish?
This is probably the most obvious change for anyone who watched the previous editions.
The 2024 race finished on laps through Stuttgart, where Gasparrini eventually won a three-up sprint.
The 2025 edition again ended in central Stuttgart, with Gasparrini making her winning late attack before Cat Ferguson nearly caught her on the line.
That city-centre finale disappears in 2026.
With Tamm taking over as both start and finish, teams cannot rely on previous knowledge of the closing kilometres in Stuttgart.
The course history still matters, but the precise tactical blueprint will need to be rewritten.
When is the Women’s Cycling Grand Prix Region Stuttgart 2026?
The race takes place on:
Sunday 13 September 2026
Its September position makes it part of the closing phase of the European women’s road season.
That can produce an interesting mixture of objectives.
Some riders arrive targeting the race itself.
Others may use it as part of their build-up towards championships or later autumn one-day races.
Teams chasing UCI points also have strong reasons to target a ProSeries event at this point in the season.
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Photo Credit: Getty
How to watch Women’s Cycling Grand Prix Region Stuttgart 2026
Broadcast details for the 2026 race have not yet been confirmed.
The 2025 edition received live coverage, but viewers should wait for the official 2026 announcement rather than assuming the same arrangement will automatically continue.
UK television and streaming information should become clearer closer to 13 September.
Why should you watch the Women’s Cycling Grand Prix Region Stuttgart?
The Women’s Cycling Grand Prix Region Stuttgart does not yet possess the history of the major Belgian, Dutch or Italian Classics, but that is part of what makes it interesting.
The race is still developing its identity.
Its course changes considerably from year to year.
Its ProSeries status attracts WorldTour-quality riders without guaranteeing the level of control seen at the biggest Women’s WorldTour races.
The terrain creates opportunities for both attackers and fast finishers.
And after only three editions, it already has its first dominant figure.
Elena Pirrone won the first edition. Eleonora Gasparrini has won both races since.
In 2026, the familiar Stuttgart finish disappears and Tamm takes over as the centre of the event.
That means the fourth Women’s Cycling Grand Prix Region Stuttgart will not simply ask whether Gasparrini can win for a third consecutive year.
It will also show what this rapidly developing German one-day race looks like in its new form.
