The Women’s Cycling Grand Prix Region Stuttgart 2026 has attracted 114 riders from 19 teams for Sunday’s fourth edition, with defending champion Eleonora Gasparrini, Cat Ferguson and Antonia Niedermaier among the biggest names on the start list.
The race takes place on Sunday 13 September, covering 134.7km from Tamm back to Tamm. It is the first edition under the revised regional format, with the previous point-to-point route into Stuttgart replaced by repeated loops through the Ludwigsburg district and three short finishing circuits.
Gasparrini arrives looking for a third consecutive victory after winning in both 2024 and 2025. Ferguson finished second to the Italian last year and returns with Movistar Team, while Niedermaier gives Canyon SRAM another major contender after finishing fourth overall and winning the young rider classification at the 2026 Tour de France Femmes.
Seven Women’s WorldTeams feature among the 19 squads, giving the German 1.Pro race one of the strongest fields of its short history.
Gasparrini goes for three wins in a row
No rider is more closely associated with this race than Eleonora Gasparrini.
The UAE Team L’IMAD rider has started the event twice and won both times, although the two victories came in very different ways. In 2024 she reached the finish in a three-rider group and beat Lieke Nooijen and Mareille Meijering in the sprint. A year later she attacked inside the final kilometre and just held off Ferguson.
That versatility should suit the redesigned 2026 route.
The Women’s Cycling GP Stuttgart & Region route guide shows how the opening 99km contains most of the climbing before the race switches to three 11.8km circuits around Tamm, Asperg and Möglingen.
Gasparrini can survive the repeated short climbs, but she also has enough speed to win if a reduced group reaches the final lap together. That makes her difficult to remove without creating opportunities for other attackers.
Cat Ferguson returns after coming close in 2025
Cat Ferguson provides one of the clearest challenges to the defending champion.
The Movistar rider finished second in 2025 after closing rapidly on Gasparrini’s late attack and returns after another season in which she has continued establishing herself among the strongest young one-day riders in the peloton.
Ferguson’s 2026 victories include the Trofeo Llucmajor and Navarra Women’s Elite Classic, reinforcing the combination of climbing resistance and finishing speed that makes her particularly well suited to Stuttgart.
Her Cat Ferguson rider profile covers a career that has already included junior world titles and Women’s WorldTour success despite her still being only 20.
The new finishing circuit should give Ferguson several options. Movistar can try to control for a reduced sprint, allow her to respond to attacks herself or use other riders to make the final laps difficult before relying on her speed.
Antonia Niedermaier strengthens the climbing threat
Antonia Niedermaier adds another dimension to the field.
The Canyon SRAM rider arrives after one of the strongest stage-racing performances of her career at the Tour de France Femmes, where she finished fourth overall and took the white jersey as the best young rider.
Stuttgart is a very different race, with no long mountain climb on which Niedermaier can simply ride rivals off her wheel. The repeated rises through the first two loops should nevertheless give Canyon SRAM an incentive to make the race hard before the faster riders reach Tamm.
If the second passage through Eberdingen and Markgröningen becomes aggressive, Niedermaier is one of the riders capable of benefiting.
Her presence also means Gasparrini and Ferguson cannot simply concentrate on one another. A strong climber escaping before the final circuits could force the faster favourites to commit their teams much earlier than they would like.
Franziska Brauße gives Germany a local rider to follow
Franziska Brauße will be among the most recognisable German riders in the field with REMBE | RAD-NET.
The 27-year-old was born in nearby Metzingen and is best known internationally for her track career, including Olympic team pursuit gold at Tokyo 2020. She has continued combining track and road racing, giving the home crowd a rider with strong local connections.
Germany are still waiting for a home winner of the Women’s Cycling Grand Prix.
Linda Riedmann has so far come closest to establishing a consistent German presence at the front, finishing third in both 2023 and 2025. The history of the Women’s Cycling Grand Prix Stuttgart & Region covers all three previous editions and the event’s rapid promotion from UCI 1.2 to the Women’s ProSeries.
Photo Credit: GettySeven Women’s WorldTeams add depth to the field
Gasparrini, Ferguson and Niedermaier are the obvious headline names, but the strength of the start list goes beyond those three.
UAE Team L’IMAD, FDJ United-Suez, Lidl-Trek, Fenix-Premier Tech, Canyon SRAM, Movistar Team and Liv-AlUla-Jayco give the race seven Women’s WorldTeams.
That should have a major effect on how the race develops.
The 2026 course contains four mountain-prize passages at kilometres 37.0, 45.4, 83.4 and 91.8. None is severe enough to decide the race alone, but the second pair arrives at exactly the point where teams without a top-level sprint should begin trying to remove riders such as Gasparrini and Ferguson.
The final 35.4km then consists of three shorter circuits around Tamm.
If the WorldTour teams still have numbers at that point, controlling the race becomes realistic. If the previous climbs have reduced each squad to one or two riders, the closing circuits could become much more difficult to organise.
A different race from the previous Stuttgart editions
The start list may contain several familiar names, but the riders face a substantially different event in 2026.
The first three editions all finished in Stuttgart itself. Tamm hosted the inaugural start in 2023, Böblingen followed in 2024 and Filderstadt in 2025 before each race eventually headed towards the city.
This year Tamm hosts both the start and finish.
The change came as the race moved to a regional model and formally became the Women’s Cycling Grand Prix Region Stuttgart. It remains a Women’s ProSeries event at 1.Pro level.
Our beginner’s guide to the Women’s Cycling Grand Prix Region Stuttgart 2026 explains the new format and how the race has developed since Elena Pirrone won the inaugural edition in 2023.
The sporting identity remains familiar even though the route has changed. None of the first three editions produced a conventional full bunch sprint. Pirrone won alone, Gasparrini won from a three-rider selection in 2024 and then used a late attack in 2025.
The rolling 2026 course gives teams plenty of opportunities to continue that pattern.
Full Women’s Cycling GP Stuttgart & Region 2026 start list
The latest confirmed start list for the Women’s Cycling Grand Prix Region Stuttgart 2026 is embedded below. The list will update with any late rider changes or withdrawals ahead of Sunday’s race.
Data powered by FirstCycling.com
Gasparrini begins with the strongest recent record at the race, but the new route makes direct comparisons with her previous victories difficult.
Ferguson has the speed to take advantage if the final circuits produce a reduced sprint. Niedermaier and the stronger climbers have every reason to make sure that scenario never develops. Behind them, 19 teams have enough depth to make controlling 134.7km of constantly changing terrain far from straightforward.
The full start list reflects how quickly this race has developed. Only three years after beginning at UCI 1.2 level, Stuttgart now brings seven Women’s WorldTeams and more than 100 professional riders to Tamm for one of Germany’s strongest women’s one-day races.
