Lily Williams will leave Human Powered Health at the end of the 2026 season and join UAE Team L’IMAD on a two-year contract running through to the end of 2028.
The 32-year-old American brings a particularly broad skill set to the team, combining Olympic and world championship success on the track with increasingly strong performances on the road. She has spent the bulk of her professional road career within the Rally Cycling/Human Powered Health structure, making the move to UAE Team L’IMAD a significant change after several seasons in the same organisation.
Williams is expected to bring experience across several different areas rather than fill one narrow role. She has developed into a valuable lead-out rider, is comfortable in windy and technical races, can contribute from breakaways and has also shown enough finishing ability to produce her own results when opportunities arise. Her profile on the road has become noticeably stronger over the last three seasons, with performances such as third at Nokere Koerse in 2024 and second on stages of both the Giro d’Italia Women and Tour de Suisse Women in 2026.
“I have been on the same team for my entire career up until this point,” Williams said. “I started cycling after a career in running, and I needed time to build the skills and race knowledge as a rider before I was ready to make a step to a top team. Now I am 100% prepared to be a key rider in a lineup that is capable of winning Monuments and Grand Tours alike.”
Williams brings Olympic and world championship pedigree
Williams’ track career gives UAE Team L’IMAD another rider with experience at the very highest level of international competition.
She was part of the United States team pursuit squad that won the world title in 2020 before taking Olympic bronze in Tokyo. Williams then returned for the Paris Olympics in 2024 and helped the United States win gold in the team pursuit, adding an Olympic title to a track palmarès that already marked her out as one of the leading American endurance riders of her generation.
That background matters beyond the medals themselves. Track endurance racing demands repeated high-power efforts, precise positioning and constant communication, all qualities that transfer naturally into lead-out work and difficult road finales. Williams has increasingly turned those attributes into road results as well, something ProCyclingUK has followed throughout her time with Human Powered Health on her Lily Williams rider page.
Her road development has been particularly visible in the Classics. Third at Nokere Koerse in 2024 was her first major European podium, and she backed that up with seventh at Gent-Wevelgem the following year. Those results established Williams as a rider capable of surviving hard, technical one-day racing while still retaining enough speed to contest the finish.
UAE Team L’IMAD value Williams as much for her teamwork as her results
The signing is notable because Williams is not joining purely as another rider expected to chase individual victories.
Her greatest value may come from the less visible parts of racing: positioning leaders, managing difficult crosswind situations, anticipating splits and taking responsibility in the final kilometres before a sprint or decisive climb. Those are qualities that become particularly important on a roster already containing established leaders and riders capable of winning major stage races and one-day events.
“While I have had some really nice results of my own, my real skills as a rider are in being a teammate and doing what is necessary to deliver the team to a good result,” Williams said. “I experience a lot of happiness and fulfillment when I can do a great lead-out for a victory or help position for the crucial moments.”
That profile should fit particularly well within a UAE Team L’IMAD squad that has developed considerable depth across different race types. The team’s 2026 Tour de France Femmes line-up, for example, was built around Elisa Longo Borghini while still including several riders capable of taking responsibility in the mountains, Classics-style terrain and stage-hunting scenarios.
Williams can contribute during the cobbled Classics, protect GC leaders during stage races and operate in a sprint train without requiring the team to build the race around her. She also has enough finishing ability to capitalise if a race becomes selective and presents her with an opportunity of her own.
A move encouraged by future teammates
Williams said the possibility of joining UAE Team L’IMAD developed after several riders encouraged her to speak with the team, with that feedback playing an important part in her decision.
“When you know that your future colleagues are excited to work with you and willing to back you, then you know that the environment is good and the support for the riders is strong,” she said. “I am excited to give back to the team for this opportunity, and I know I can be a great asset across many different race scenarios.”
The emphasis on environment is important given how long Williams has spent within the Human Powered Health structure. She first joined the Rally Cycling programme in 2020 and remained through its evolution into Human Powered Health, becoming one of the more experienced figures within the squad.
Her previous commitment to the programme had taken her through to the end of 2026, as covered when Williams extended with Human Powered Health through 2026. The UAE move therefore comes at the natural end of that contract rather than as an early departure.
Rather than using the transfer as a reset, Williams wants to build on the level she has already reached and apply it within a team operating closer to the front of the biggest races.
Lead-outs, wind and the Classics suit Williams particularly well
Williams’ strongest road qualities are particularly useful in races where positioning and repeated accelerations matter as much as pure climbing ability.
She is comfortable in crosswinds, has substantial experience on cobbled terrain and has increasingly become an effective lead-out rider. Her third place at Nokere Koerse in 2024 demonstrated that she can also remain competitive herself when a race becomes hard, while her later Classics results reinforced the same point.
That versatility gives UAE Team L’IMAD options. In one race, Williams could spend the final kilometres delivering a faster teammate into position. In another, she could be used in an early move or given freedom to follow attacks if the race becomes tactical.
The northern Classics are an obvious setting for those qualities. Positioning into narrow roads, surviving repeated accelerations and recognising when a split is becoming decisive can matter as much as raw climbing or sprint speed. Williams’ development in that environment has been one of the clearest themes of her road career, from her breakthrough podium at Nokere Koerse to later performances across Belgium.
Her road career has continued to move forward in 2026
Williams arrives at UAE Team L’IMAD after one of the strongest road seasons of her career.
Second on a stage of the Giro d’Italia Women represented one of her biggest results at Women’s WorldTour level, while another second place at the Tour de Suisse Women underlined the progress she has made in stage racing. Those performances came on top of a steadily improving record in difficult one-day races and reduced sprints.
That progression matters because the move is not simply about bringing an experienced track champion into the team. Williams has become a much more complete road rider than she was earlier in her career, with improvements in climbing, time trialling and tactical decision-making widening the range of situations in which she can contribute.
She believes joining UAE Team L’IMAD can help accelerate that process.
“Each year since I began racing in Europe my level has gotten higher and has tracked with the increasing level of the women’s peloton,” Williams said. “Now that I will be on one of the world’s top teams I expect that I will have the support and resources to make another jump in my career, and I expect to be in more selections fighting for the win or attacking with a teammate.”
Williams still sees room to improve
Despite her experience, Williams does not see the move as a late-career transfer built purely around what she can already do.
Time trialling and climbing are two areas she still wants to improve, adding more depth to a profile already built around power, positioning and tactical awareness. The aim is not to transform her into a GC rider or pure climber, but to make sure she can remain useful further into increasingly difficult WorldTour races.
“I am looking forward to continuing to work on these skills so I can be as versatile of a rider as possible,” Williams said. “I have made big jumps also in my mental training and experiencing the power of good mental skills has been exciting.”
That desire to continue developing at 32 is central to the logic of the transfer. UAE Team L’IMAD are not simply acquiring a finished support rider. They are bringing in someone whose road performances have continued moving upwards while her track background already gives her substantial experience of elite performance environments.
From running to the Olympic podium and the Women’s WorldTour
Williams came to cycling comparatively late after previously competing as a runner.
She began racing professionally on the road in 2018 and moved into elite track competition soon afterwards, rapidly establishing herself within the United States team pursuit programme. Her progression from running into cycling eventually produced a world championship title, Olympic bronze and Olympic gold, while her road career developed at the same time rather than being abandoned in favour of the track.
That unconventional route has shaped the type of rider she has become. Instead of specialising early, Williams gradually added technical and tactical skills to the physical engine that first brought her into cycling, then increasingly found a niche as a rider capable of performing difficult support work without losing the possibility of taking results herself.
Her ProCyclingUK coverage over recent seasons reflects that development, from her Nokere Koerse breakthrough through to her growing role in major stage races and the 2026 Giro d’Italia Women.
UAE Team L’IMAD continue strengthening for 2027
Williams becomes another addition to a UAE Team L’IMAD programme that increasingly has the depth to target Monuments, stage races and the biggest Grand Tours with several different leaders.
Team president Melissa Moncada believes Williams’ career trajectory is one of the most attractive parts of the signing.
“Let’s welcome Lily to our team,” Moncada said. “She is a young woman with a wonderful personality who has shown continuous growth throughout her career. We are confident that our team will provide her with the right tools to continue her journey in the world of cycling in the best possible way.”
For Williams, the attraction is equally clear. She is moving from a programme where she has spent most of her professional career into one capable of contesting the biggest races with multiple leaders, while still valuing the support roles that have increasingly become central to her identity as a rider.
The move will also be added to ProCyclingUK’s women’s cycling transfers hub, which is tracking confirmed transfers, contract extensions and departures across the professional peloton ahead of 2027.
Williams will officially join UAE Team L’IMAD ahead of the 2027 season, with her contract running through to the end of 2028.
