Women’s cycling could finally be set to gain its own edition of Il Lombardia, with Het Laatste Nieuws reporting that organiser RCS is working on plans to launch a women’s race in 2027.
If it happens, it would remove the last remaining asterisk on the Monument list. The women’s versions of the Tour of Flanders and Liège Bastogne Liège have been established for years, Paris Roubaix Femmes arrived in 2021, and Milano Sanremo Women was added in 2025. Il Lombardia remains the only men’s Monument without a comparable top-tier women’s event.
Demi Vollering has already pushed the case publicly
HLN’s report lands after Demi Vollering made a pointed public appeal for the race. Following a training ride around Lake Como, she addressed UCI president David Lappartient directly on Instagram, writing: “Now I really want a Il Lombardia for women. Take this as my first note to your letter from this week.”
Vollering namechecked the Madonna del Ghisallo and the Muro di Sormano, two of the race’s defining landmarks. It was less a casual suggestion than a reminder that the terrain and mythology are already there, and the women’s peloton is more than capable of producing a race worthy of the setting.
The key context: an “Il Lombardia women” already existed, but it was not a UCI-level event
This is not the first time the idea has surfaced for a women’s Il Lombardia.
In 2022, Italian reporting described the launch of a “Lombardia femminile” linked to the Canturino 1902 club’s 120th anniversary celebrations. The plan was for a race on October 8th, starting in Cantù and finishing in Piazza Cavour in Como, scheduled a couple of hours before the men’s race on the same day. Crucially, it was framed as an “open” event, meaning it was also open to junior riders, and explicitly not a Women’s WorldTour race.
That same 2022 report also underlined the practical limitations of the moment. It pointed to calendar clashes, including the first edition of the Tour de Romandie as a Women’s WorldTour race, and the knock-on effect of riders travelling to China ahead of the Tour of Chongming Island, another Women’s WorldTour event. The implication was clear: even if a Lombardia labelled women’s race could be staged, pulling a true top-tier start list into October was far from straightforward.
That is why the 2027 rumour is different. A genuine RCS-run women’s Il Lombardia, built as a premier international event rather than a local or developmental “open” race, would carry the calendar status, team participation and sporting weight that the earlier concept did not.
Why a proper women’s Il Lombardia would change the shape of the season
Il Lombardia is not just another one-day race. In the men’s calendar, it is a season-defining climb classic, traditionally closing the Monument set and anchoring the autumn narrative. For women, the absence has been both practical and symbolic: the sport has expanded its spring and summer pillars rapidly, but the prestigious autumn one-day offering has never had a direct equivalent to the “Race of the Falling Leaves”.
If RCS does proceed for 2027, the expectation will be obvious. This needs to be a true peer event: UCI level, properly positioned, and designed to attract the best riders and teams, not simply a course in the right region with the right name.
What happens next
For now, this remains a reported plan rather than a confirmed announcement. The next clues will be practical: calendar placement, classification, route concept, and whether RCS frames it as a direct counterpart to the men’s Monument.
If those details fall into place, 2027 could be the year women’s cycling finally has the complete Monument set, not just in name, but in stature.
