For much of the early transfer window, SD Worx-Protime were unusually quiet. While rivals reshaped rosters and dominated headlines, the Dutch team appeared content to observe rather than react. That restraint proved deliberate. When movement finally came, it was limited in volume but precise in intent, reinforcing a long-standing philosophy that values control and long-term planning over activity for its own sake.
After spending most of the last decade as the dominant force in the Women’s WorldTour, SD Worx-Protime ceded the top spot in the UCI rankings to FDJ United-SUEZ in 2025. The season was far from unsuccessful, but it exposed a relative vulnerability in stage race general classifications, an area where points accumulation increasingly shapes the wider hierarchy. The response ahead of 2026 reflects that diagnosis.
Stability before expansion
Continuity remains the foundation of SD Worx-Protime’s strength. Rather than reshaping the squad wholesale, the team prioritised retaining a core group capable of winning across multiple race types. Lotte Kopecky, Lorena Wiebes and Mischa Bredewold remain central to the programme, ensuring dominance in cobbled Classics, sprint finishes and selective one-day races.
Behind the headline names sits a deep supporting cast. Riders such as Elena Cecchini and Barbara Guarischi continue to provide experience, race intelligence and positioning skills that are difficult to quantify but essential to SD Worx-Protime’s control-based racing style. Their presence allows leaders to conserve energy and gives the team greater authority in chaotic finales.
Marie Schreiber, Femke Gerritse and Femke Markus further strengthen the middle of the roster. Schreiber brings consistency and it could be her time to shine on the road in 2026, Gerritse offers speed and versatility, while Markus remains effective across gravel, domestic races and selective one-day events. Retaining this group ensures that SD Worx-Protime remain competitive even when racing without its primary leaders.
Managing departures without disruption
Only a small number of riders exit the team at the end of the season, and the impact is limited. Chantal van den Broek-Blaak stepped away mid-year in 2025 after becoming pregnant a second time, while contracts for Geerike Schreurs, Laura Stigger and Skylar Schneider expired. Schreurs and Stigger split focus with off-road disciplines and raced sparingly on the road, while Schneider never fully embedded into the team’s WorldTour structure.
What stands out is not who left, but how few did. No rider was tempted away mid-contract, a rarity at this level and an indicator of a functioning environment where roles are clear and opportunities are sustained over time.
Rebalancing the climbing resources
Despite a strong win total in 2025, SD Worx-Protime lacked depth in general classification contention. With Demi Vollering, Marlen Reusser and Niamh Fisher-Black no longer part of the project, expectations rested on Anna van der Breggen’s gradual return to stage race form and the possibility of Lotte Kopecky extending her brief experiment with GC ambitions.
Neither fully materialised. Kopecky’s strengths remain best deployed in one-day racing, while Van der Breggen, although improving, could not single-handedly fill the gap across all stage races. The conclusion was clear. Reinforcement was needed, but it had to align with the team’s long-term approach.
Long-term solutions rather than quick fixes
SD Worx-Protime’s two signings for 2026 reflect that philosophy. Valentina Cavallar and Nienke Vinke are not marquee transfers designed to generate immediate headlines, but riders whose trajectories point firmly upward.
Cavallar’s progression has been rapid. Transitioning from rowing and entering UCI-level cycling only in 2024, she immediately demonstrated climbing talent and stage race composure. Second overall at the Tour des Pyrénées and a strong Tour de France Femmes debut, including seventh on Alpe d’Huez, marked her as a rider with genuine GC potential. Within SD Worx-Protime’s performance environment, she has the scope to convert promise into consistent results.
Vinke arrives with a slightly more established profile. Podium success at the Tour Down Under, the white jersey at the Tour de France Femmes and ninth overall at the Vuelta Femenina place her firmly among the next generation of GC contenders. Her arrival gives SD Worx-Protime a rider capable of top-10 finishes already, with realistic progression towards higher targets.
Together, they allow SD Worx-Protime to spread responsibility across multiple leaders, reducing pressure on any single rider and restoring competitiveness across all three Grand Tours.
Depth beyond the headline names
Beyond GC ambitions, SD Worx-Protime retain one of the most complete rosters in the peloton. Lorena Wiebes remains the dominant sprinter of her generation, contributing the majority of the team’s 2025 victories across WorldTour stage races and one-day events. Mischa Bredewold continues to thrive in hilly Classics and selective stage finishes, while Blanka Vas adds punch and aggression across varied terrain.
Riders such as Mikayla Harvey and Lisa van Belle provide further tactical options, particularly in transitional stages and breakaway scenarios. This depth allows SD Worx-Protime to race assertively without overexposing their leaders, a hallmark of their success over the past decade.
Outlook for 2026
SD Worx-Protime approach 2026 in recalibration rather than recovery. The foundations that sustained years of dominance remain intact, while targeted recruitment addresses the one area that limited their ranking position in 2025.
By reinforcing their climbing group without weakening sprint and Classics programmes, the team look better balanced than they did twelve months ago. Whether that balance is enough to reclaim the top of the Women’s WorldTour rankings will depend on how quickly Cavallar and Vinke adapt to increased leadership responsibility, but the structure around them is designed to support that transition.
SD Worx-Protime may have moved quietly in the transfer market, but their intent for 2026 is clear.
2026 SD Worx-Protime Roster
- Mischa Bredewold
- Elena Cecchini
- Femke Gerritse
- Barbara Guarischi
- Mikayla Harvey
- Steffi Haberlin
- Julia Kopecky
- Lotte Kopecky
- Marta Lach
- Femke Markus
- Marie Schreiber
- Lisa van Belle
- Anna van der Breggen
- Blanka Vas
- Lorena Wiebes
- Valentina Cavallar
- Nienke Vinke
