The 2025 women’s road season did more than confirm form or crown champions. It showed, very clearly, how decisive the right transfer can be. In a peloton that is deeper, faster and more specialised than ever, changing teams is no longer just about salary or status. It is about structure, race leadership, trust, and alignment between rider ambition and team direction.
Looking back at the 2024-25 transfer window, five moves stand out for the scale of their impact. Not just because of victories, but because each transfer unlocked something that had been missing the year before. Some riders gained full leadership, others found stability after uncertainty, and in one case, a team’s entire sporting identity shifted around a single signing.
Listed in alphabetical order, these are the five most successful women’s transfers of the 2025 season, why they worked, and what they set up for 2026.
Pauline Ferrand-Prévot and the perfect alignment at Team Visma | Lease a Bike Women
When Pauline Ferrand-Prévot signed for Team Visma | Lease a Bike Women, the ambition was clear and openly stated. The goal was to win the Tour de France Femmes within three years. It took one.
In 2025, Ferrand-Prévot delivered one of the most complete seasons in the modern women’s peloton. She won the Tour de France Femmes outright, giving Visma | Lease a Bike the rare distinction of having Tour winners in both the men’s and women’s programmes. Beyond July, her season was already exceptional. She finished second at the Tour of Flanders and won Paris-Roubaix, confirming that her return to the road was not just about stage racing, but about mastering the hardest one-day races as well.
The contrast with 2024 is crucial. Before joining Visma, Ferrand-Prévot was operating in a more fragmented environment, balancing disciplines and without a road programme fully built around her. In 2025, everything was aligned. Race preparation, domestique roles, tactical clarity and long-term trust all pointed in one direction.
Looking to 2026, the challenge shifts from breakthrough to defence. Ferrand-Prévot will start the season as the rider everyone plans against. With Visma | Lease a Bike now proven as a Grand Tour-winning women’s team, the expectation will be repeated success at the Tour de France Femmes, while Paris-Roubaix and Flanders remain natural targets rather than bonuses.
Niamh Fisher-Black finds consistency and freedom at Lidl-Trek
Niamh Fisher-Black’s move to Lidl-Trek did not produce a win in 2025, but it may have produced something more important. Consistency at the very highest level, across an entire season.
After leaving SD Worx-Protime at the end of 2024, Fisher-Black arrived at Lidl-Trek as a rider in need of space to lead, rather than fit into an already crowded hierarchy. In 2025, she delivered top-10 results in virtually every race that finished uphill. She was fifth overall at the Tour de France Femmes and sixth at La Vuelta Femenina, confirming herself as one of the most reliable GC riders in the peloton.
In 2024, Fisher-Black’s role was often defined by team depth rather than personal opportunity. At Lidl-Trek, she became a protected rider, with a calendar and race strategy shaped around her strengths. That trust translated into results, even if a victory remained elusive. Her second place at the World Championships was the defining moment of the season, both a career-best result and a reminder of unfinished business.
For 2026, the trajectory is obvious. Lidl-Trek now has a proven GC option entering her prime. Turning podium consistency into victories will be the next step, particularly at stage races like the Giro d’Italia Women and La Vuelta Femenina, where Fisher-Black has already shown she belongs at the very top.
Photo Credit: GettyElisa Longo Borghini transforms UAE Team ADQ into a true GC force
Elisa Longo Borghini’s move from Lidl-Trek to UAE Team ADQ was about more than a rider changing colours. It was a statement of intent from a team determined to become a global power in women’s cycling.
Longo Borghini made that clear immediately. She and Silvia Persico finished first and second at the UAE Tour, a dominant opening to the season. She went on to win Dwars door Vlaanderen and the Brabantse Pijl, confirming her spring form, before delivering the defining result of her year with overall victory at the Giro d’Italia Women. It was UAE Team ADQ’s first Grand Tour win and a landmark moment in the team’s short history.
In 2024, Longo Borghini was successful but often operating within shared leadership structures. At UAE Team ADQ in 2025, she was the undisputed leader, with full backing and tactical authority. Even her crash-induced exit from the Tour of Flanders underlined her status, as she started the race as the clear favourite.
Looking ahead to 2026, Longo Borghini enters the season as one of the most complete riders in the peloton. With UAE Team ADQ continuing to strengthen, defending the Giro title and targeting the Ardennes classics feels realistic, while unfinished business at the Tour de France Femmes remains an obvious motivation.
Photo Credit: GettyMarlen Reusser rewards Movistar’s gamble with the best season of her career
Marlen Reusser’s transfer to Movistar was the most uncertain on paper and one of the most successful in reality. When the deal was announced, Reusser was recovering from long Covid and had spent much of 2024 sidelined. Movistar took the risk. In 2025, they were repaid in full.
Reusser enjoyed the strongest season of her career. She finished second overall at both La Vuelta Femenina and the Giro d’Italia Women, the latter only slipping away after illness late in the race. She won the Tour de Suisse ahead of Demi Vollering, claimed overall victory at the Vuelta a Burgos, and then capped the season by becoming world champion in the individual time trial. One week later, she added the European time trial title.
In 2024, Reusser’s narrative was defined by absence and recovery. In 2025, it was defined by resilience, leadership and dominance against the clock. Movistar provided a stable environment, patience, and a programme that allowed her to rebuild gradually without pressure.
For 2026, the expectations are clear. Reusser will enter the season as the benchmark time trialist in the peloton and a proven Grand Tour podium contender. With improved health and continuity, the possibility of converting second places into overall victories is no longer speculative.
Demi Vollering reshapes FDJ-Suez & the entire competitive balance
Demi Vollering’s move to FDJ-Suez was the most influential transfer of the season, not just for individual results, but for the sport’s hierarchy.
In 2025, Vollering won Strade Bianche and La Vuelta Femenina, finished second at the Tour de France Femmes, and contested victory in virtually every race she started. Her points haul propelled FDJ-Suez to the top of the UCI rankings, ending SD Worx-Protime’s long-standing dominance. Alongside Vollering, riders like Juliette Labous and Elise Chabbey flourished, but the team’s transformation centred on one leader.
Compared to 2024, the difference was not form but context. At SD Worx, Vollering was part of a multi-leader system that sometimes diluted clarity. At FDJ-Suez, she became the focal point of the entire project. Every major race strategy revolved around her, and the results reflected that commitment.
As 2026 approaches, the narrative is simple. Vollering will start the season aiming to win the Tour de France Femmes. After coming close again in 2025, FDJ-Suez now has both the depth and belief to turn second place into yellow.
Why these transfers mattered
What links these five riders is not just success, but fit. Each transfer solved a specific problem from 2024, whether that was a lack of leadership, health uncertainty, structural limits or unrealised ambition. In 2025, those problems disappeared, replaced by clarity and performance.
As the 2026 season approaches, these riders are no longer projects or gambles. They are reference points. And in a peloton that continues to professionalise at speed, their 2025 transfers may yet prove to be the foundation for even bigger achievements still to come.
