The 2021 UCI Women's World Tour was a competition that included eighteen

road cycling Road cycling is the most widespread form of cycling in which cyclists ride on paved roadways. It includes recreational, racing, commuting, and utility cycling. As users of the road, road cyclists are generally expected to obey the same laws a ...

events throughout the 2021 women's cycling season. It was the sixth edition of the

UCI Women's World Tour The UCI Women's World Tour is the premier annual female elite road cycling tour. , the tour includes 27 events in Europe, Asia and Oceania – with one-day races such as Strade Bianche Donne and Paris–Roubaix Femmes, stage races such as Wo ...

, the ranking system launched by the

Union Cycliste Internationale The Union Cycliste Internationale (; UCI; ) is the world governing body for sports cycling and oversees international competitive cycling events. The UCI is based in Aigle, Switzerland. The UCI issues racing licenses to riders and enforces di ...

(UCI) in 2016. The competition began with

Strade Bianche The Strade Bianche (; ) is a road bicycle race in Tuscany, Central Italy, starting and finishing in Siena. First held in 2007, it is raced annually on the first or second Saturday of March. The name stems from the historic white gravel roads in ...

on 6 March, and finished with the

Ronde van Drenthe Ronde van Drenthe () was an elite men's and women's professional road bicycle racing Road bicycle racing is the cycle sport discipline of road cycling, held primarily on Road surface, paved roads. Road racing is the most popular professiona ...

on 23 October. Dutch rider

Annemiek van Vleuten Annemiek van Vleuten (; born 8 October 1982) is a retired Dutch professional Bicycle racing, road racing cyclist, who most recently rode for UCI Women's Team, UCI Women's WorldTeam . Van Vleuten is twice a winner of both the UCI Road World Cha ...

() became the first rider to win the individual classification for a second time, taking a season-high four overall victories during the season, finishing the season with a tally of 3177 points. Second place went to another Dutch rider, as

Demi Vollering Adriana Geertruida "Demi" Vollering (; born 15 November 1996) is a Dutch professional bicycle racing, racing cyclist who rides for UCI Women's Team, UCI Women's WorldTeam FDJ–Suez. Considered one of the greatest riders of her generation, sh ...

() finished on 2563 points, having taken three overall victories in 2021, while third place on 2509 points, was two-time winner

Elisa Longo Borghini Elisa Longo Borghini (born 10 December 1991) is an Italian professional road bicycle racing, road cyclist, who rides for UCI Women's Team, UCI Women's WorldTeam . During her career, Longo Borghini has won the 2024 Giro d'Italia Women, Giro d'Ita ...

of Italy, riding for . A total of nine riders won races during the season, while the individual classification lead changed eight times between van Vleuten, Vollering, Longo Borghini,

Marianne Vos Marianne Vos (; born 13 May 1987) is a Dutch multi-discipline cyclist, who currently rides for UCI Women's Team, UCI Women's WorldTeam . After winning a junior European and World Championship in road racing, she continued her success in senior c ...

() and

Chantal van den Broek-Blaak Chantal van den Broek-Blaak (née Blaak; born 22 October 1989) is a Dutch road racing cyclist, who last rode for UCI Women's WorldTeam . In 2017 she became world road race champion in Bergen, Norway. Van den Broek-Blaak also won several class ...

(). The youth classification was closely-contested with just two points separating the top two riders in the classification. Honours went to

Niamh Fisher-Black Niamh Fisher-Black (born 12 August 2000) is a New Zealand professional racing cyclist, who currently rides for UCI Women's WorldTeam . She is the older sister of fellow racing cyclist Finn Fisher-Black, and was educated at Nelson College for G ...

from New Zealand of the team with 34 points and four victories, ahead of French rider

Évita Muzic Évita Muzic (born 26 May 1999) is a French professional racing cyclist, who currently rides for UCI Women's WorldTeam . She won the 2021 French National Road Race Championships. Major results ;2019 : National Under-23 Road Championships ::1st ...

, who also won four races for . Third place in the standings went to Russia's

Maria Novolodskaya Maria Yuryevna Novolodskaya ( rus, Мария Юрьевна Новолодская, , mɐˈrʲijə ˈjʉrʲjɪvnə nəvɐˈlotskəjə; born 28 July 1999) is a Russian track and road racing cyclist, who rides for UCI Women's Continental Team f ...

(), who scored 22 points and one win. A total of eight riders won races during the season, with the classification lead changing six times between Fisher-Black, Muzic, Novolodskaya,

Sarah Gigante Sarah Gigante (born 6 October 2000) is an Australian racing cyclist, who currently rides for UCI Women's WorldTeam . Career Junior and under-23 career In 2018, Gigante was national junior champion in the road race, individual time trial and cri ...

() and

Emma Norsgaard Jørgensen Emma Cecilie Norsgaard Bjerg née Jørgensen (born 26 July 1999) is a Danish cyclist, who currently rides for UCI Women's Team, UCI Women's WorldTeam Lidl–Trek (women's team), Lidl-Trek. Her major victories include winning stage six of the 2021 ...

(). The teams classification was led from start to finish by for their fifth win in six seasons – their first under the SD Worx name – finishing more than 3000 points clear over their closest rivals, ; SD Worx took seven wins during the season, including four consecutive race wins earned by Vollering and

Anna van der Breggen Anna van der Breggen (born 18 April 1990) is a Dutch professional Road bicycle racing, road bicycle racer, who rode professionally between 2009 and 2021 for Team Flexpoint, , and . She won the gold medal in the Cycling at the 2016 Summer Olymp ...

between

La Flèche Wallonne La Flèche Wallonne (, French for "The Walloon Arrow") is a men's professional cycle road race held in April each year in Wallonia, Belgium. It is part of the UCI World Tour. The first of two Belgian Ardennes classics, La Flèche Wallonne is ...

and

La Course by Le Tour de France La Course by Le Tour de France was an elite List of women's road bicycle races, women's professional road bicycle race held in France. First held in 2014 as a one-day race on the Champs-Élysées stage in the Tour de France, Champs-Élysées in ...

Events

The race calendar for the 2021 season was announced in July 2020, with twenty-five races initially scheduled – up from twenty-one that were scheduled to be held in

2020 The year 2020 was heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to global Social impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, social and Economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, economic disruption, mass cancellations and postponements of even ...

. Two Spanish races – the

Itzulia Women The Itzulia Women is a women's cycle stage race in Spain, part of the UCI Women's World Tour. The race takes place in the Basque Country in Northern Spain, on tough, hilly roads similar to the Clásica de San Sebastián. History The Tour of ...

and the

Vuelta a Burgos Feminas The Vuelta a Burgos Feminas is a women's cycle stage race in Spain, part of the UCI Women's World Tour. The race is held in the autonomous region of Castile and León in northern Spain, on flat and hilly stages. History The Vuelta a Burgos i ...

– were scheduled to be part of the calendar for the first time.

Paris–Roubaix Paris–Roubaix is a one-day professional bicycle road race in northern France, starting north of Paris and finishing in Roubaix, at the border with Belgium. It is one of cycling's oldest races, and is one of the 'Cycling monument, Monuments' ...

, which featured on the revised 2020 schedule after the suspension of racing due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

, also returned to the calendar, as did the

RideLondon Classique RideLondon Classique is a women's cycle stage race held in Essex and London as part of the UCI Women's World Tour. Part of the RideLondon cycling festival, the race was originally held as a one-day race in central London, and became a stage race ...

after a year's absence. In September 2020, the

Giro d'Italia Femminile The is an annual women's cycle stage race around Italy. First held in 1988, the race is currently part of the UCI Women's World Tour, and is currently organised by RCS Sport, the organisers of the men's Giro d'Italia. The race was previously ...

was relegated to the 2021 UCI Women's ProSeries, being downgraded to 2.Pro status. On 1 November 2020,

was moved forward three weeks from 18 July to 27 June; this was as a result of the route being contested on the second day of the

2021 Tour de France The 2021 Tour de France was the 108th edition of the Tour de France, one of cycling's three Grand Tour (cycling), grand tours. Originally planned for the Denmark, Danish capital of Copenhagen, the start of the 2021 Tour (known as the ) was trans ...

, finishing at the

Mûr-de-Bretagne Mûr-de-Bretagne (, literally ''Mûr of Brittany''; ) is a town and former Communes of France, commune in the Côtes-d'Armor Departments of France, department, Brittany (administrative region), Brittany, northwestern France. On 1 January 2017, th ...

. On 22 February 2021, following the cancellation of the Itzulia Women stage race, race organisers OCETA announced their intention to hold the Donostia San Sebastián Klasikoa at World Tour level, on 31 July. La Course by Le Tour de France was moved forward a further day in April 2021 to 26 June, due to departmental elections to be held in

Côtes-d'Armor The Côtes-d'Armor ( , ; ; , ), formerly known as Côtes-du-Nord until 1990 (, ), is a department in the north of Brittany, in northwestern France. In 2019, it had a population of 600,582.Madrid Challenge by La Vuelta was extended from three stages to four, finishing in

Santiago de Compostela Santiago de Compostela, simply Santiago, or Compostela, in the province of Province of A Coruña, A Coruña, is the capital of the autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Galicia (Spain), Galicia, in northwestern Spain. The city ...

on the same day as the final stage of the

Vuelta a España The Vuelta a España (; ) is an annual stage race, multi-stage bicycle racing, bicycle race primarily held in Spain, while also occasionally making passes through nearby countries. Inspired by the success of the Tour de France and the Giro d'Ital ...

Cancelled and postponed events

On 1 November 2020, the season-opening

Cadel Evans Great Ocean Road Race The Cadel Evans Great Ocean Road Race also known as Great Ocean Road Race or Cadel Road Race is an annual professional one-day road bicycle racing for both men and women starting and finishing in Geelong, Victoria, Australia, and routed along t ...

was cancelled due to quarantine and border restriction issues attributed to the COVID-19 pandemic. The organisers of the

announced that they had applied to the

(UCI) to move the race from the assigned date of 14 March to the last weekend of October. In January 2021, both the

and the

were cancelled as a consequence of the COVID-19 pandemic. The following month,

The Women's Tour The Tour of Britain Women is a women's cycle stage race held in England and Wales, as part of the UCI Women's World Tour. The race was organised between 2014 and 2023 by SweetSpot, the company behind the men's Tour of Britain, and was known as ...

was postponed from its initial June dates due to the COVID-19 pandemic, requesting a date change to October. In March, the

Tour of Chongming Island The Tour of Chongming Island International Cycling Race is an annual elite women's road bicycle racing stage race held in Shanghai, China, named after Chongming Island. The Tour previously consisted of two races: a stage race and a one-day race. ...

was postponed from its scheduled dates in May. On 18 March 2021, it was confirmed that The Women's Tour, the Tour of Chongming Island and the Ronde van Drenthe would all be held in October. On 1 April 2021,

was postponed to 2 October, following a surge in cases due to the

COVID-19 pandemic in France The COVID-19 pandemic in France has resulted in confirmed cases of COVID-19 and deaths. The virus was confirmed to have reached France on 24 January 2020, when the first COVID-19 case in both Europe and France was identified in Bordeaux. T ...

. In May, the

Open de Suède Vårgårda Open de Suède Vårgårda was an elite professional List of women's road bicycle races, women's road bicycle event held annually in the Vårgårda Municipality of Sweden. Created in 2006, the Open de Suède Vårgårda was part of the UCI Women's R ...

races were cancelled due to financial issues associated with the

COVID-19 pandemic in Sweden The COVID-19 pandemic in Sweden is a part of the pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 () caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (). As of , there have been confirmed cumulative cases and deaths with confirmed COVID-19 in Sw ...

. In August, the Tour of Chongming Island and the

Tour of Guangxi The Tour of Guangxi (officially known as the GREE-Tour of Guangxi for sponsorship purposes) is an annual professional Road bicycle racing, cycling race held in Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, China. The m ...

were both cancelled at the request of their respective organisers, due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Points standings

2021 WK Vlaanderen 006 Annemiek van Vleuten

For the 2021 season, the point-scoring system introduced in

by the

remained in place.

Individual

Riders tied with the same number of points were classified by number of victories, then number of second places, third places, and so on, in World Tour events and stages.

Youth

The top three riders in the final results of each World Tour event's young rider classification received points towards the standings. Six points were awarded to first place, four points to second place and two points to third place.

Team

Team rankings were calculated by adding the ranking points of all the riders of a team in the table.

Notes

References

External links

* {{2021 in road cycling

UCI UCI most commonly refers to: * University of California, Irvine, a public university in Irvine, California, United States * Union Cycliste Internationale, the world governing body for the sport of cycling UCI may also refer to: * Uganda Cancer In ...

UCI Women's World Tour