2018 UCI Women's World Tour

For the men's 2018 UCI World Tour, see 2018 UCI World Tour.
2018 UCI Women's World Tour
Third edition of the UCI Women's World Tour
Details
Dates3 March – 21 October 2018
Location
  • Europe
  • USA
  • China
Races24
Champions
Individual championAnnemiek van Vleuten (Netherlands) (Mitchelton–Scott)
Teams' championBoels–Dolmans
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The 2018 UCI Women's World Tour was a competition that included twenty-four road cycling events throughout the 2018 women's cycling season. It was the third edition of the ranking system launched by the Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI) in 2016. The competition began with Strade Bianche on 3 March and concluded with the Tour of Guangxi on 21 October. Anna van der Breggen of the Netherlands was the defending champion.[1]

Van der Breggen, riding for the Boels–Dolmans team, was unable to defend her title, as she finished third in the standings behind compatriots Annemiek van Vleuten (Mitchelton–Scott) and Marianne Vos, who was riding for the WaowDeals Pro Cycling squad. Having taken three podium finishes, van Vleuten took the top spot after a strong second half of the season commencing at the women's Grand Tour, the Giro Rosa. Van Vleuten won three of the last four stages, taking the overall victory by over four minutes from her closest competitor,[2] as well as winning the race's points classification. Two days later, at La Course by Le Tour de France, van Vleuten took victory on the finish line, surpassing van der Breggen, who had faded over the closing stages.[3] Van Vleuten then took the World Tour jersey for the season, winning the overall at the Holland Ladies Tour, again with three stage victories,[4] ultimately finishing on 1411.86 points.[5]

Vos finished 16.98 points behind in second place, with a tally of 1394.88 points.[5] After podium finishes at the Trofeo Alfredo Binda,[6] and the Women's Tour,[7] Vos took her first victory of the season with a stage win at the Giro Rosa,[8] before a second-place finish in RideLondon's Classique race.[9] In the August Scandinavian races, Vos won the Postnord UCI WWT Vårgårda WestSweden road race,[10] before taking a clean sweep of the Ladies Tour of Norway, winning all three stages and the general classification, taking the World Tour lead in the process.[11] Vos ended her road season after another second-place finish at the GP de Plouay – Lorient Agglomération,[12] shifting her focus to the cyclo-cross season starting in the following month,[13] losing the lead to van Vleuten in the process. Van der Breggen, with 1323.33 points,[5] led the classification for most of the season, taking four victories by the end of the April, including the season-opening Strade Bianche,[14] and two of the three Ardennes classics, with only the Amstel Gold Race – won by teammate Chantal Blaak[15] – not going to van der Breggen. Van der Breggen skipped the Giro Rosa,[16] and failed to win another individual race on the World Tour, with her only remaining success of the season coming during the Postnord UCI WWT Vårgårda WestSweden team time trial.

In the World Tour's other classifications, Astana rider Sofia Bertizzolo from Italy was the winner of the youth classification for riders under the age of 23.[17] Bertizzolo took four victories in the classification, and finished with 42 points, 12 points ahead of the next closest rider, Liane Lippert of Team Sunweb, a three-time winner during 2018. Boels–Dolmans were the winners of the teams classification, with 4329.99 points, taking eight wins during the season, just as they did in 2017. Mitchelton–Scott finished in second place with 4119.02 points, primarily through the performances of van Vleuten and Amanda Spratt, who finished fourth overall in the individual classification, with five victories. Third place went to Team Sunweb on 3321.99 points, taking three victories during the season.

  1. ^ Fletcher, Patrick (24 October 2017). "Van Avermaet and Van der Breggen crowned 2017 WorldTour champions". Cyclingnews.com. Retrieved 21 October 2018.
  2. ^ "Giro Rosa 2018: Annemiek van Vleuten secures title with third stage win". BBC Sport. 15 July 2018. Retrieved 21 October 2018.
  3. ^ Benson, Daniel (17 July 2018). "Van Vleuten conquers La Course after Giro Rosa exploits". Cyclingnews.com. Retrieved 21 October 2018.
  4. ^ Rogers, Owen (2 September 2018). "Annemiek van Vleuten in Worlds pole position after Boels Ladies Tour victory". Cycling Weekly. Retrieved 21 October 2018.
  5. ^ a b c "Van Vleuten en Simon Yates pakken eindzege in WorldTour" [Van Vleuten and Simon Yates take the final victories in WorldTour]. NU.nl (in Dutch). Sanoma. 21 October 2018. Retrieved 21 October 2018.
  6. ^ "Niewiadoma wins Trofeo Alfredo Binda with daring solo attack". VeloNews. Competitor Group. 18 March 2018. Retrieved 21 October 2018.
  7. ^ "Women's Tour: Coryn Rivera takes overall victory as Lotta Lepisto wins stage five". BBC Sport. 17 June 2018. Retrieved 21 October 2018.
  8. ^ Arthurs-Brennan, Michelle (13 July 2018). "Marianne Vos stamps her mark on the Giro Rosa with stage eight win". Cycling Weekly. Retrieved 21 October 2018.
  9. ^ "RideLondon Classique: Kirsten Wild beats Marianne Vos in sprint on The Mall". BBC Sport. 28 July 2018. Retrieved 21 October 2018.
  10. ^ Arthurs-Brennan, Michelle (13 August 2018). "Marianne Vos goes round the outside and powers to Vårgårda road race win". Cycling Weekly. Retrieved 21 October 2018.
  11. ^ Knöfler, Lukas (20 August 2018). "Vos moves into Women's WorldTour lead after Ladies Tour of Norway victory". Cyclingnews.com. Retrieved 21 October 2018.
  12. ^ Rogers, Owen (25 August 2018). "Amy Pieters out-sprints Marianne Vos to take GP Plouay honours". Cycling Weekly. Retrieved 21 October 2018.
  13. ^ Arthurs-Brennan, Michelle (26 August 2018). "Marianne Vos to end her road season and take on full cyclo-cross programme". Cycling Weekly. Retrieved 21 October 2018.
  14. ^ Knöfler, Lukas (3 March 2018). "Van der Breggen: I'll remember Strade Bianche win for the rest of my life". Cyclingnews.com. Retrieved 21 October 2018.
  15. ^ Knöfler, Lukas (15 April 2018). "Blaak: Amstel Gold is one of my most precious victories". Cyclingnews.com. Retrieved 21 October 2018.
  16. ^ "Van der Breggen to skip Giro Rosa defense". Cyclingnews.com. 13 June 2018. Retrieved 21 October 2018.
  17. ^ Knöfler, Lukas (21 October 2018). "Sierra ends season on a high with Tour of Guangxi sprint victory". Cyclingnews.com. Retrieved 21 October 2018. At the award ceremony, the team could also were also able to celebrate Sofia Bertizzolo, who received the light blue jersey as winner of the UCI Women's WorldTour youth classification, after a strong showing through the whole year.