Hot on the heels of the Worlds in Rwanda come the European Championships and after the Canadian Magdeleine Vallieres rode away to the title in Kigali, the European riders have another opportunity to claim a champion's jersey to wear for the next 12 months. The race was introduced into professional cycling in 2016, so this year will be the 10th edition and of the nine championships preceding Saturday, a Dutch rider has won every one bar one in 2018, when the Italian Marta Bastianelli won in Glasgow.
However, last year's champion Lorena Wiebes, who is also the only rider to have won the race more than once, will be not be on the start line to retain her title. But there will be two former winners participating with the 2023 winner Mischa Bredewold and the champion from 2016's inaugural edition, Anna van der Breggen, taking part.
In fact, the allure of a punchy parcours in the Drôme and Ardèche areas of France, has attracted many of the biggest names in the sport, including some of the key protagonists of July's Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift.
Route
Like the men's race, which takes place on Sunday, the women's peloton will race on a route from Privas to Guilherand-Granges that takes in a some lumpy terrain. The initial climb, the Col du Moulin a Vent, is only 4km at 5%, but will be used as a launchpad by those interested in going in the day's break.
What follows is three ascents of the Val d’Enfer (1.6km at 9.7%), broken up by one climb of the Saint Romain de Lerps (7km at 7.2%). The race is likely to open up on the Saint Romain de Lerps with around 45km to go of the 117km race. At this point, there are two more ascents of the Val d'Enfer with the final summit coming with just 7km to the line.
Key contenders
Pauline Ferrand-Prévot
With a storming win in April's Paris-Roubaix and a classy triumph at July's Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift, it has been quite the return to road racing for the 33-year-old French rider. France weren't able to get things right last Saturday, being too passive on the circuit in Kigali only for the win to disappear up the road. So, they will want to make amends quickly, and what better way of doing so than winning a championship race on home soil? The host team come into the race with one of the strongest squads, including Juliette Labous, the youngster Marion Bunel, plus Cédrine Kerbaol, Évita Muzic and a double Tour stage from this summer Maeva Squiban. Given her palmarès and history, Ferrand-Prévot is the leader, but this is a team with a number of cards to play.
Demi Vollering
The Netherlands have long been the strongest nation in women’s cycling with the likes of (the retired) Annemiek van Vleuten, Marianne Vos, Anna van der Breggen, Lorena Wiebes and Demi Vollering being some of the leading stars of the sport for a number of years. Unlike the others, the latter rider is missing the European from her palmarès. Despite some successes like her win at Strade Bianche in March and a string of general classification triumphs at Spanish stage races, including the Vuelta España Femenina, Vollering, as one of the biggest names in the sport, would have wanted more out her 2025 season. A distant second behind Ferrand-Prévot at the Tour and a frustrated seventh at the Worlds in Rwanda means Vollering missed out on her two major goals for the year. However, she has the class to turn things around quickly and will be motivated to claim her first European title on Saturday.
Kasia Niewiadoma
Another former Tour champion, the winner of one of the greatest races of all time, and a rider who will have wanted more from 2025 is Kasia Niewiadoma. The Polish rider is well suited to the course in Drôme-Ardèche and will be keen to get onto the ascents on the Val d'Enfer to use the 10% ramps to her advantage. Although the Polish squad is reasonably strong, they certainly won't be expected to take control. So, Niewiadoma should be able to piggy-back on the work done by the likes of France and the Netherlands. However, she also won't want to leave it down to a sprint finish with the likes of Vollering, so expect her to be making moves in the final 20km.
Elise Chabbey
Chabbey was one of the strongest riders in Rwanda on Saturday, but she couldn’t bridge across the gap to the leading group on the final few laps of the Kigali circuit. The rider from Switzerland was supported by the world time trial champion Marlen Reusser, who is in the Swiss team again for the road race on Saturday. After her performance in Kigali, Chabbey will likely be the leader again and she is well suited to the punchy course. She will have to be able to match the likes of Ferrand-Prévot and Vollering on the ascents of the Val d'Enfer, which will be an almighty challenge if they launch early. However, Chabbey can be confident with the way she is riding and is in the contention for a medal in the Drôme-Ardèche.
Elisa Longo Borghini
Italian rider Elisa Longo Borghini has been part of pretty much every contenders list for almost all the races she has competed at in the last five years, thanks to her versatility and winning instincts. Like the other main favourites for the World Championships last weekend, Longo Borghini left Africa disappointed with how things turned out. However, with an opportunity to claim a champion's jersey on the table, the Italian will be ready to fight to the end. She will have to contend with her rivals trying to drop her in the final Val d'Enfer climbs as no one will want to go to a final sprint with the powerful Italian.
Other contenders
As previously mentioned the French team has a lot of depth through the likes of Juliette Labous, Marion Bunel, Cédrine Kerbaol, Évita Muzic and Maeva Squiban and any one of them would be a threat if they have the opportunity to ride for an individual result.
Similarly, the Netherlands start with a number of options outside of Vollering, including the former winners Mischa Bredewold and Anna van der Breggen, and Pauliena Rooijakkers, Shirin van Anrooij and the first Dutch finisher in Kigali, Riejanne Markus, who was fifth.
The Italian Monica Trinca Colonel recently won the overall classification at the Tour Cycliste Féminin International de l'Ardèche, claiming the final stage, which started in Privas. So she has shown some recent form in the same region and terrain as the Euros. She may be riding in the service of Longo Borghini, but don't rule the 26 year old grabbing a top result on Saturday.
The German Liane Lippert is always a threat over hilly one-day races and her teammate Antonia Niedermaier was sixth in Kigali. Mavi García and Mireia Benito of Spain were also impressive in Rwanda, with the former finishing on the podium in third — and the first European finisher — and the latter coming 22nd after being active earlier in the race.
Niewiadoma's teammate Dominika Włodarczyk has the attributes to compete deep into a race like on Saturday. Switzerland boast a strong squad alongside Chabbey including world time trial champion Marlen Reusser, who also won the European time trial on Wednesday and Noemi Rüegg. 11th-placed finisher at the Worlds Caroline Andersson of Sweden will be looking to back up her ride in Kigali with another strong performance.
Outside the top favourites, there some dark horses including Cecilie Uttrup Ludwig (Denmark), Ricarda Bauernfeind (Germany), Urška Žigart (Slovenia), Anna Henderson (Great Britain) and Norwegian pair Katrine Aalerud and Mie Bjørndal Ottestad, who was second behind Reusser on Wednesday's time trial.
Prediction
We think Pauline Ferrand-Prévot will win on home roads in France.
