Teams

Promoted to the UCI WorldTour after 2023, this global team is a super-motivated outfit heading to Victoria. A young team with high potential, Australia’s Sarah Gigante will line up following her switch from Movistar last year. The 2019 Australian road race champion will be alongside ambitious rising stars Ally Wollaston of New Zealand and Italian one-day racer Gaia Masetti.

• Sarah Gigante (AUS)
• Kimberley (Le Court) Pienaar (MRI)
• Anya Louw (AUS)
• Gaia Masetti (ITA)
• Julie Van de Velde (BEL)
• Ally Wollaston (NZL)

Rider list subject to change

Finishing third on the UCI WorldTour women’s team rankings in 2023, Canyon//SRAM Racing brings a vibrant team lineup to the Deakin University Elite Women’s Road Race in 2024. Brit Alice Towers is the 2022 National Road Race Champion and a rising star in the women’s peloton. She’ll line up alongside Australian Tiffany Cromwell, who will be a dominant presence within the peloton.

• Neve Bradbury (AUS)
• Tiffany Cromwell (AUS)
• Alex Morrice (GBR)
• Alice Towers (GBR)

Rider list subject to change
Scratched riders: C̶h̶l̶o̶é D̶y̶g̶e̶r̶t̶ (̶U̶S̶A̶)̶, S̶o̶r̶a̶y̶a̶ P̶a̶l̶a̶d̶i̶n̶ (̶I̶T̶A̶)̶

FDJ – SUEZ will have happy memories returning to Victoria in 2024, with Loes Adegeest executing a perfect plan to snatch victory in last year’s event. Although Adegeest will miss this year’s event, the French-owned team has good reason to be optimistic for another successful campaign. Homegrown superstar and 2023 Tour Down Under winner Grace Brown rides in an experienced team that includes Danish ace Cecilie Uttrup Ludwig. With plenty of options for a back-to-back victory, will the team play their options and salute again in Geelong?

• Grace Brown (AUS)
• Nina Buijsman NED)
• Coralie Demay (FRA)
• Cecilie Uttrup Ludwig (DEN)
• Évita Muzic (FRA)
• Gladys Verhulst-Wild (FRA)

Rider list subject to change

A dynamic team, Human Powered Health heads to the Deakin University Elite Women’s Road Race with solid ambitions for victory following their second place in the team’s competition in 2023. Two-time French national road race champion Audrey Cordon-Ragot will captain the team that includes former US national champion Ruth Edwards (nee Winder), who temporarily stepped away from the sport to compete in US gravel races in 2021. An incredibly talented rider, she returns to the roads this January for the first time since then. Also keep an eye out for young Kiwi star Henrietta Christie.

• Audrey Cordon-Ragot (FRA)
• Henrietta Christie (NZL)
• Krista Doebel-Hickok (USA)
• Ruth Edwards (USA)
• Katia Ragusa (ITA)
• Lily Williams (USA)

Rider list subject to change

Finishing the year in second place in the 2023 UCI Women’s WorldTour rankings, Lidl – Trek boasts an experienced line-up in 2024. The US-based team will see two Australians participate, including former winner of the 2020 Race Torquay, Brodie Chapman, returning alongside fellow Victorian Lauretta Hanson.

• Elynor Bäckstedt (GBR)
• Brodie Chapman (AUS)
• Lauretta Hanson (AUS)
• Ilaria Sanguineti (ITA)

Rider list subject to change
Scratched riders: A̶m̶a̶n̶d̶a̶ S̶p̶r̶a̶t̶t̶ (̶A̶U̶S̶)̶, F̶e̶l̶i̶c̶i̶t̶y̶ W̶i̶l̶s̶o̶n̶-̶H̶a̶f̶f̶e̶n̶d̶e̶n̶ (̶A̶U̶S̶)̶

Australia’s only UCI Women’s WorldTour team returns to Deakin University Elite Women’s Road Race as fan favourites. The merger between Team Jayco AlUla and Liv Racing TeqFind sees the newly named Liv AlUla Jayco outfit field a well-credentialed team ready to follow in the footsteps of the team’s two past winners in Annemiek van Vlueten (2017) and Amanda Spratt (2016). Recently crowned Australian road race champion Ruby Roseman-Gannon is improving sharply. She will ride alongside rising star Ella Wyllie, Commonwealth Games Gold Medallist Georgia Baker, and talented former track cyclist Alex Manly.

• Alex Manly (AUS)
• Amber Pate (AUS)
• Ella Wyllie (NZL)
• Georgia Baker (AUS)
• Georgie Howe (AUS)
• Ruby Roseman-Gannon (AUS)

Rider list subject to change

Returning to the Deakin University Elite Women’s Road Race for the second time, Team dsm-firmenich PostNL won with Lianne Lippert in 2020 (formally as Team Sunweb). In 2024, the team features Aussie track cyclist Maeve Plouffe alongside a suite of European youngsters, including teenage talents Nienke Vinke and Eleonora Ciabocco.

• Francesca Barale (ITA)
• Eleonora Ciabocco (ITA)
• Franziska Koch (GER)
• Maeve Plouffe (AUS)
• Abi Smith (GBR)
• Nienke Vinke (NED)

Rider list subject to change

2024 marks the first time the Dutch team competes in the Deakin University Elite Women’s Road Race. The young and ambitious team features German Linda Riedmann, the Junior European Champion in 2021, who has since had top 10 stage finishes at the Tour of Scandinavia and the LOTTO Thuringen Ladies Tour at only 20 years of age.

• Linda Riedmann (GER)
• Maud Oudeman (NED)
• Lieke Nooijen (NED)
• Rosita Reijnhout (NED)
• Mijntje Geurts (NED)
• Nienke Veenhoven (NED)

Rider list subject to change

Renamed in 2022, UAE Team ADQ (formally Alé BTC Ljubljana and Alé–Cipollini) returns to the Deakin University Elite Women’s Road Race with an exciting team mix of experienced cyclists and rising stars. Watch for Italian Sofia Bertizzolo, who won a stage and the points classification at the 2023 Tour de Romandie Féminin, and Kiwi Mikayla Harvey, the winner of the best young rider classification at the 2020 Giro d’Italia. UAE-born cyclist Safia Al Sayegh is the only rider from the Middle East on a UCI Women’s WorldTour team.

• Sofia Bertizzolo (ITA)
• Eugenia Bujak (SLO)
• Mikayla Harvey (NZL)
• Safiya Al Sayegh (UAE)
• Anastasia Carbonari (LTU)
• Dominika Włodarczyk (POL)

Rider list subject to change

Continental team Lifeplus Wahoo will hope for a solid all-round performance as they strive to capture WorldTour team status in 2024. New Movistar recruits Alicia Gonzalez of Spain lines up, as does former triathlete and exciting prospect Kate Richardson of Scotland. American Heidi Franz is the only rider from the team to have previously ridden in the Deakin University Elite Women’s Road Race.

• Kate Richardson (GBR)
• Kaja Rysz (POL)
• Karin Soderqvist (SWE)
• Alicia González Blanco (ESP)
• Heidi Franz (USA)
• Kristýna Burlová (CZE)

Rider list subject to change

The all-French outfit St Michel – Mavic – Auber93 WE heads to the Great Ocean Road in 2024 for the second time. The Continental team will see the aptly named climber Victorie Guilman lead alongside sprinter Roxane Fournier. The experience of these two will guide the younger riders, with the team no doubt having a strong desire to perform well ahead of a home Olympic Games later this year.

• Alison Avoine (FRA)
• Marion Bunel (FRA)
• Roxane Fournier (FRA)
• Victorie Guilman (FRA)
• Dylixine Miermont (FRA)
• Elyne Roussel (FRA)

Rider list subject to change

Norwegian-based Team Coop-Repsol returns to Victoria as a Continental team looking to prove themselves against the world’s best and secure all-important team points. Consistently aggressive and not afraid to place themselves in a breakaway, their youthful line-up features promising Norweigan duo Mari Hole Mohr and Camilla Rånes Bye.

• Camilla Rånes Bye (NOR)
• Stine Dale (NOR)
• India Grangier (FRA)
• Stina Kagevi (SWE)
• Mari Mohr (NOR)

Rider list subject to change
Scratched rider: A̶i̶d̶i̶ T̶u̶i̶s̶k̶ (̶E̶S̶T̶)̶

With Olympic aspirations and national pride on the line, this Uzbekistani team features a mix of experience and youth, aiming for rider development for upcoming global competitions. 43-year-old Olga Zabelinskaya is the oldest competitor in the field and a three-time Olympic medallist (Bronze in the 2012 Road Race and Time Trial, silver in the 2016 Time Trial). Look for this Continental team to be in the breakaway, as they aim to secure team points for promotion in 2024.

• Olga Zabelinskaya (UZB)
• Margarita Misyurina (UZB)
• Nafosat Kozieva (UZB)
• Sofiya Karimova (UZB)
• Madina Kakhkharova (UZB)
• Yanina Kuskova (UZB)

Rider list subject to change

Home to some of Australia’s best U23 road cyclists, ARA | Skip Capital is a not-for-profit development program in partnership with the University of the Sunshine Coast. The team returns to Geelong in 2024 with Sophie Edwards, who won team pursuit gold on the track at the 2022 Commonwealth Games. The Director Sportif is 2007 Herald Sun Tour winner Matthew Wilson.

• Ella Simpson (AUS)
• Sophie Edwards (AUS)
• Lucie Fityus (AUS)
• Sophie Marr (AUS)
• Keira Will (AUS)
• Alli Anderson (AUS)

Rider list subject to change
Scratched riders: C̶h̶l̶o̶e̶ M̶o̶r̶a̶n̶ (̶A̶U̶S̶)̶, B̶r̶o̶n̶t̶e̶ S̶t̶e̶w̶a̶r̶t̶ (̶A̶U̶S̶)̶, R̶a̶c̶h̶a̶e̶l̶ W̶a̶l̶e̶s̶ (̶A̶U̶S̶)̶

The proud Australian development team goes from strength to strength and returns to the Great Ocean Road in 2024 following its debut in 2023. Hometown pride will be on the line with two-time Melbourne to Warrnambool winner Matilda Reynolds guiding the young team, including two-time junior world championships representative Talia Appleton.

Geelong Classic

• Keely Bennett (AUS)
• Matilda Raynolds (AUS)
• Katelyn Nicholson (AUS)
• Lilee Pollock (AUS)
• Haylee Fuller (AUS)
• Gina Ricardo (AUS)

Deakin University Elite Women’s Road Race

• Talia Appleton (AUS)
• Matilda Raynolds (AUS)
• Katelyn Nicholson (AUS)
• Lilee Pollock (AUS)
• Haylee Fuller (AUS)
• Gina Ricardo (AUS)

Rider list subject to change

Fortunate to present racing opportunities for Australian talent without team representation in the peloton, the Australian National Team returns in 2024. Australian road national champion in 2021, Sarah Roy of Confidis will be joined by teammate Josie Talbot. Former U23 Australian national road race winner Emily Watts will also don the green and gold jersey at the Deakin University Elite Women’s Road Race.

• Sarah Roy (AUS)
• Josie Talbot (AUS)
• Emily Watts (AUS)
• Darcie Richards (AUS)
• Mia Hayden (AUS)
• Stephanie Hibburt (AUS)

Rider list subject to change