One of the great things about women’s cycling is that riders aren’t forced to pick and choose between the Classics, the Giro, or the Tour. Many want to tackle every major race, and often end up winning most of them. Take SD Worx-Protime, for example: they’ll line up at the Giro d’Italia Women 2025 with one of the most stacked squads in the peloton, headlined by none other than world champion Lotte Kopecky and European champion Lorena Wiebes. That alone reveals what kind of firepower we’re talking about.
Kopecky is the kind of rider who can win just about anywhere: sprints, climbs, time trials, and especially on mixed terrain, which she seems to favor most. This season, she’s raced sparingly – just 14 days of competition so far – but every race has been high-stakes, including all the major Spring Classics. She has already taken her third career win at the Tour of Flanders and, just days ago, secured her seventh straight Belgian national time trial title. Two heavy-hitting wins in what’s been, so far, a slightly quieter season in terms of total victories.
Last year, by the time she reached the Giro, she already had 10 wins under her belt, having raced more. This year, she’s opted for a lighter early schedule, with fewer stage races, to hit peak form for a scorching summer featuring the Giro, the Tour, and then the European and World Championships. Because as much as she won a sprint in Foligno last year, she narrowly missed the overall victory in a thrilling duel with Elisa Longo Borghini. This time, she may be aiming squarely at that elusive Maglia Rosa, one of the very few she’s never worn.
She won’t need to worry about the pure sprints though, as that job belongs to one of the most lethal finishers in the game: Lorena Wiebes. The 26-year-old Dutchwoman already has 12 wins this season (yes, more than Pogačar), including the comeback edition of Sanremo Women, three stages at the UAE Tour, Brugge–De Panne, Gent–Wevelgem, the new WorldTour Copenhagen Sprint, and most recently, the Dutch national title. In a head-to-head sprint, Wiebes is nearly unbeatable. At the Giro, she’ll have at least a couple of flat stages to add to her tally of three stage wins across two previous editions.
SD Worx-Protime’s strength doesn’t stop there. They’ve also got a Giro winner in the lineup: Anna van der Breggen. The 35-year-old Dutch legend is back in the saddle after a three-year break, during which she stayed close to the team as a directeur sportif. Now she’s racing again, and showing no signs of riding for fun. In May, she finished third overall at the Vuelta a España and even bagged a stage win. She’ll be a serious contender in Italy, where she’s already won the Giro four times (2015, 2017, 2020, 2021). Only Fabiana Luperini has done better, with five. If Anna were to don the Maglia Rosa once more… well, that would be quite a story
