By Women’s cycling is greatly overlooked and like men’s sports and how many fans glorify their favorite male athletes, women also deserve worldwide recognition in every field of sports not just in cycling. And you’d be surprised to find out that in this list, we have mentioned the Top 6 cyclists in the world and these are not just any women cyclists. They are some of the fiercest female cyclists who are exceptionally talented and some even paved the way for women’s cycling generally and its very concept.
Annie Londonderry
In this day and age, there are many talented cyclists in the spotlight but taking the first spot on this list is the legendary Annie Londonderry. Born in 1870 and died on November 11, 1947, Annie was of Jewish Lativan immigrant to the US. In between 1894 to 1895, she became the first ever lady to ride the cycle across the world. After having finished her excursion, she constructed a media profession around meeting with widespread notions of what it was to be a woman.
The prize for the accomplishment was $5000 and the commendation of a community that witnessed her as an anomaly at the time. When Annie got back from her trip, she jotted down about her experiences of her journey in the New York World newspaper using the pen name “The New Woman”.
Even today, women’s cycling is still disregarded by a massive amount of cycling fans and continually even by the mainstream media. Nonetheless, the remarkable achievement of Annie should not be forgotten and therefore, should be well aware by everyone.
Fabiana Luperini
Fabiana Luperini was born on January 14, 1974 in Pontedera, Italy is an Italian professional female cyclist. She is considered one of the greatest female cylisist. She is a five time winner of the Giro d’Italia Femminile, with four straight wins in 1995 to 1998 and got her fifth win after ten years in 2008.
Luperini has also won three times straight of the Grande Boucle Féminine in 1995, 1996, and 1997. In 1998, she held the Tour de l’Aude, and won the Iurreta-Emakumeen Bira in 2006.
Annemiek van Vleuten
The 42-year-old female professional road racing cyclist currently is a part of UCI Women’s World Team Movistar Team. She held the titles for the World Championships road race in the years 2019 and 2022 and two time World Championships time trials in 2017 and 2018. She won an Olympic gold medal in the time trial tournaments and a silver medal at the Tokyo Olympic Games in 2020.
In 2012, Vleuten won the Dutch National Road Race Championships and was a four-time winner of the Dutch National Time Trial Championships in 2014, 2016, 2017, and 2019. She has also won both of the women’s cycling Grand Tours – a three time winner of Giro d’Italia Donne three times in 2018, 2019, and 2022, and won the Tour de France Femmes in 2022. She was the first lady to finish a Giro-Tour doubles in that exact year. She has so many other achievements as well. Vleuten will retire at the end of next year’s season.
Elisa Longo Borghini
Elisa Longo Borghini who was born on December 10, 1991, is an Italian female professional road cyclist, who actively rides for UCI Women’s WorldTeam Trek–Segafredo.
During her profession as a cyclist, Borghini was a winner of a two-time bronze medal in the road race at the 2016 Rio de Janeiro and 2020 Tokyo Summer Olympic Games. She again finished third and won two bronze medals in 2012 and 2012 on the same occasion at the UCI Road World Championships.
Marianne Vos
Marianne Vos is a 35 year old Dutch professional female cyclist who is currently a part of UCI Women’s WorldTeam Team Jumbo–Visma. Vos is a three time World Race Champion in 2006, 2012, and 2013 and an eight time World Cyclo-cross Champion in between 2006 to 2022. She also won two gold medals at the 2008 Summer Olympics in the points race and at the 2012 Summer Olympics in the women’s road race.
Vos has numerous outstanding achievements under her name and has brought out a comparison to the renowned Eddy Merckx as being “the finest cyclist of [her] generation”.
Demi Vollering
Demi Vollering is a 25 year old Dutch female professional cyclist, who actively participates for UCI Women’s WorldTeam SD Worx. As far as her achievements goes, she has won the Volta Limburg Classic and Giro dell’Emilia in 2019, and her first win in the Liège–Bastogne–Liège in 2021.
