The three-day Women’s Tour Down Under race kicks off on Friday, 17 January, and it’s sure to be a great showdown. Defending champion Sarah Gigante is missing out while she recovers from iliac artery surgery, but several past winners and future champions are vying for the coveted ochre jersey.
In two firsts for 2025, the women’s peloton will tackle Willunga Hill twice, whilst an entirely new standalone UCI Pro Series race will take place on Sunday, 26 January, the Schwalbe Women’s One-Day Classic, featuring the same Adelaide city circuit as Stage 6 of the men’s race with 200 UCI Points on offer to the winner.
Teams
Despite still only being a three-day race, this year’s will start with its strongest field to date: ten top-tier teams: AG Insurance-Soudal, Picnic PostNL, Live AlUla Jayco, Canyon-SRAM Zandocrypto, Lidl-Trek, FDJ-Suez, UAE Team ADQ, Human Powered Health, Cretatizit-WNT, and Uno-X Mobility, all chanting at the bit to compete in the first Women’s WorldTour event of the season.
Women’s Stages
Friday, 17 January: Ziptrak Stage 1 – Brighton to Aldinga, 101.9km
The opening stage of the 2025 women’s race has a decidedly coastal theme, starting along the beachfront at Brighton before travelling south to the Fleurieu Peninsula. Noarlunga, Sellicks Beach, Myponga, and Yankalilla all feature before a likely sprint finish at Snapper Point in Aldinga. Whilst much of the stage profile is flat, there’s still over 1,400 metres of climbing to be negotiated, most notably the Heatherdale Hill QOM (9.6 km, 3.8 per cent av), which tops out with 50 km to go.

Saturday, 18 January: Health Partners Stage 2 – Unley to Willunga, 115km
An epic Stage 2 starts in Unley just south of the Adelaide CBD, with the climbing beginning pretty much immediately. In fact, the first QOM to Windy Point at Belair (3.8 km, 6% av) happens within the opening 5 km! With senses fully engaged, the peloton then heads south through Clarendon, Kangarilla and McLaren Value en route to its historic double date with Willunga Hill (3 km, 7.4 per cent av). With three QOMs, almost 2,000 metres of elevation and a summit finish, expect aggressive tactics from the overall favourites and significant time gaps.

Sunday, 19 January: Hyundai Stage 3 – Stirling to Stirling, 105.9km
It may not feature the standout individual climbs of Stage 2. But the five undulating laps of the Stirling circuit in the Adelaide Hills – offering excellent vantage points for fans – adds up to more than 2,100 metres of climbing and is sure to test race-weary legs. If the conquerors of Willunga Hill went too deep on Stage 2, a dramatic last-stage lead change could once again be seen as the race crowns its Ochre Jersey winner for 2025.

A few riders to watch
It’s always hard to judge riders’ form at the start of the season, but here are a few to watch for this year’s race.

Neve Bradbury (Canyon-SRAM zondacrypto)
Aussie rider Neve Bradbury has gone from teenage Zwift Academy winner to world-class climber in only four seasons and will be one of the favourites to watch in this edition.
In last year’s TDU, she finished third behind Sarah Gigante and runner-up Nienke Vinke, both of whom will not be in the starting line. Bradbury will no doubt be keen to improve on that in front of home crowds.
Ruby Roseman-Gannon (Liv AlUla Jayco)
Another Aussie, Ruby Roseman-Gannon, has a good chance of winning the first ochre jersey of the 2025 Women’s Tour Down Under after the opening stage into Snapper Point. She’s a powerful sprinter and likely to be fired up after her lack of results at the Nationals last week, where her teammates beat her to the prizes.
Roseman-Gannon is known for her sprinting prowess but is also proven on short, steep climbs.
She’s backed up by a strong team, including newly crowned Australian criterium champion Amber Pate, as well as Georgia Baker and Ella Wyllie.
Ruth Edwards (Human Powered Health)
US rider Ruth Edwards (nee Winder) had a great 2024 after returning to full-time racing after some time out. She placed second at the US National Championships and took the overall victory at the Thüringen Ladies Tour.
She’s also a former Tour Down Under winner in 2020, so she will no doubt be thirsty to return to the podium’s top step.
Edwards has a strong climbing support team, with climber Barbara Malcotti in her corner, as well as Marit Raaijmakers and Silvia Zanardi.
Niamh Fisher-Black (Lidl-Trek)
Kiwi rider Fisher-Black will line up at the TDU with her new team, Lidl-Trek, in 2025. As a climber, she’s likely to hide among the field on the first stage but be ready to launch alongside the other climbers up Willunga Hill on Saturday.
In her new team, she’ll be supported by three-time overall champion Amanda Spratt, who is also a contender for the victory, and Aussie Lauretta Hanson.
She’s been with SD Worx for the past four seasons and has often been a support rider to their superstars, Demi Vollering and Lotte Kopecky. Still, she proved herself even alongside them with stage wins at the Tour de Suisse and Giro d’Italia.

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Image credit: South Australian Tourism Commission