State of the Women’s Professional Peloton 2026 sets out six priorities to help riders build sustainable careers.
The Cyclists’ Alliance (TCA) today publishes State of the Women’s Professional Peloton 2026, revealing substantial differences in financial security, access to healthcare and career opportunities across team levels.
Drawing on responses from 127 professional women cyclists to TCA’s ninth Annual Rider Survey, the report examines the conditions behind the racing and sets out an advocacy agenda for governing bodies, teams, race organisers and commercial partners. Among the 52 Continental respondents, 75% receive no team salary, 79% have one-year contracts and 54% report uncovered medical or physiotherapy costs. Just 17% report regular medical screening, compared with 90% of WorldTeam respondents. The findings also show what stronger support can look like. Among WorldTeam respondents, 90% have contracts lasting two years or longer. TCA is calling for dependable protections to extend throughout the sport’s development pathway.
“Women’s cycling needs to offer riders a career they can sustain. That means knowing which costs their team will cover, being able to get medical care and feeling safe to raise a concern. Our report identifies where those foundations are missing and what needs to change. We want to work with the sport’s decision-makers on clear commitments, with responsibility for delivery and evidence that riders’ conditions are improving.”
Grace Brown, TCA President
Read the Report: State_of_the_Womens_Professional_Peloton_2026_The_Cyclists_Alliance
Different pressures threaten riders’ careers
The leading reasons respondents cited for considering or deciding to leave professional cycling earlier than planned differ by team level:
- Continental: 73% cited financial instability or inadequate salary.
- ProTeam: 38% cited physical injury or health-related issues.
- WorldTeam: 40% cited unsafe and high-risk racing conditions.
Across all respondents, 23% cited a negative team culture or toxic environment as a factor in early-exit considerations.
Note. This finding concerns reasons riders have considered or decided on an earlier departure. However, it does not establish that they currently experience these conditions.
Safety and access to care require action
Among the survey’s 118 road-cycling respondents, 71% identified dangerous rider behaviour as a safety concern, 68% highlighted poor road surfaces and 62% identified unsafe final kilometres.
TCA welcomes the UCI changes taking effect on 1 January 2027, including stronger event safety-manager responsibilities, mandatory barrier specifications at WorldTour events and the extension of yellow cards to Class 1 races. These are positive steps. Their impact will depend on consistent implementation, effective checks and clear accountability when standards are not met.
Building on the UCI’s published study protocol and preliminary findings presented in Montréal, TCA is asking how the higher crash incidence and more severe injury outcomes observed among women in the monitored WorldTour events will be investigated, and what action will follow. The UCI should publish the full findings, explain how possible contributing factors will be tested, and incorporate riders’ experiences of crashes, care and recovery alongside incident and medical data.
Protection must cover every rider throughout the race, including breakaways, dropped riders and groups outside the main peloton. TCA calls for independently checked road-protection and emergency-response plans, sufficient marshal and support-motorbike coverage, and clear responsibility for locating and assisting anyone who crashes. Where investigations identify safety failures, organisers should demonstrate corrective action before their next event.
TCA welcomes the UCI’s work on GPS tracking as a promising step towards detecting and locating riders who need assistance. Implementation must include active monitoring, clear procedures for investigating alerts and named responsibility for dispatching help.
As rider representatives, TCA also recognises its role in helping riders keep one another safe. Its Rider Council’s safety campaign encourages respect within the peloton, including calling out hazards and recognising how individual decisions affect those nearby. This shared responsibility must sit alongside safe courses, effective road protection and dependable emergency care.
Access to healthcare also varies sharply. Just 17% of Continental respondents report regular medical screening, compared with 90% of WorldTeam respondents. Only 19% of Continental respondents report a clear return-to-race protocol after injury or illness, compared with 50% at WorldTeam level.
TCA calls for greater investment in research specific to women to inform how riders fuel, train, recover and prepare for demanding racing conditions, including extreme heat. Gaps in understanding menstrual health, energy availability and bone health require targeted research and practical guidance developed with riders and qualified experts. Where REDs or bone health are proposed as explanations for different injury outcomes, those hypotheses must be tested rather than treated as established causes.
Having called for stronger REDs and bone-health screening since 2024, TCA is asking the UCI to establish consistent clinician-led screening within mandatory medical monitoring, with appropriate bone-health assessment and clear routes to further investigation and treatment. Teams should provide access to qualified medical, nutrition and confidential mental health support, with clear responsibility for arranging and paying for care. Riders also need protected recovery and clear return-to-race procedures, including safeguards when they need to reduce or pause competition.
Development opportunities matter to the whole sport
A lack of appropriate development races concerns 41% of respondents aged 19–22, compared with 20% of those aged 23 and over. Continental respondents are twice as likely as WorldTeam respondents to identify this concern: 38% versus 19%. Changes to the 2026 calendar give these concerns context.
The cancellation of the Tour de l’Avenir Femmes removed a dedicated under-23 stage race. The former Tour de l’Ardèche continued as the Faun Tour Femmes, but with four stages, down from six in 2025. Race upgrades can also change the opportunities available to developing teams, raising the question of what replaces an event’s previous development role.
TCA calls on the UCI to work with federations, organisers and teams to identify and fill these gaps, support viable development races and review entry and invitation data to establish whether developing teams can access suitable competition. The WorldTour’s future depends on riders having somewhere to learn, compete and progress.
Six priorities for better working conditions
The report sets out six connected areas for action:
- Financial security: Strengthen and consistently enforce Continental-team contract protections, cover essential racing costs and explain how development funding will reach teams and riders.
- Race safety: Publish evidence, investigate contributing factors and require organisers to address identified failures, with protection extending to riders outside the main peloton bubble.
- Rider welfare and duty of care: Make screening, qualified care and support through recovery dependable across team levels.
- Safeguarding: Provide confidential, independent support and reporting routes that protect riders from retaliation, with clear responsibility for enforcing decisions.
- Development opportunities: Sustain appropriate races and teams, and examine whether developing riders can access the competition they need.
- Broadcast visibility: Establish roadmaps for full live coverage of pinnacle races, share comparable audience data and show how commercial growth supports the sport and its riders.
TCA will use the findings to guide its advocacy and independent rider support. The organisation invites governing bodies, teams, organisers and commercial partners to work with rider representatives on delivery.
Join or support TCA:
Professional riders can support this work by joining TCA. Fans can become supporter members, while businesses can contribute through corporate donations or funding partnerships by contacting: lexi.brown@cyclistsalliance.org
Media enquiries and interview requests: communications@cyclistsalliance.org
Notes to editors
- About the survey
- TCA’s ninth Annual Rider Survey includes 127 professional women cyclists across six disciplines. Of these, 118 selected road cycling; riders could select more than one discipline. Team-level respondent bases are 42 WorldTeam riders, 21 ProTeam riders and 52 Continental riders.
- Unless otherwise stated, percentages refer to all 127 respondents. Percentages are rounded.
- The findings describe survey respondents and should not be treated as estimates for every professional rider. Continental riders account for 41% of this year’s sample, compared with 11% in 2025. Changes in sample composition limit direct year-to-year comparisons.
- Respondents could select multiple reasons for considering or deciding to leave the sport early. These answers do not measure current intentions to leave or establish that an experience relates to a respondent’s current team.
About The Cyclists’ Alliance
Founded by riders in 2017, The Cyclists’ Alliance provides an independent voice for professional women cyclists. Its work includes contract and legal guidance, confidential support with ethical concerns, education, mentorship and advocacy to improve riders’ working conditions.
