2024 Tour of Britain Women: domestic team guide

The inaugural Tour of Britain Women begins on Thursday 4 June, offering one of only two opportunities on the UK racing calendar for domestic-based teams to pit their wits – and legs – against Women’s WorldTour opposition.

All six British UCI Continental teams – as well as a Great Britain national team – have been granted selection for the race.

This guide introduces you to the six UCI teams and picks out some riders to watch.

For details of the route, click here.

Alba Development Road Team 

Line-up: Caitlin Dimbleby, Arianne Holland, Beth Morrow (21), Abi Plowman (25), Eilidh Shaw (19), Amelia Tyler (20)

The Alba Road Development Team is a Scottish-based women’s cycling team that elevated to UCI Continental status this season. Thisdevelopment outfit is run Bob Lyons, who has a grand five-year plan to create a two-tier team structure: a fully salaried UCI Continental Team, with a development team sitting underneath. 

The team stepped up to UCI Continental level two years after being established to help support its plans for an expanded European race programme this year, as Lyons explains here. Lyons’ philosophy emphasises the importance of maintaining a small yet competitive squad, ensuring each rider gets ample racing opportunities, around 35 to 40 days per year.

With an average of 23, Alba’s line-up is the youngest in the race.

Riders to watch

Eilidh Shaw (19), the youngest rider in the race, has been the standout rider for the Alba Road Development Team this season. Perhaps even the best domestic rider of 2024 so far. On the comeback trail after battling iliac artery endofibrosis in 2023, the Scot has turned her heads in the National Road Series with second place in both the CiCLE Classic and the East Cleveland Classic. She has impressed in Europe too, achieving two podium places at the recent Tour de Feminin (2.2) and an excellent 15th place at the Antwerp Port Epic (1.1) against a high-class field.

Amelia Tyler (20) is another youngster who has made her mark domestically this season, with a notable fifth-place finish at the CiCLE Classic. Her ability to handle challenging courses and her consistent performances in UCI stage races this season will make the Irish rider an integral part of the team’s lineup for the Tour of Britain Women.

Caitlin Dimbleby (26) signed for the team in April after a string of promising early season results. Her notable achievements include winning the RCR FatCreations Road Race and placing fourth in the first round of the National Road Series, the East Cleveland Classic. She is inexperience at UCI level, racing just four UCI road race days in her career so far, so this race will form an important step in her cycling education.

DAS-Hutchinson-Brother UK

Line-up: Tiffany Keep (ZA), Lucy Lee (GBR), Caoimhe O’Brien (IRE), Darcie Richards (AUS), Alice Sharpe (IRE), Ruth Shier (GBR)

The DAS-Hutchinson-Brother UK team is a prominent squad formed from the merger of two successful domestic teams: the long-running UCI Continental DAS-Handsling team and Hutchinson-Brother UK, the top-performing elite-level team in the UK last year. The merger aimed to create a stronger team with a more extensive European race programme The management team includes Ian Watson (formerly of Hutchinson-Brother UK, and Andrew Paine and Simon Howes (of DAS-Handsling).

The team has a large squad – 19 riders in all – with 12 coming from the UK and the other seven adding an international flavour. The team has had a strong UCI road race programme in 2024 while also maintaining a focus on the National Road Series at home. Standout results in 2024 include 11th at the GP Eco-Struct/Thompson/Security Tools (1.1) through Norwegian rider Nora Tveit, and 5th at the Région Pays de la Loire Tour – Féminin (1.2) with Alice Sharpe.

One of the squad’s standout riders, promising 20-year-old Robyn Clay, a winner at the Rapha Lincoln Grand Prix last season, is out with a long-term injury after a horror crash in the sprint finale of the Cyclis Classic at the beginning of May.

Riders to watch

Tiffany Keep has been the team’s most consistent performer in 2024. A gold medallist in the women’s mountain bike cross-country even at the African Games in 2019, the 23-year-old South African started the year with 5th at the East Cleveland Classic and has since racked up a solid set of results in UCI races, including 14th at the crash-affected Cyclis Classic (1.2). She is one of three riders in the team’s Tour of Britain line-up squad who also rode the recent RideLondon Classique.

Alice Sharpe (30) brings experience and proven success to the team. The Irish track star, who will be heading to the Olympics this summer, is also a two-time Irish road race champion (winning the titles in 2019 and 2022). England-based, Sharpe was born in Munich and brought up in Cambridgeshire but rides for Ireland thanks to her Dad’s Northern Irish roots. Sharpe joined the team from the Israel Premier Tech Roland Women’s WorldTour squad and has shown her experience with 5th at the Région Pays de la Loire Tour – Féminin (1.2) in April and a solid 23rd on GC at RideLondon.

Lucy Lee topped our national road race rankings last season after some standout domestic road race results and this year she is now beginning to prove herself at the UCI level. Lee celebrates her birthday on stage 1 of the Tour of Britain Women where she will be right at home, being from North Wales. 15th place on GC at the recent Tour de Feminin (2.2) demonstrates Lee is in good form.

Doltcini-O’Shea

Line-up: Isabel Darvil, Jessica Finney, S’Annara Grove, Tilde Hammarström, Connie Hayes, Hayley Simmonds

Run by Pat Hayes and Olly Moors, the Doltcini-O’Shea outfit began in 2021. Previously called AWOL O’Shea, the team has steadily grown its international race programme and in 2023 had the most expansive UCI race programme of any British team bar Lifeplus-Wahoo. 

Top European results last year included 11th for Jess Finney at the Kreiz Breizh Elites Féminin and 14th for Charlotte Broughton at the EPZ Omloop van Borsele, while at home Jess Finney won a mud-splattered edition of the CiCLE Classic. 

The 17-rider squad has a cosmopolitan look, with eight different nationalities represented. It has also recently recruited Colin Sturgess as an Assistant DS. Former world track champion Sturgess directed the Ribble Weldtite Pro Cycling squad at the men’s Tour of Britain.

Riders to watch

Jessica Finney (28) has been the team’s most impressive member over the last two seasons. She won the 2023 Women’s CiCLE Classic with a superbly timed long-range sprint and has consistently performed well in other National Road Series events, marking her as a key competitor for the team​​. She’s finished every race she has entered this season and completed the RideLondon Classique in an accomplished 33rd on GC./

Connie Hayes (23), daughter of team owner Pat Hayes, hasn’t quite found her stride in 2024 but, a strong climber, she might find the hilly terrain of the race’s opening stages to her liking. The Londoner has made a point of demonstrating that her neurodivergence (she has dyslexia, dyspraxia and autism) doesn’t hold her back when it comes to cycling, describe it as a ‘complete lifeline’.

Hayley Simmonds (35) brings a wealth of experience and a strong track record to the team. A pundit for the BBC at the RideLondon Classique, she swaps the commentary box for the bike at the Tour of Britain Women. A two-time national time trial champion, Simmonds is perhaps more at home on the gravel these days, making regular appearances this year for Movistar on the gravel circuit.

Hess Cycling Team

Line-up: Sara Casasola, Nicole Frain, Rotem Gafinovitz, Grace Lister, Alice McWilliam, Mayo van ‘t Geloof

The Hess Cycling Team began in 2023 and raced under a Luxembourg licence for its first season. Owned by the London-based Swiss businessman Rolf Hess, the team switched to become British-registered in 2024 and has ambitions to become the first British Women’s WorldTour team.

The team only had once British rider in 2023, former Bianchi HUNT Morvélo rider Alice McWilliam. However, Hess has declared the team will have a British core in the future and duly signed talented junior Holly Ramsey, as well as promising under-23 rider Grace Lister.

Hess are arguably now the strongest of the British UCI Continental teams – bar Lifeplus -Wahoo – demonstrated with three top tens in UCI 1.1 races in the 2024, all through Dutch classics specialist Marjolein van’t Geloof.

Riders to watch

Mayo van ‘t Geloof (28) has been the team’s star performer in 2024, achieving three top tens in UCI 1.1 races so far. A powerful rider with a fast finisher, van’t Geloof demonstrated her form with a third place at the ZLM Omloop der Kempen Ladies (1.2) at the end of last month. An Anglophile, and partner to home favourite Harry Tanfield, van’t Geloof competed in the Rapha Lincoln Grand Prix this year, finishing fifth, a race she says was one for her bucket list.

Alice McWilliam (28) had a breakthrough season in 2022, finishing second in the National Road Series, winning the Curlew Cup, and impressing in her debut UCI road race with 5th on stage 1 of the Lotto Belgium Tour. Since then, the former rowing cox has ridden for Hess. She told us in April that she’s still adjusting to riding at this level, learning to balance playing a team role as well as grasping her own opportunities when she can.

Nicole Frain (31) is a former Australian road race champion and began the year with an incredibly assured 10th place on GC at the Santos Tour Down Under. An incredibly consistent performer over different terrains, Frain already has over 20 race days this year, finishing everything she has entered. She has also dabbled in gravel in 2024, recently finishing second on The Grallock, a UCI Gravel World Series race in Scotland.

Lifeplus-Wahoo

Line-up: Alicia Blanco Gonzalez, Heidi Franz, Maddie Leech, Kaja Rysz, Karin Soderqvist, Babette van der Wolf

Tom Varney’s Lifeplus-Wahoo team will begin its ninth year in 2024, an incredible run during which time it has established itself as the premier British team. 

The team rides almost exclusively at UCI level, with appearances at the first two editions of the Tour de France Femmes a recent highlight of the squad’s programme. As Tom Varney explains in our latest podcast episode, however, the team has had to readjust its 2024 goals after not being selected for this year’s event.

Varney has plans to step up to the ProTeam level in 2025 and will make a decision on that once the UCI has published the requirements for this new women’s team tier. It highlights the strong financial standing the team has compared with most of the other British squads. The team is able to pay riders a salary and this year gave some of its new recruits two-year contracts, a sign that its sponsors view their support for team as much more than a short-term arrangement.

The team was hit with the shock news that 2024 Rapha Lincoln Grand Prix winner was brutally knocked off her bike by the driver of a 4×4 just days before the race. We wish Kate all the best for her recovery.

Riders to watch

Babette van der Wolf is only 20 but she is already making a name for herself. The punchy Dutch rider has a fast finish, so expect to see up there in the sprint finishes. She was the youngest rider in last year’s Tour de France Femmes and this year has begun to accumulate some impressive results, none more so than her third place at the Antwerp Port Epic (1.1) last month.

Heidi Franz (29) is a potential GC challenger at the race. The US rider joined the team this year having ridden for the doomed Zalf Cycling Team in 2023. She is a three-time UCI road race winner, he most recent victory coming at the Egmont Cycling Race (1.2) last year. She returns to Europe to race the Tour of Britain having the United States road race championships last month where she finished seventh.

Alicia Blanco Gonzalez (29) is the other GC card for the team. The Spaniard should be able to handle the hill and impressed at the RideLondon Classique to finish 14th overall.

Pro-Noctis – 200° Coffee – Hargreaves Contracting

Line-up: Bexy Dew, Lucy Gadd, Amy Gornall, Lucy Harris, Zoe Langham, Jo Tindley

Last but not least, Rick Lister’s Finish Line Racing project is, like Alba, a top elite team that made the jump to UCI Continental level in 2024. The squad has gone from strength-to-strength in its three-year and a half year existence, bagging big wins (Jo Tindley’s national circuit race championship victory in 2021 was a huge coup) and establishing itself as one of the leading teams in the UK.

The Lincolnshire-based team bolstered its squad this year in preparation for the step up – signing talented junior Lowri Richards and Lizi Brooke (who finished 14th in her maiden national road race championships last year) – and made further reinforcements with the in-season signings of our journal contributor Lucy Gadd and current National Road Series leader Lucy Harris.

We should also flag that the good people at Pro-Noctis also kindly sponsor The British Continental.

Riders to watch

Lucy Gadd (22) has been one of the top domestic performers in 2024. Our journal contributor began the season riding the Le Col RT, ensure if she wanted to return to a proper team environment after a rollercoaster 2023 that saw her French UCI Continental team Stade Rochelais Charente Maritime fold and suffering the after effects of Covid and a high-speed crash, as she explains here. However, a stage win and second on GC at the Peaks 2 Day indicated her good form, she joined the Pro-Noctis squad and has quickly established herself as a key team member.
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​Like Gadd, Lucy Harris is a new recruit for Pro-Noctis – 200° Coffee – Hargreaves Contracting. So new, in fact, she will make her debut for the team at the Tour of Britain, having made the switch from Loughborough Lightning on 31st May. Harris is 30 and works as a meteorological data scientist but has had a breakthrough season already. Her consistency means she now leads the National Road Series after three rounds and she has picked up wins at the Banbury Star British Cup race and the Loughborough Cycling Festival. She thrives in the hills but has relatively little UCI road race experience so the Tour of Britain will be a learning curve.

Jo Tindley, on the other hand, is a veteran at 37, with a UCI road racing career that stretches back to 2013. She rode the very first Women’s Tour back in 2014, and will add a vital element of experience to the Pro-Noctis squad. She is a wily racer, perhaps best demonstrated when she won the 2021 national circuit race championships in 2021. She’ll need to be the glue that keeps her team together during the race.

Featured image: Alex Whitehead/SWpix.com