Lorena Wiebes (Team SD Worx-Protime) has won the Tour of Chongming Island, the last race on the 2026 women’s WorldTour calendar. On 9, 10 and 11 October she won every sprint on a flat island off Shanghai: three stages, three wins, and with them the general classification in 8h17’17”.
Second place went to Lara Gillespie (UAE Team L’Imad), 15” back. Third was Clara Copponi (Lidl-Trek), at 26”. Gillespie was her closest rival for all three days and finished second on the last two stages; on the first she was third, behind Copponi.
Three days on an island without climbs
Nobody goes to Chongming looking for mountains. The first stage, on 9 October, measured 110.4 km on the island, with laps in the southern part. The second, on 10 October, measured 129.4 km and started in Changxing before reaching Chongming. The only real obstacle was a road bridge early in the final stage, which was otherwise as flat as the others.
On a course like this, every day ended in a bunch sprint. The gaps were made by positioning, by teamwork and by the moment to launch the sprint.
This year the field was smaller than usual. Five teams withdrew in September, after the UCI dropped the obligation to take part. 65 started and 65 finished at the line.
The break was always under control
On the final stage Wiebes’s team kept the break’s lead in check and decided the finale itself. According to Wiebes, a first attack was dealt with by Femke Markus. The other teams wanted the intermediate sprint and closed the gap on their own.
Then another one went. That too was controlled by Markus and Femke Gerritse. The break never had a real chance, and the peloton arrived together to contest the sprint.
On 9 October SD Worx-Protime did not have to do all the work alone. It did have to respond to a late move by Ruby Roseman-Gannon (Liv-Alula-Jayco), inside the last 6 km.
How the sprint was decided
Three finishes, three different scripts. Each time Wiebes waited for the right moment to go.
9 October: Roseman-Gannon’s attempt caught before the last 2 km
Roseman-Gannon’s attempt was reeled in before the last 2 km. Then Lidl-Trek, Jayco and UAE took turns at the front of the bunch, but Wiebes stayed sheltered throughout, with Guarischi ready to launch her.
Gillespie had managed to slot in between Wiebes and her last teammate. Wiebes got past her by coming off her wheel and beat Copponi and Gillespie by a clear margin.
10 October: Gillespie fights to the line
On the second stage Wiebes stayed covered for a long time and gave everything only at the end. Gillespie fought her all the way to the line.
11 October: the train holds even in the chaos
On the final stage Wiebes won narrowly, in a sprint more closely fought than those she has accustomed us to. Gillespie finished second for the second day running. Third was China’s Xin Tang.
The SD Worx-Protime train worked even in the chaotic finale. Wiebes said she lost her teammates for a moment, then found them again before the last bend. Barbara Guarischi launched the sprint and Lisa van Belle did the final job. Van Belle launched her to perfection once again, said Wiebes.
Wiebes ends the season with one more win
The Chinese success takes Wiebes, 27, to 24 wins in 2026, one fewer than her personal best for a year, set last year. Before the last stage her wins numbered at least 140, 82 of them in the WorldTour.
She had already won at Chongming in 2019, when she rode for Parkhotel Valkenburg. Then she took a hat-trick of stages and also won the points and young riders’ classifications, as well as the overall. Her 21st win of the season came on the first stage, and she ends with the same hat-trick.
The wins of a long season
The run began in February with the three stages of the UAE Tour Women. Then came In Flanders Fields – In Wevelgem on 29 March and the Copenhagen Sprint on 13 June.
In the summer she won three stages and the overall at the Tour de Pologne Women, two stages at the Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift and four at the Lloyds Tour of Britain Women. In September she won the Choralis Fourmies Féminine, on the 13th.
The comparison with 2025
Last year she won, among others, the Classic Brugge-De Panne on 27 March, the Dutch national title on 28 June and two stages at the Giro d’Italia Women. In the autumn she won the Simac Ladies Tour with five stages, on 7 September.
After the road, the track. Wiebes rides the Track World Championships in Shanghai next week and is reigning champion in the scratch race and the omnium. She will skip the Eneco Tour.
Gillespie and Copponi on the podium
Gillespie is the most honourable loser: she lost all three sprints, narrowly in the last, and finished second overall. Copponi took third place and the podium of the first stage.
Behind them, Kathrin Schweinberger (Human Powered Health) is fourth at 29” and her teammate Maggie Coles-Lyster fifth at 30”. Xin Tang is sixth at 32”, the best placing by a Chinese rider. Margot Vanpachtenbeke and Jarmila Machačová, at 33”, complete the top eight.
Henrietta Colborne (XDS China Women Team) and Josie Talbot (Liv-Alula-Jayco) are ninth and tenth at 34”. Machačová, at 40, is the most experienced of the top ten; the youngest of the top twenty is Vendula Strakatá, who is 19.
The jerseys: polka-dot stays with SD Worx-Protime
On the final stage SD Worx-Protime played for the polka-dot jersey too. Van Belle tried to surprise Sofie van Rooijen by coming from behind, but Van Rooijen noticed straight away and responded. Wiebes then took the sprint to keep the jersey in the team. In the climbers’ classification, Wiebes and Van Belle finished first and second.
The Italians: Brillante Romeo is the best on general classification
The best of the Italians on general classification is Lucia Brillante Romeo, 22nd at 36”, ahead of her Aromitalia Vaiano teammate Eleonora La Bella, 23rd. Silvia Zanardi (Human Powered Health) is 37th.
Barbara Guarischi, 51st, played a starring role: she launched Wiebes’s sprint on two stages out of three. Greta Marturano (UAE Team L’Imad) is 55th, Katia Ragusa (Human Powered Health) 60th at 1’21”. Romina Costantini (Aromitalia Vaiano) is 64th at 12’42”.
The latest Chongming winners
In 2025 Anne Knijnenburg won, by a single second over Sofie van Rooijen. In 2024 it was Marta Lach, in 2023 Chiara Consonni. In 2016 Chloe Hosking won and in 2015 Kirsten Wild.
The women’s race was born in 2007. Since 2016 it has been part of the WorldTour calendar from the very start, stopped in 2020, 2021 and 2022 and returned in 2023. This year Wiebes won by 15” over Gillespie, a far bigger margin than in 2025.
The season ends in China
This was the last women’s WorldTour race of 2026. The Tour of Guangxi, which usually closes the year, is not on this year. For Wiebes the track now remains, in Shanghai.
The general classification
| # | Rider | Team | Time |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Lorena Wiebes | Team SD Worx-Protime | 8h17’17” |
| 2 | Lara Gillespie | UAE Team L’Imad | +15″ |
| 3 | Clara Copponi | Lidl-Trek | +26″ |
| 4 | Kathrin Schweinberger | Human Powered Health | +29″ |
| 5 | Maggie Coles-Lyster | Human Powered Health | +30″ |
| 6 | Xin Tang | China | +32″ |
| 7 | Margot Vanpachtenbeke | Lidl-Trek | +33″ |
| 8 | Jarmila Machačová | Dukla Women Cycling | +33″ |
| 9 | Henrietta Colborne | XDS China Women Team | +34″ |
| 10 | Josie Talbot | Liv-Alula-Jayco | +34″ |
News written with the help of Mnemosyne.
Sources
- Results and times: UCI, official results.
- Cyclingnews, «Tour of Chongming Island: Lorena Wiebes storms to 21st victory of the season on stage 1».
- Escape Collective, «Wiebes secures the expected hat trick at the Tour of Chongming Island».
- Tour, «2026 Tour of Chongming Island: Wiebes sweeps all three stages and is ready for the Track World Championships».
- Photo: Geof Sheppard, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
