Tokyo 2020 Olympics road race women's start list

Confirmed start list of riders set to race on the 137km course in Japan

Anna van der Breggen winning gold at the Rio Olympics in 2016
(Image credit: Getty Images)

As expected, the Tokyo 2020Olympics Gameshave attracted the biggest names of the sport to battle it out for the chance to take home the gold medal and wear the golden bands on their sleeves for the next four, or three, in this case, years.

There is a lot to fight for as we only see the Games every four years. This is even more apt as it has been five years since the last one due to the Covid-19 pandemic pushing these games back by a year.

The women's road race takes place on Sunday, July 25 and will take the riders over a 137km course from Musashinonomori Park to the Fuji International Speedway, but, the women's event does not take on the Mount Fuji pass of the Mikuni Pass which will likely decide the men's race,much to the frustration of some pro riders.

While the men have a short turnaround from the Tour de France, the women get an extra week of preparation due to the Giro d'Italia Donne finishing a week prior to the Tour.

However, one of the big favourites for the race in Annemiek van Vleuten (Netherlands) chose to not ride the Giro Donne or the Tour de France-run one-day race of La Course as she did not wish to suffer from any injuries before heading to Japan.

Defending champion and fellow Dutch rider, Anna van der Breggen will also be hoping for a good result, she comes into the Games with some superb form after she dominated the Giro Donne, winning the overall title and taking a stage.

British success will be very much focussed around Lizzie Deignan who managed a very solid fourth place at the Giro Donne behind three SD Worx riders. Deignan did not medal in 2016 but she did win silver at the London Olympics in 2012. She lines up alongside 20-year-old SD Worx rider, Anna Shackley.

Elisa Longo-Borghini of Italy, Grace Brown of Australia, Lotte Kopecky of Belgium, Kasia Niewiadoma of Poland and a lot more besides will be looking for the gold medal though at the Fuji International Speedway.

Just 67 riders will take part in the women's road race with the biggest teams getting a maximum of four riders.

Those teams are the Netherlands, Australia, USA, Germany and Italy with Belgium, Poland, and Canada the nations allowed three riders on the team.

Great Britain, Denmark, Spain, Japan, Norway, and South Africa have all been allowed two riders with the remaining nations involved only allowed one.

All riders are now confirmed, with Anna van der Breggen wearing the number one bib as defending champion.

TOKYO 2020 OLYMPIC GAMES WOMEN'S ROAD RACE START LIST

Netherlands

1 VAN DER BREGGEN Anna
2 VAN VLEUTEN Annemiek
3 VOS Marianne
4 VOLLERING Demi

Italy

5 BASTIANELLI Marta
6 CAVALLI Marta
7 LONGO-BORGHINI Elisa
8 PALADIN Soraya

Denmark

9 NORSGAARD Emma
10 LUDWIG Cecile Uttrup

Germany

11 BRENNAUER Lisa
12 LIPPERT Liane
13 LUDWIG Hannah
14 WORRACK Trixi

Australia

15 BROWN Grace
16 CROMWELL Tiffany
17 GIGANTE Sarah
18 SPRATT Amanda

Belgium

19 DEMEY Valerie
20 KOPECKY Lotte
21 VAN DE VELDE Julie

Great Britain

22 DEIGNAN Lizzie
23 SHACKLEY Anna

Poland

24 LACH Marta
25 NIEWIADOMA Kasia
26 PLICHTA Anna

United States of America

27 DYGERT克洛伊
28 RIVERA Coryn
29 THOMAS Leah
30 WINDER Ruth

South Africa

31 MOOLMAN-PASIO Ashleigh
32 OBERHOLZER Carla

Spain

33 GARCÍA Mavi
34 SANTESTEBAN Ane

Switzerland

35 REUSSER Marlen

France

36 LABOUS Juliette

Norway

37 AALERUD Katrine
38 BØRGLI Stine

Russian Olympic Committee

39 DRONOVA-BALABOLINA Tamara

Slovenia

40 BUJAK Eugenia

Luxembourg

41 MAJERUS Christine

Ukraine

42 KONONENKO Valeriya

Canada

43 CANUEL Karol-Ann
44 JACKSON Alison
45 KIRCHMANN Leah

Thailand

46 MANEEPHAN Jutatip

Lithuania

47 LELEIVYTE Rasa

Austria

48 KIESENHOFER Anna

Colombia

49 PATINO BEDOYA Paula Andrea

Belarus

50 AMIALIUSIK Alena

Namibia

51 LOOSER Vera

Czech Republic

52 NEUMANOVA Tereza

Paraguay

53 ESPINOLA SALINAS Agua Marina

Israel

54 SHAPIRA Omer

Mexico

55 SALAZAR VAZQUEZ Lizbeth Yareli

Cuba

56 SIERRA CANADILLA Arlenis

Uzbekistan

57 ZABELINSKAYA Olga

Ethiopia

58 AMHA Selam

Eritrea

59 DEBESAY Mosana

Costa Rica

60 VARGAS BARRIENTOS Maria Jose

China

61 SUN Jiajun

Cyprus

62 CHRISTOFOROU Antri

Japan

63 KANEKO Hiromi
64 YONAMINE Eri

Chile

65 SOTO CAMPOS Catalina Anais

Trinidad and Tobago

66 CAMPBELL Teniel

South Korea

67 NA Ahreum

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Tim Bonville-Ginn

Hi, I'm one of Cycling Weekly's content writers for the web team responsible for writing stories on racing, tech, updating evergreen pages as well as the weekly email newsletter. Proud Yorkshireman from the UK's answer to Flanders, Calderdale, go check out the cobbled climbs!


I started watching cycling back in 2010, before all the hype around London 2012 and Bradley Wiggins at the Tour de France. In fact, it was Alberto Contador and Andy Schleck's battle in the fog up the Tourmalet on stage 17 of the Tour de France.


It took me a few more years to get into the journalism side of things, but I had a good idea I wanted to get into cycling journalism by the end of year nine at school and started doing voluntary work soon after. This got me a chance to go to the London Six Days, Tour de Yorkshire and the Tour of Britain to name a few before eventually joining Eurosport's online team while I was at uni, where I studied journalism. Eurosport gave me the opportunity to work at the world championships in Harrogate back in the awful weather.


After various bar jobs, I managed to get my way into Cycling Weekly in late February of 2020 where I mostly write about racing and everything around that as it's what I specialise in but don't be surprised to see my name on other news stories.


When not writing stories for the site, I don't really switch off my cycling side as I watch every race that is televised as well as being a rider myself and a regular user of the game Pro Cycling Manager. Maybe too regular.


My bike is a well used Specialized Tarmac SL4 when out on my local roads back in West Yorkshire as well as in northern Hampshire with the hills and mountains being my preferred terrain.