Women to Watch in the 2026 Philadelphia Cycling Classic presented by AmeriGas
- John D. Eustice
- 3 days ago
- 3 min read
by John D. Eustice
Olympic champions, Pan American Games champions, National champions and top racers from across the globe will grace the start line of the Women’s Philadelphia Cycling Classic this Aug. 30. The field will be competing for a $75,000 prize list – equal to that of the men it should be noted – over the length of the 62-mile race held on the famed Philadelphia racecourse, unchanged since its debut in 1985. The infamous Manayunk Wall, .05 miles at 17%, will be affronted four times, with an additional two short laps of the Lemon Hill finishing circuit acting as the final springboard towards victory on the Benjamin Franklin Parkway.
Headlining the stellar field is America’s Kristen Faulkner of the EF Education – Oatly team, whose double Olympic Gold medal performance at the Paris Games made her the first American woman, and third in history, to have won two Golds in two different disciplines in the same Games. A clearly powerful racer with a turn of speed, the Harvard-educated Faulkner will be guided in the race by team captain Alexis Magner, with 19-year-old Belgian sprinter Arke De Buysser waiting in the wings should Faulker fail to crack open the field before the finish.
Italy’s boisterous Chiara Consonni, 2024 Olympic champion on the track in the Madison race, is a racer who seems to be tailor made for Philadelphia. Looking to add to the long history of Italian wins at the event, Consonni, of the Canyon/SRAM team, is wickedly fast and powerful to boot. In addition to her Olympic achievements, the Bergamasca boasts five World and five European track championships plus wins in hard northern European road races. She will make the entire field nervous, especially as she will be backed by one of the strongest teams in all of women’s cycling.
The race has always smiled on sprinters and track-trained Maggie Coles-Lyster of the Human Powered Health team, a very fast two-time Canadian National Road champion, will be the leader of that team. Her international squad of Italian, Spanish, Austrian and Dutch members is expert and up to the task.
The enigmatic presence of XDS China brings great interest to the event. The Chinese women have just begun racing outside of their home country, generally staying in Asia with strong performances in Vietnam and Uzbekistan. Philadelphia will be their first foray into the West. Hao Zang, the Asian Continental Road Champion, and 2024 Chinese National Road Champion, winner of three good international races, will be one to watch.
Italy’s Vini Fantini brings their “Diamond,” 22-year-old Gaia Segato, National Time Trial Champion and consistent performer in stage races, to the event with Spain’s Marina Garau, a U-23 European track champion, as a second option in their quest for victory.
Fans should absolutely follow the performance of Cuba’s Marlies Mejias of the Virginia’s Blue Ridge TWENTY28 team. Considered as perhaps Cuba’s greatest-ever racer, Mejias’s endless list of Pan American and Caribbean championships, on both the road and track, date to 2010 and continue to this day. Strong, very fast and incredibly experienced, the Cuban champion will be guided by heralded Mexican teammate Sofia Arreola and backed by some of the finest developing young riders the USA has to offer.
Other riders to watch include Lauren Stephens, the 2023 Pan Am Games Road Champion, 2024 Pan Am Championships Road winner and prolific race winner. An early advocate of gravel racing as shown by her two wins at the Unbound Gravel, her Ageis x Land of Enchantment team has a strong and proven leader to work for.
Also keep an eye on the Lambertville, NJ team of Fearless Femmes p/b The Beasley Firm. Their star sprinter, Skylar Schneider, just retired from the grind of Europe’s World Tour, has a fresh perspective on the sport and will be deadly should a large group come to the finish together.
Lastly, Philadelphia-local Kim Stoveld, late to the sport, but powerful due to her years as a competitive swimmer, who has shown that she can win nationally, could very well have her word to say in such a long, and hard event. The home crowds will certainly be pushing her on.
About the Author
John Eustice is a pioneering figure in American professional cycling whose influence spans racing, promotion, and media. One of the first Americans to break through in the European peloton, he won back-to-back U.S. Professional National Championships in 1982 and 1983 and later captained the first U.S.-registered team to compete in a Grand Tour at the Giro d’Italia. After racing, he became a leading U.S. promoter, founding major events including the Bucks County Classic, Tour of Connecticut, and Reading 120. Known for his belief in bold “showmanship,” Eustice remains a respected analyst and writer, offering candid, historically grounded insight into the sport.
