Tour de France Femmes begins with challenging stage around Lausanne

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‍♀️ Updates from the 138km opening stage of this year’s race ‍♀️ Vollering gears up for latest Tour tilt | And email Luke The Tour de France Femmes, since relaunching and rebranding in 2022, has had four different winners: Anniemiek van Vleuten, Demi Vollering, Kasia Niewiadoma-Phinney and, most recently, the home favourite Pauline Ferrand-Prévot. Hence it is a more exciting business than the men’s event, where the general classification has been sewn up by the relentless Tadej Pogacar in recent years. But like so much women’s sport, the TdF Femmes increasingly stands alone, growing in popularity and stature every year and attracting more fans to the beautiful sport of cycling. Vollering, whose Giro win earlier in the season sealed the set of all three grand tours, is the favourite to win the nine-stage race – but French fans would dearly love to see Ferrand-Prévot finish in yellow again. Continue reading...

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Dutch sprinter makes it two from two in Geneva Her team still intend to sue UCI over Giro disqualification The Dutch sprinter Lorena Wiebes took her second win in this year’s Tour de France Femmes in Geneva, further extending her overall lead in the nine-day race. Wiebes is proving untouchable in the sprint finishes and her turn of speed in the final 250 metres, on the lakeside finish of the Quai du Mont-Blanc, reduced her rivals to onlookers. Lone breakaway Riejanne Markus had led by more than half a minute on the flat approach to Geneva and maintained that advantage into the final 5km, even with the whole peloton giving chase. But as the kilometres clicked down, the peloton clawed its way back, eclipsing Markus in the last 500 metres, before Wiebes made her inevitable surge to take yet another sprint win. Continue reading...

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Updates from Stage two (148km) to Geneva Stage one: Wiebes outsprints Le Court and Vollering | Email Alex Welcome to stage two of the 2026 Tour de France Femmes – Aigle to Geneva – and officially categorised as flat but containing five categorised climbs on the route. Just cruel if you ask me. That said, the final climb is more than 40km from the finish, so we’re likely in for a bunch sprint. That, of course, could play into the hands of one Lorena Wiebes – your race leader after her victory on stage one. The Dutch sprinting ace finished ahead of Kim Le Court and the pre-race GC favourite Demi Vollering, who are second and third respectively after a dramatic day. Continue reading...