2026 Tour de France Femmes Overall Preview

 After less than a week's break, top-level cycling is back in France (well, the French-speaking part of Switzerland, which is really close enough, unless maybe you are Swiss). Once again eschewing a start on French soil, the route of the Tour de France Femmes is once again nine stages (still waiting for two weeks with a rest day in the middle) with a finish in sunny Nice and a trip up the Giant of Provence somewhere in-between. When I first saw the route, I thought it looked a bit easy. At a second glance, I think it's actually quite balanced and the racing should be quite good.

The 2026 route (I also had to look up the definition of "homologation")

Previously...

Pauline Ferrand-Prévot won ahead of Demi Vollering and Kasia Niewiadoma, then spent quite a long time being dragged over the coals for her physical appearance during the race, a bit unfairly for a professional athlete whose entire racing season focussed around those nine days. It would seem reasonable to assume a similar podium this year, but Ferrand-Prévot either cracked badly in the Vuelta or was sent there ride in support of Marion Bunel the entire time, you decide, so maybe it's a "not so fast my friend" scenario...

The 2025 podium

Stages?!?

Since there are only nine, why not look at all of them? All profiles are courtesy of the official Tour de France Femmes website (i.e. I copy and pasted them with impunity).

Stage 1 profile

Nice and lumpy; the question is whether the sprinters can survive the climb into town, will a puncheur escape from the pack, or will the GC teams decide to turn up the heat early and figure out who's who off the bat?

Stage 2 profile

Some climbs, but it will be a sprint, barring disaster.

Stage 3 profile

Another lumpy one (I did say the route is balanced earlier, no?) with some bonus seconds available (first come, first serve) at the top of the last climb. But, with the cat 1 climb close to the start, it should be a stage for the break, maybe the only one of the race. Oh, and the race finally enters France somewhere in the middle.

Stage 4 profile

Time crisis! Those GC contenders who have not spent enough time on the TT bike recently will find themselves hemorrhaging potentially several minutes to those who have put in the hours. The first stage that should really separate the chaff from the wheat.

Stage 5 profile

A dangerous looking parcours...depending on how the previous day went, some might be looking to make up lost time (literally) here, especially with the bonifications a the beginning of the last climb. A tactically difficult stage where the DS's will earn their keep.

Stage 6 profile

Another tricky one, again with bonifications available after the final climb (there is a reason they are there, no?). Again, a stage where the DS's will have to earn their keep and those not confident in their abilities to hang on the long Ventoux climb to roll the dice in the bid for a stage or GC time. 

Stage 7 profile

The big one...flat until the Ventoux climb. It should be an epic day, and there will be nowhere to hide. Ultimately, this day should decide the GC with the length and difficulty of the final climb, but we will have to wait and see where everyone's level is.

Stage 8 profile

One for the sprinters...maybe -- they will have to make it over the cat 4 with ~7 km's to go. I don't think Wiebes will have an issue, maybe others will certainly be found out. But I think this is one where SD Worx will really make the other teams suffer in the last 20 km.

Stage 9 profile

Beautiful...it's basically the final stage from the men's Paris-Nice. The stage is short, and the climbing starts immediately...this should be a thrilling day as those with GC stars remaining in their eyes can send it from the gun and throw everything into the wind. Or, if the gaps are large and all other contenders have given up the ghost, there should be some nice skirmishing between the break and those with polka dots remaining in their eyes. 

Contenders

Yella'

PAULINE FERRAND-PRÉVOT -- Last year's champion has, from my lowly perspective, had an underwhelming season to dat. She cracked badly in the Vuelta, and she has no victories on the year despite podiums in Paris-Roubaix and de Ronde (where she was well beaten by Vollering). And, even if she has taken the same intensive training camp approach this year as last year (see also: Evenepoel, Remco), then there is still a good chance at the win. But, I don't think she has been quite as good early season this year as last year, and, since the GC win last year, she has looked less-than-imperious at all other races. And the Visma team is not quite on par with either FDJ or UAE or even Canyon//SRAM. But that didn't matter last year, and maybe it won't matter again, but my confidence is not super high (but it wasn't last year either; I didn't even mention Ferrand-Prévot in my preview last year...).

DEMI VOLLERING -- Last year's runner-up and this year's winner of de Ronde, LBL, the Giro, etc and likely the best all-around rider in women's professional road cycling right now. She is clear fit, and the team is, again, very, very good. It's possible that, even if Ferrand-Prévot can put several minutes into everyone on Ventoux (similar to what happened on the Col de Madeleine last year), the change in the route to include more classics-like, rolling stages, as well as the TT, could give someone like Vollering, who general has Pogacar-like attacking instincts and is an exceptional time trialist, a good chance at the top step on the podium despite a thorough beating on the highest slopes of the race. With multiple podiums at this race in previous year's, I also think she (and the team) will be willing to gamble everything on stage 9 if she's several minutes down going into the last stage. Needless to say, as long as Vollering is within reach of yellow, there won't be a dull moment in the closing stages.

KASIA NIEWIADOMA -- The Polish rider is again one of the best riders in the bunch and, once again, comes into this race without yet winning a race this season but with podiums at LBL, Amstel, Omloop. Strade, and the Tour de Suisse overall. If she can limit the losses in the TT, it's a great route for her and another who I think will be willing to send it on the Nice-Nice stage if within reach of a podium or jersey at that point. But I think staying with Vollering et al. on Ventoux and staying within ~2 minutes on the TT will be a bridge too far.

MARLEN REUSSER -- It's been an uneven year so far for the Swiss rider, with a "recent" win in the Tour de Suisse but with a lot of time missed due to crashes and the subsequent injuries. As long as she avoids crashing out early (a la last year), the route is very favorable, and she should be able to challenge for a podium.

PAULA BLASI -- To be honest, a bit of a wild card. She has had a meteoric rise this year due to the GC victory at the Vuelta, where she snatched the win from van der Breggen on the final stage. I think she crashed a few months ago (which caused her to miss the Spanish road race championships) and hasn't raced since. As long as the effects of the crash are in the rearview mirror, and she has been able to retain that Vuelta-winning fitness, then I think she is another who can challenge for the podium. But that will also depend on if UAE would rather throw support to...

ELISA LONGO BOURGHINI -- The veteran is once again having a fine season, with a GC win in the UAE to start the year, plus stage wins at the Giro and Suisse, but fourth on GC at the Giro will surely have been a disappointment. Drawing up the season at the beginning of the year, surely Longo Bourghini would have been the focus here, but, again, with Blasi's emergence as a GC contender, who knows what UAE are thinking now. What I am thinking is that the Italian will still be the protected rider, with Blasi given freedom to rider for her own interests. And I think that is just what will happen come the Ventoux stage.

ANNA VAN DER BREGGEN -- Has been impressive in the second year of a comeback after retirement, with stage wins at the Giro and Vuelta plus the leader's jersey at both going into the final stage. Her experience has really shown through a few times this season (i.e. the mountain bike gearing on the penultimate stage in the Vuelta) and the TT performance at the Giro was outstanding. If another such TT is in the cards, then the podium here is calling. An issue might be that SD Worx doesn't look quite as good in the mountains as FDJ or UAE.

ANTONIA NIEDERMAIER -- The German was second overall at the Giro and is probably a good choice for the young rider's competition. But I think Canyon//SRAM will give priority to Niewiadoma.

KIM LE COURT-PIENAAR -- Climbing very well this year, but the podium will be hard given the quality of the startlist. But top 5? -- why not?

Points

LORENA WIEBES -- Still the top sprinter in the bunch; the only hope others have recently is a mis-weighing of the bike. A potential issue here is the lack of pure sprint stages this year, but her climbing has been quite good the past few years, so I don't see anything other than the pure mountain stages being an issue.

LOTTE KOPECKY -- Much better this year than a disastrous 2025, but I'm not sure the former green jersey wearer has quite been up to the lofty expectations of 2022-2024. It's possible SD Worx try a Mads Pedersen type grab-all-the-intermediate-sprints-on-the-hard-stages approach here, but I don't think it will be necessary with Wiebes and Kopecky will be more of a mountain domestique here.

CHARLOTTE KOOL -- Having a bounceback season like Kopecky, but I don't see here getting around Wiebes in the sprints (same story as last year).

ZOË BÄCKSTEDT -- Someone who could challenge by going for the intermediate sprints, but I think the focus will be on the TT and working for Niewiadoma/Nedermaier.

PUCK PIETERSE -- I don't see why not.

Mountains

Will almost certainly be a GC rider the way the route is set up. But if not, maybe YARA KASTELIJN or USOA OSTOLAZA or another good climber for a team without a protected GC rider and lots of freedom

Youth

ANTONIA NIEDERMAIER -- See above

ISABELLA HOLMGREN -- Best young rider at the Giro this year and the Tour de l'Avenir winner in 2025, I still like the field is too deep to have a big GC impact this year. It will also depend if Lidl-Trek want to prioritize Niahm Fisher-Black on GC or Holmgren for GC/young rider's classification. Regardless, the team is nicely set up for this race. 

MARION BUNEL -- Best young rider at the Vuelta plus third GC there this year; I think she will once again be riding in support of Ferrand-Prévot. 

Prediction

Much like this race last year and the men's Tour this year with Remco Evenepoel, it's hard for me to judge a rider who hasn't raced since May (and raced poorly then) as an overall GC contender. So, I'll once again pick Demi Vollering to be the overall winner, with Marlen Reusser and Anna van der Breggen completing the podium. And I'll pick Lorena Wiebes for the points jersey, Vollering as the mountains classification winner, and Antonia Niedermaier as the youth classifications winner. It should be a nice race this year.

Thanks for reading