Lorena Wiebes claims the first yellow jersey of the 2026 Tour de France Femmes in uphill sprint
The Dutch sprinter impressed by staying with the GC contenders on the final climb to the finish
Lorena Wiebes (SD Worx - Protime) won the opening stage of the 2026 Tour de France Femmes with an explosive sprint, finishing ahead of Le Court-Pienaar (AG Insurance - Soudal Team) in second and Demi Vollering (FDJ United - SUEZ) in third.
The Dutchwoman managed to stay in contention and right towards the front and among the GC riders on the final climb to the finish, the Côte Saint-François, which averaged 4.6% for 2.6km.
EF Education’s Noemi Rüegg was well-placed in the final sprint thanks to a lead-out from her teammate Cédrine Kerbaol, but but had no answer to Wiebes’ acceleration, and faded behind Le Court-Pienaar, Vollering and Puck Pieterse (Fenix-Premier Tech) to finish fifth.
Lorena Wiebes (SD Worx - Protime) won the opening stage of the 2026 Tour de France Femmes with an explosive sprint, finishing ahead of Le Court-Pienaar (AG Insurance - Soudal Team) in second and Demi Vollering (FDJ United - SUEZ) in third.
The Dutchwoman managed to stay in contention and right towards the front and among the GC riders on the final climb to the finish, the Côte Saint-François, which averaged 4.6% for 2.6km.
EF Education’s Noemi Rüegg was well-placed in the final sprint thanks to a lead-out from her teammate Cédrine Kerbaol, but but had no answer to Wiebes’ acceleration, and faded behind Le Court-Pienaar, Vollering and Puck Pieterse (Fenix-Premier Tech) to finish fifth.
“I almost cannot believe it,” exclaimed Wiebes at the finish when asked how she felt at wining the stage and earning the yellow jersey. .
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“The team, SD Worx - Protime, they worked super-hard today. Anna [van der Breggen] came to the front with 1k to go, and then Demi [Vollering] attacked, and I needed to follow. It was a long sprint, but I’m super happy.
There was a tense fight among both the GC contenders and stage-hunters on the final climb. AG Insurance - Soudal controlled the peloton for most of the slower slopes, before their leader Le Court attacked 1.5km from the finish.
Another move came from Célia Gery a few hundred metres later, then her teammate Vollering around a corner 800m to go, but Wiebes managed to hang on.
“I expected that there would be some attacks. I felt good, and thought, there is 1km to go, I need to hold on, I cannot drop back anymore.I lost a bit, as I think EF started on the right-hand side. I found my way, I started a bit early, but I knew I needed to go now.
Wiebes led a group of ten that finished on the same time, with Paula Blasi (UAE Team L'IMAD), Van der Breggen (SD Worx - Protime) and Antonia Niedermaier (Canyon-SRAM) all finishing in the trailing group eight seconds down.
“I’m really happy with the support from our team,” continued Wiebes. “That also gave my extra energy, and also the support from the staff. They fully believed in me, even after I had some doubts. I’m super-grateful for this.”
HOW IT HAPPENED
Warm weather and blue skies greeted the riders in Lausanne for the start of the Tour de France Femme’s fifth edition.
There was plenty of interest to get into the day’s break, with Idoia Eraso (Laboral Kutxa - Fundación Euskadi) and Maud Rijnbeek (VolkerWessels) the first to get a gap, and they were soon joined by Nikola Nosková (Cofidis) and Océane Mahé (Ma Petite Entreprise) to form the day’s four-woman break.
Both Alison Jackson (St Michel - Preference Home - Auber93) and Kiara Lylyk (Mayenne Monbana My Pie) belatedly attempted to join them, but failed in their efforts, the latter being brought back into the peloton with 79km to go and the former 73km to go.
The break worked well together to build a big lead that, at its highest, reached six minutes. They remained clear of the race for both the first two climbs of the day, the category three Côte de Châbles and Côte de Villars-le-Comte, where Mahé claimed maximum points to seal the polka-dot jersey for tomorrow.
It was on this latter climb that the pace increased in the peloton, with riders being shelled out of the back, most notably Franzi Koch, and an attack from Riejanne Markus (Lidl-Trek). There were splits towards the front of the peloton as they approached the summit, with a group of about fifteen riders reaching the top together with a lead of a few seconds, but everything came back together on the descent.
Amanda Spratt (Lidl-Trek) attacked out of the peloton on the descent, but the break still remained at the front of the race by the day’s third climb, the category three Côte de Vulliens. Here, Nosková attacked at the top to take the Queen of the Mountains points, and pressed on to lead the race solo.
Nosková spent the next 15km on her own, before being caught by Eraso, Rijnbeek and Spratt 17km from the finish. They worked well together but were caught by the peloton with just 6km to go.
There were multiple crashes throughout the day, most notably Marlen Reusser, who went down with her Movistar teammate Arlennis Sierra at the front of the peloton on a decent 22km from the finish. They both managed to bridge back up 17km from the finish.
RESULTS - TOUR DE FRANCE FEMMES STAGE ONE: LAUSANNE > LAUSANNE (138KM)
1. Lorena Wiebes (Ned) SD Worx - Protime in 03:29:11
2. Kim Le Court-Pienaar (Mau) AG Insurance - Soudal
3. Demi Vollering (Ned) FDJ United - SUEZ
4. Puck Pieterse (Ned) Fenix-Premier Tech
5. Noemi Rüegg (Sui) EF Education-Oatly
6. Elisa Longo Borghini (Ita) UAE Team L'IMAD
7. Kasia Niewiadoma (Pol) Canyon-SRAM
8. Pauline Ferrand-Prévot (Fra) Visma-Lease a Bike
9. Cédrine Kerbaol (Fra) EF Education-Oatly
10. Marlen Reusser (Sui) Movistar all same time
GENERAL CLASSIFICATION AFTER STAGE ONE
1. Lorena Wiebes (Ned) SD Worx - Protime in 03:29:11
2. Kim Le Court-Pienaar (Mau) AG Insurance - Soudal +4s
3. Demi Vollering (Ned) FDJ United - SUEZ +6s
4. Puck Pieterse (Ned) Fenix-Premier Tech +10s
5. Noemi Rüegg (Sui) EF Education-Oatly
6. Elisa Longo Borghini (Ita) UAE Team L'IMAD
7. Kasia Niewiadoma (Pol) Canyon-SRAM
8. Pauline Ferrand-Prévot (Fra) Visma-Lease a Bike
9. Cédrine Kerbaol (Fra) EF Education-Oatly
10. Marlen Reusser (Sui) Movistar all same time
Stephen Puddicombe is a freelance journalist for Cycling Weekly, who regularly contributes to our World Tour racing coverage with race reports, news stories, interviews and features. Outside of cycling, he also enjoys writing about film and TV - but you won't find much of that content embedded into his CW articles.
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